BURIAL ABOVE GROUND— SIOUX. G3 



Blacking 1 the face, as is mentioned in the first account, is a custom 



known to have existed among many tribes throughout the world, but in 



some cases different earths and pigments are used as signs of mourning. 



The natives of Guinea smear a chalky substance over their bodies as an 



outward expression of grief, and it is well known that the ancient Israelites 



threw ashes on their heads and garments. Placing food with the corpse or 



in its mouth, and money in the hand, finds its analogue in the custom of the 



ancient Romans, who, some time before interment, placed a piece of money 



in the corpse's mouth, which was thought to be Charon's fare for wafting 



the departed soul over the Infernal River. .Besides this, the corpse's mouth 



was furnished with a certain cake, composed of flour, honey, &c. This was 



designed to appease the fury of Cerberus, the infernal doorkeeper, and to 



procure a safe and quiet entrance. These examples are curious coincidences, 



if nothing more. 



BURIAL ABOVE GROUND. 



Our attention should next be turned to sepulture above the ground, 

 including lodge, house, box, scaffold, tree, and canoe burial, and the first 

 example which may be given is that of burial in lodges, which is by no 

 means common. The description which follows is by Stansbury,* and 

 relates to the Sioux : 



" I put on my moccasins, and, displaying my wet shirt like a flag to 

 the wind, we proceeded to the lodges which had attracted our curiosity. 

 There were five of them pitched upon the open prairie, and in them we 

 found the bodies of nine Sioux laid out upon the ground, wrapped in their 

 robes of buffalo-skin, with their saddles, spears, camp-kettles, and all their 

 accoutrements piled up around them. Some lodges contained three, others 

 only one body, all of which were more or less in a state of decomposition. 

 A short distance apart from these was one lodge which, though small, 

 seemed of rather superior pretensions, and was evidently pitched with great 

 care. It contained the body of a young Indian girl of sixteen or eighteen 

 years, with a countenance presenting quite an agreeable expression; she 

 was richly dressed in leggins of fine scarlet cloth elaborately ornamented; 

 a new pair of moccasins, beautifully embroidered with porcupine quills, was 



* Explorations of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah, 1852, p. 43. 



