Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1874 — Cremation Among North American Indians. [ARTICLE]

Cremation Among North American Indians.

Dr. John L. Le Conte read a paper at the Hartford meeting of the Americap j Association, giving an account of a cereifionial .of cremation among the Cocopa | Indians of California, of he was |an eye-witness. A shallow ditch was dug, in which logs of the inesquite, a hard, dense wood which makes a very i hot fire, with but little flame or j smoke, were laid. The body was placed Lon the logs with so toe smaller fagots piled upon it and a few of the. personal effects of the <seceased were alsd added. Fire was then applied to the pile. At this point the doctor was about to retire Vfhen one of the Indians told him to.remain as there was yet something to beseen. An old man then advanced from the assemblage with a long, pointed stick in his hand. With this lie removed the eyes, holding them successively on the point of the stick in the direction of the sun, repeating at the same time words which were represented,as being a prayer for the soul of the deceased. After this more fagots were heaped on the fire, which was kept up for three or four hours longer. When the fire has gone out it is the custom to gather the fragments of bone and put them in a terra-cotta vase, which Is kept under the care of the family. I)r. Le Conte was unable to say whether the custom of burning the dead was a general one or not among this or other California tribes of Indians, but thought it desirable to gather up and put on record whatever evidence there might be on so interesting a subject before the total disappearance of these people put the settlement of the question beyond our reach.