202 Aboriginal Funereal Customs in the United States. [April, 
trench had been dug in the desert, in which were laid logs of the 
mesquite (Prosopis and Strombocarpus), hard and dense wood, 
which makes, as all western campaigners know, a very hot fire 
with little flame or smoke. After a short time the body was 
brought from the village, surrounded by the family and other 
inhabitants, and laid on the logs in the trench ‘The relatives, 
as is usual with Indians, had their faces disfigured with black 
paint, and the females, as is the custom with other savages, made 
very loud exclamations of grief mingled with what might be 
supposed to be funeral songs. Some smaller fagots were then 
placed on top, a few of the personal effects of the dead man 
added, and fire applied. After a time a dense mass of dark- 
colored smoke arose, and the burning of the body, which was 
much emaciated, proceeded rapidly. I began to be rather tired 
of the spectacle and was about to go away, when one of the 
Indians, in a few words of Spanish, told me to remain, that there 
was yet something to be seen. 
*¢ An old man then advanced from the assemblage with a long, 
pointed stick in his hand. Going near to the burning body he 
removed the eyes, holding them successively on the point of the 
stick, in the direction of the sun, with his face turned towards 
that luminary, repeating at the same time some words which I 
understood from our guide was a prayer for the happiness of the 
soul of the deceased. After this more fagots were heaped on 
the fire, which was kept up for perhaps three or four hours 
longer. I did not remain, as there was nothing more of interest, 
but I learned on inquiry that after the fire was burnt out it was 
the custom to collect the fragments of bone which remained, and 
put them in a terra-cotta vase, which was kept under the care 
of the family.” 1 : 
But few cases of embalming are known to have occurred m 
the limits of the United States. As examples of this mode of 
preparing the corpse may be mentioned the Mammoth Cave and 
Salt Cave mummies of Kentucky. These bodies had been pre- 
served by a rude species of embalmment and by exsiccation. 
Aerial sepulture included all burial which was performed 
above the surface, and consisted of two kinds: the first by suspen- 
sion on scaffolds or in trees, the second by sepulture in canoes. 
Several tribes still employ the former mode of burial. The 
Sioux elevate the bodies of their friends into trees, or stretch them. 
1 Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1874, 
41, 
page 
