Col. Dodge (a) says that the Sioux did not use the color green in life, but that the corpses were wrapped in green blankets. The late Rev. S. D. Hinman, who probably was, until his death within the last year, the best authority concerning those Indians, contradicts this statement in a letter, declaring that the Sioux frequently use the color green in their face-painting, especially when they seek to disguise themselves, as it gives so different an expression. If it is not used as generally as blue or yellow the reason is that it is seldom found in the clays which were formerly relied upon and therefore it required compounding. Also they do not use green as painting or designation for the dead, but red, that being their decoration for the “happy hunting ground.” But the color for the mourning of the survivors is black.
Thomas L. McKenny (a) says the Chippeway men mourn by painting their faces black.
The Winnebago men blacken the whole face with charcoal in mourning. The women make a round black spot on both cheeks.
Dr. Boas, in Am. Anthrop. (a), says of Snanaimuq, a Salish tribe:
The face of the deceased is painted red and black. After the death of husband or wife the survivor must paint his legs and his blanket red. For three or four days he must not eat anything; then three men or women give him food, and henceforth he is allowed to eat.
In Bancroft (d) it is mentioned that the Guatemalan widower dyed his body yellow.
Carl Bock (b) describes the mourning solemnities in Borneo as being marked chiefly by white, the men and women composing the mourning processions being enveloped in white garments, and carrying white flags and weapons and ornaments, all of which were covered with white calico.
A. W. Howitt (h) says of the Dieri of Central Australia:
A messenger who is sent to convey the intelligence of a death is smeared all over with white clay. On his approach to the camp the women all commence screaming and crying most passionately. * * * Widows and widowers are prohibited by custom from uttering a word until the clay of mourning has worn off, however long it may remain on them. They do not, however, rub it off, as doing so would be considered a bad omen. It must absolutely wear off of itself. During this period they communicate by means of gesture language.
A. C. Haddon (b) tells that among the western tribes of Torres strait plastering the body with gray mud was a sign of mourning.