724 BUREAU OF AME'RICAN ETHNOLOGY iBuix. 137 



In recent times bodies of Cherokee were buried on the slope of a hill. 

 The corpse was laid out in the best clothes worn by the deceased and 

 property was placed by it, especially, in the case of a woman, a cup or 

 saucer, the latter not being "killed." A little vessel of salt w^as added. 

 The body was not put into the coffin for 2 or 3 days and meanwhile the 

 neighbors came to watch and sometimes sing over it, probably to keep 

 witches from stealing the liver. The women did not mourn out loud. 

 The coffin-makers and grave diggers are now elected for a year, and a 

 medicine man cannot assist. Immediately after the inhumation the 

 near relatives bathed in the river, but if they had to postpone their 

 ablutions, they bathed four times. The old ashes were scattered about 

 the yard of the house in which the deceased had lived and the whole 

 interior was fumigated by means of burning pine boughs. Anciently, 

 a dance was held 7 days after the burial to speed the ghost on its way 

 and comfort the relatives. The grave itself was not visited for fear 

 bad luck would follow (Mooney, 1932, pp. 131-137). 



The customs of the Creeks and Chickasaw appear, as we find in 

 other instances, much the same. This is no doubt due in part to the 

 fact that one of our principal authorities, James Adair, was familiar 

 with both tribes and tends to mix their customs in his exposition, 

 and in part to the adoption of Creek usages by the Chickasaw. In 

 old times the body of a Creek is said to have been flexed and wrapped 

 in a blanket and buried in a sitting position. In later times they 

 were laid out straight, head to the west, and the seated corpses are 

 said to have faced the sunrise, but I was told by the Alabama that 

 they formerly placed bodies of the dead in the ground with their 

 heads toward the east, a practice reversed after the introduction of 

 Christianity. Explorations in the territory of these tribes indicate 

 that orientation was not as uniform as has commonly been supposed. 

 A large part of the movable property of the deceased was placed 

 about the corpse. Some say that this was the fate of all their 

 property in ancient times. Coffee was poured into a cup at the 

 left shoulder, and a knife is said to have been put into the hand of 

 an Alabama Indian with which to fight an eagle supposed to beset 

 the spirit trail. The face of the corpse was painted red and black. 

 Only relatives might bury the body but a handful of earth was 

 thrown upon it by each of those present. The grave w^as covered 

 over with canes and clay and it was very often inside of the house 

 and used as a bed, but sometimes the family moved out and put 

 up another dwelling. Anyhow, medicine was blown about the house, 

 the fire was allowed to go out and a new fire lighted, and guns were 

 discharged to drive away the ghost. In the case of a warrior, a pole 

 was set up and notches cut into it in accordance with the number of 

 his deeds. At least in the case of a prominent man, green boughs 



