Native cemeteries and forms of burial east of the Mississippi / by David I. Bushnell, Jr.
- David I. Bushnell
- Date:
- 1920
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Native cemeteries and forms of burial east of the Mississippi / by David I. Bushnell, Jr. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![farther west, especially up the valley of the Missouri. There a plat¬ form was constructed between four or more supports, some 6 or 8 feet above the ground, and on this platform the body was placed after being wrapped and bound with skins or some other covering. These were of a more temporary nature. THE MENOMINI The Menomini, whose home when first encountered by Europeans during the early years of the seventeenth century was west of Lake Michigan, evidently possessed many customs quite similar to those of the Ojibway. Their dead were usually deposited in excavated graves, but they also had some form of scaffold burial. (PI. 5, a.) u The Menomini formerly disposed of their dead by inclosing the bodies in long pieces of birchbark or in slats of wood, and burying them in a shallow hole. When not in the neighborhood of birch or other trees, from which broad pieces of bark could be obtained, some of the men would search for the nearest dugout, from which they would cut a piece long enough to contain the body. In some in¬ stances sections of hollow trees were used as coffins. In order to afford protection against wild beasts, there were placed over the grave three logs—two directly on the ground and the third on the others. They were prevented from rolling away by stakes driven into the earth. [Plate 5, 6, represents the old method of protecting graves.] “ More modern customs now prevail with the greater body of the tribe, and those who have been Christianized adopt the following course: A wooden coffin is made and the body laid out in the ordi¬ nary manner. The burial takes place usually the day on which death occurs. The graves are about 4 feet deep. Over the mound is erected a small board structure resembling a house. . . . This structure measures about 5 feet in length and 3 feet high. In the front and near the top is an opening through which the relations and friends of the deceased put cakes of maple sugar, rice, and other food—the first fruits of the season. In some grave-boxes, imme¬ diately beneath the opening, there is placed a small drawer, which is used for the same purpose as the opening. Sometimes even on the grave-boxes of Christianized Indians, the totem of the clan to which the deceased belonged is drawn in color or carved from a piece of wood and securely nailed. These totemic characters are generally drawn or attached in an inverted position, which is de- notive of death among the Menomini as among other tribes. Around the grave-boxes clapboard fences are usually erected to keep stray animals from coming near, and to prevent wayfarers and sacri¬ legious persons from desecrating the graves. An ordinary 4 worm 1 fence is also sometimes built for the same purpose.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29826718_0042.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
