BURIAL AND CREMATION— CALIFORNIA. 61 



tion was called to an unusual method of burial by an ancient race of Indians 

 in that vicinity. In numerous instances burial places were discovered 

 where the bodies had been placed with the face up and covered with a coat- 

 ing of plastic clay about an inch thick. A pile of wood was then placed 

 on top and fired, which consumed the body and baked the clay, which 

 retained the impression of the body. This was then lightly covered with 

 earth." 



It is thought no doubt can attach to the statements given, but the cases 

 are remarkable as being the only instances of the kind met with in the 

 extensive range of reading preparatory to a study of the subject of burial, 

 although it must beobseiwed that Bruhier states that the ancient Ethiopians 

 covered the corpses of their dead with plaster (probably mud), but they 

 did not burn these curious coffins. 



Another method, embracing both burial and cremation, has been prac- 

 ticed by the Pitt River or Achomawi Indians of California, who "bury the 

 body in the ground in a standing position, the shoulders nearly even with 

 the ground. The grave is prepared by digging a hole of sufficient depth 

 and circumference to admit the body, the head being cut off. In the grave 

 are placed the bows and arrows, bead-work, trappings, &c, belonging to 

 the deceased ; quantities of food, consisting of dried fish, roots, herbs, &c, 

 were placed with the body also. The grave was then filled up, covering 

 the headless body ; then a bundle of fagots was brought and placed on 

 the grave by the different members of the tribe, and on these fagots the 

 head was placed, the pile fired, and the head consumed to ashes ; after this 

 was done, the female relatives of the deceased, who had appeared as mourn- 

 ers with their faces blackened with a preparation resembling tar or paint, 

 dipped their fingers in the ashes of the cremated head and made three marks 

 on their right check. This constituted the mourning garb, the period of 

 which lasted until this black substance wore off from the face. In addition 

 to this mourning, the blood female relatives of the deceased (who, by the 

 way, appeared to be a man of distinction) had their hair cropped short I 

 noticed while the head was burning that the old women of the tribe sat on 

 the ground, forming a large circle, inside of which another circle of young 

 girls were formed standing and swaying their bodies to and fro and singing 



