Dacotah Chief.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Funeral rites in Damara land—The Koossan method of disposing of the dead—The grave in the cattle fold—No recovering spilt water—Coming out of mourning—No half mourning among savages—The feast of release—The slave barracoon—A thousand skeletons—The mortal remains of a Bechuana—The burying ground at Fetich Point—The grave of old King Pass-all—A Barrodo Beondo funeral—The late King Jemmy—Respect of the Timannees for their dead—A Religious impostor—A funeral at Mandingo—Strange behaviour of the mourners—By whose “Griffee” did you die?—Burial of King Archibongo—His devil-house—Funeral ceremonies in Madagascar—How the poor Malagasey is disposed of—“Take that for dying”—Sepulchral rites in Abyssinia—Burying in Sambo land—The demon “Wulasha”—Blood rule in Dahomey—The very last grand custom—Devil’s work—How a Dahoman king is buried—A pot for the king’s bones.
Among the Damaras of South Africa the mode of disposing of the dead is somewhat different from that practised by those who dwell in the more remote parts of that country. Andersson tells us, that in the case of the Damara, as soon as he dies (sometimes, indeed, it is horridly rumoured, before animation has ceased), his nearest kinsfolk fetch a big stone and break the backbone, the more conveniently to bundle and tie him nose and knees together. This accomplished, the body is wrapped in the hide of an ox, a hole dug in the earth, and the defunct squatted in with his face towards the north. This is done, say the natives, to remind them where they originally came from.
When a poor Bechuana or Damara woman, having a helpless baby, dies, it is no uncommon thing for the little creature to be placed with her alive in the hole dug for the reception of the adult body. Mr. Rath, a missionary, happened on one occasion to approach a burial party at which this atrocity was about to be committed, and was successful in releasing the poor little thing.
“After having consigned the remains of a chief to his last resting-place,” says Andersson, “they collect his arms, war-dress, etc., and suspend them to a pole or to a tree at the head of the grave. The horns of such oxen as have been killed in commemoration of the occasion are hung up in a like manner. The tomb consists of a large heap of stones surrounded by thorn bushes, no doubt to keep hyænas and other carnivorous animals from extracting the corpse. Sometimes, however, the chief, should he have expressed a wish to that effect, instead of being buried is placed in a reclining position on a slightly raised platform in the centre of his own hut, which in such a case is surrounded by stout and strong palisadings.
Damara Tomb.