7th. By AQUATIC BURIAL, beneath the water, or in canoes, which were turned adrift.
These heads might, perhaps, be further subdivided, but the above seem sufficient for all practical needs.
The use of the term burial throughout this paper is to be understood in its literal significance, the word being derived from the Teutonic Anglo-Saxon “birgan,” to conceal or hide away.
In giving descriptions of different burials and attendant ceremonies, it has been deemed expedient to introduce entire accounts as furnished, in order to preserve continuity of narrative, and in no case has the relator’s language been changed except to correct manifest unintentional, errors of spelling.
[ INHUMATION.]
[ PIT BURIAL.]
The commonest mode of burial among North American Indians has been that of interment in the ground, and this has taken place in a number of different ways; the following will, however, serve as good examples of the process:
One of the simplest forms is thus noted by Schoolcraft:[1]
The Mohawks of New York made a large round hole in which the body was placed upright or upon its haunches, after which it was covered with timber, to support the earth which they lay over, and thereby kept the body from being pressed. They then raised the earth in a round hill over it. They always dressed the corpse in all its finery, and put wampum and other things into the grave with it; and the relations suffered not grass nor any wood to grow upon the grave, and frequently visited it and made lamentation.
In Jones[2] is the following interesting account from Lawson[3] of the burial customs of the Indians formerly inhabiting the Carolinas: