FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 
345 
modes of disposing of the dead obtain, according to 
Mr. Meyer : — old persons are buried ; middle-aged 
persons are placed in a tree, the hands and knees 
being brought nearly to the chin, all the openings of 
the body, as mouth, nose, ears, &c. being previously 
sewn up, and the corpse covered with mats, pieces of 
old cloth, nets, &c. The corpse being placed in the 
tree, a fire is made underneath, around which the 
friends and relatives of the deceased sit, and make 
lamentations. In this situation the body remains, 
unless removed by some hostile tribe, until the flesh 
is completely wasted away, after which the skull is 
taken by the nearest relative for a drinking cup. 
The third mode is to place the corpse in a sitting 
posture, without any covering, the face being turned 
to the eastward, until dried by the sun, after which 
it is placed in a tree. This mode is adopted with 
those to whose memory it is intended to shew some 
respect. The fourth method is to burn the body ; 
but this is only practised in the case of still-born 
children, or such as die shortly after birth. 
Another method practised upon Lake Alexan- 
dria, is to construct a platform,* or bier upon high 
poles of pine, put upright in the ground upon 
which the body is placed, bandages being first put 
round the forehead, and over the eyes, and tied 
behind. A bone is stuck through the nose, the 
* “ They often deposit their dead on trees and on scaffolds.” 
— Catlings American Indians, vol. ii. p. 10 — vide also vol. i. 
p. 89. 
