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Show INHUMATION IN CANOES 13 Barbara an entire skeleton which was discovered in a redwood canoe, but u " it is thought that the individual may have been a noted fisherman, particularly as the implements of his vocation- nets, fish- spears, & c.- were near L •- him, and this burial was only an exemplification of the well- rooted belief ** - common to all Indians, that the spirit in the next world makes use of the *&- same articles as were employed in this one. It should be added that of the mnLr many hundreds of skeletons uncovered at Santa Barbara the one mentioned aLi- presented the only example of the kind. T tkr Among the Indians of the Mosquito coast, in Central America, canoe burial in the ground, according to Bancroft*, was common, and is thus ste described: are: " The corpse is wrapped in cloth and placed in one- half of a pitpan which has been cut in two. Friends assemble for the funeral and drown » te; their grief in muslila, the women giving vent to their sorrow by dashing ill/. themselves on the ground until covered with blood, and inflicting other tor-ygg: tures, occasionally even committing suicide. As it is supposed that the evil jgj^ f spirit seeks to obtain possession of the body, musicians are called in to lull jkk ** to sleep while preparations are made for its removal. All at once four tfa- naked men, who have disguised themselves with paint so as not to be recognized and punished by Wulashdj rush out from a neighboring hut, and, seiz-nt ing a rope attached to the canoe, drag it into the woods, followed by the j , music and the crowd. Here the pitpan is lowered into the grave with bow, j . „ arrow, spear, paddle, and other implements to serve the departed in the land i beyond; then the other half of the boat is placed over the body. A rude hut is constructed over the grave, serving as a receptacle fo£ the choice food, drink, and other articles placed there from time to time by relatives." iflrf; BUEIAL IN CABINS, WIGWAMS, OB HOUSES. While there is a certain degree of similitude between the above- noted methods and the one to be mentioned subsequently- lodge burial- they • differ, inasmuch as the latter are examples of surface or aerial burial, and * must consequently fall under another caption. The narratives which are ~ - v to be given afford a clear idea of the former kind of burial. "^ * Native Races of Pacific States, 1874, vol. 1, p. 744. |