CHAPTER XV
BURIAL RITES
LITTLE rude enclosures
met the eye in whatever direction it was turned, and
these were the resting places of the departed. On
the summit of the bluffs, in the rear of the mission
house, were many strange looking objects with a small
red flag fluttering over each. With a half superstitious
dread, I refrained from inquiring, in hopes that accident
might acquaint me with their nature and design. A
strange, unearthly lamentation, proceeding from this
direction one night, disturbed my midnight slumbers.
The wail of a lost spirit could scarcely be imagined
more horrid. In alarm I awoke Miss W. to learn the
cause.
"It is a poor Indian
woman weeping at the grave of her son," was the
reply.
"Not at those graves
just in the rear of the house? The sound, to my ear,
comes from a greater distance.!"
"Have you not noticed
the red flags on the bluffs, and the bodies elevated
on those scaffolds? There the dead are first laid
to rest, and thence this 'mourning' comes."
"And are they ever
removed from there?"
"Yes, when the days
of mourning are past."
"How long does this
last?"
"The time may be
longer or shorter, according to the violence of grief.
The more violent, the sooner over. Therefore, they
lacerate their flesh with knives, stones, etc., that
they may the more freely and readily weep. They
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are Nature's children, and Nature, they
say, utters sounds correspondent to feeling or suffering.
If the limb of a tree falls, its groan is echoed by
the surrounding forest. Oh, my sister, who will arise,
and help to lead them to the true source of happiness
and wisdom!"
It is a new idea, but
it strikes me as perfectly accordant with the dictates
of nature, and I have ever observed that the most
violent grief is of brief duration. There is no bitterness
like silent, concealed, suppressed sorrow. Now, it
is not better, and more consistent with our duty to
the world, that we give vent to the sorrows for the
heart; arise from stupor, and gird the soul anew for
conflict. "But, tell me, please, how they contrive
to keep the dead bodies from becoming offensive?"
"They are wound up
in bark, in a manner they understand, enveloped in
their blankets, and with much harangue, feasting and
the like, elevated to those positions. That they may
pursue their favorite employment in the spirit world,
their implements of hunting are deposited with them.
The red flag is an ensign of dignity or position.
In time they will all be consigned to the earth in
the family enclosure, and there wait the summons to
the judgment."
Until a late hour the
wail was continued, and even before it had ceased,
I was again in unconscious slumber, dreaming of perilous
positions, and the screams of suffering men and women.
I awoke with a resolution to attempt an insight into
their burial rites, and for this purpose directed
my morning walk up the bluff.
The footprints of departed
generations, in intersecting trails, led me on. In
the deep ravines, dark shadows played, and the wild
birds caroled their morning song in the dense foliage.
The sun threw his beams aslant the
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flower-clad earth, but my soul was sad
in view of the dense pall of moral night that rested
upon those whose soil we trod. The heart instinctively
arose to Heaven, imploring the cheering rays from
the Sun of Righteousness to dawn upon them.
I found it quite impossible
to obtain any further knowledge of their time-honored
custom, and convinced that I must remain content with
what I was permitted to see, I passed on
to several enclosures.
At the head of each grave
was the sacred stone, and, by many, some little memento
of affection, as a small dish of salt, or wild rice,
was placed there to appease the evil spirit that might
be lurking around. In a thoughtless moment I sent
the "wakan" rolling down the bluff. The
act recalled my wandering senses, and I half superstitiously
dreaded the result of my wanton disrespect for their
sacred dead. Visiting the spot a few days later, we
found that the wandering shrine had been replaced,
and no serious consequences had come upon the aggressor.
Chapter XVI
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