6 INHUMATION— CAROLINA TRIBES. 



the body from being pressed. They then raised the earth in a round hill 

 over it. They always dressed the corpse in all its finery, and put wampum 

 and other things into the grave with it; and the relations suffered not grass 

 nor any weed to grow upon the grave, and frequently visited it and made 

 lamentation." 



This account may be found in Schoolcraft.* 



In Jonesf is the following interesting account from Lawson, of the 

 burial customs of the Indians formerly inhabiting the Carolinas: 



"Among the Carolina tribes, the burial of the dead was accompanied 

 with special ceremonies, the expense and formality attendant upon the 

 funeral according with the rank of the deceased. The corpse was first 

 placed in a cane hurdle and deposited in an outhouse made for the purpose, 

 where it was suffered to remain for a day and a night guarded and mourned 

 over by the nearest relatives with disheveled hair. Those who are to offi- 

 ciate at the funeral go into the town, and from the backs of the first young 

 men they meet strip such blankets and matchcoats as they deem suitable 

 for their purpose. In these the dead body is wrapped and then covered 

 with two or three mats made of rushes or cane. The coffin is made of 

 woven reeds or hollow canes tied fast at both ends. When everything is 

 prepared for the interment, the corpse is carried from the house in which 

 it has been lying into the orchard of peach-trees and is there deposited in 

 another hurdle. Seated upon mats are there congregated the family and 

 tribe of the deceased and invited guests. The medicine man, or conjurer, 

 having enjoined silence, then pronounces a funeral oration, during which 

 he recounts the exploits of the deceased, his valor, skill, love of country, 

 property, and influence; alludes to the void caused by his death, and 

 counsels those who remain to supply his place by following in his foot- 

 steps; pictures the happiness he will enjoy in the land of spirits to which 

 he has gone, and concludes his address by an allusion to the prominent 

 traditions of his tribe." 



Let us here pause to remind the reader that this custom has prevailed 

 throughout the civilized world up to the present day — a custom, in the 

 opinion of many, "more honored in the breach than the observance." 



* flist. Indian Tribes of the United Slates, 1853, part 3, p. 193. 

 tAntiq. of Southern Indians. 1873, pp. 108-110. 



