The mourners carefully efface the footprints that have been made by them on the loose clay around the grave and, scurrying away sadly and silently, leave the dead one in the company of the spirits of darkness. Henceforth this, the resting place of one who was beloved in life, possibly of a loving wife, or of a darling child, will be eschewed as a place of terror where stalk with silent footfall and dark-visaged face the foul and insatiate soul ghouls.
On arriving at the house whence they started, the funeral party invariably find a vessel, usually a coconut-shell cup, containing a mixture of water and herbs,39 placed at the door of the house. Each one in turn wets his hands and purifies himself by rubbing the water on some portion of his body. I never saw this process omitted. The explanation afforded me was that the water had a purificatory40 effect in removing the evil influence to which they had become susceptible by contact with the dead. After the burial, a little repast is set out by way of compensation for those who assisted at the burial, and then begins the time of mourning which ends only with the mortuary feast.
39I was told that u-li-ú-li grass is always used as an ingredient.
40Pan-dí-has.
CERTAIN MOURNING TABOOS ARE OBSERVED
(1) Black must be worn by the nearest relatives.
(2) For seven days the wife and nearest relatives must remain confined to the house.
(3) The house must be abandoned or the inmates must change their sleeping quarters to another part of the house.
(4) No marriage can be celebrated by any of the carnal relatives until the death feast has been celebrated.
(5) The deceased must not be mentioned by name, but spoken of as "my father" or "my cousin" or other relative. This taboo holds indefinitely.
(6) No work must be undertaken nor business of any importance transacted, by the nearer relatives, for seven days.
(7) No one other than a near relative may visit the house for seven days after the decease.
DEATH AND BURIAL OF ONE KILLED BY AN ENEMY, OF A WARRIOR CHIEF, AND OF A PRIEST
As one killed by an enemy is thought to have suffered no ill through the machinations of the evil ones, his death is considered a glorious one, and he is buried fearlessly. It sometimes happens that, due to the distance between the place where he was killed and his home, it is found impossible to convey his body to the settlement. He is, accordingly, buried in some convenient spot in the forest without further ceremony. No mortuary feast is held for him because he is supposed to enter the abode of his chief's war deity and there to await the coming of his chief.