PART XII.

SAVAGE DEATH AND BURIAL.

CHAP. XXVII.--Disrespect for human life not synonymous with personal indifference to death--burial ceremonials in cannibal Figi--the Figians no respecters of persons as regards this custom--preparations for burying a living king--the “grave grass”--paving the king’s grave--an affectionate son--“see, his body moves, but it does so unconsciously”--Figian symbols of mourning--mourning suits of leaves--the “causing to laugh”--murder of the Figian sick--“pray don’t bury me”--sexton’s work--the poorest savage sure of a comfortable “narrow bed”--the howling of a dog considered ominous--ditto, a cat’s clawing on the grave of a woman--how death came into the world--the sacrifice of fingers--the token of the bloody apron--the art of embalming--the corpse-praying priest--the “sin hole”--ceremonies at the burial of King Finow--heroic appeals to the departed king by his warriors--the scene at the sepulchre--the journey of the sand bearers--shaving the head and burning the cheek bones--twenty days’ mourning--the Mee too Buggi--singular expression of fidelity--Finow’s faithful fishermen--the Sandwich Islander’s badge of mourning--knocking out the teeth--cutting the ears--putting the tongue in black--a melancholy procession--the house of Keave--a pitiful spectacle--no admittance to the sacred building--the Pahio tabu--Heathen cities of refuge. Pages 337–360.

CHAP. XXVIII.--Burial rites in Samoa--burying alive--taking his pigs to a better market--a Samoan inquest--Samoan wakes--carrying a dead body about--Samoan coffins--dexterous embalming--the mysterious grave fires--a trap to catch a lost soul--burial customs of the New Zealanders--ornamenting the dead body--the sexton in Borneo--the weeping-stone of the Permujans--burning the dead in Western Sarawak--the burning less efficacious than burying--the hereditary office of sexton--difficulties of finding a sexton--sepulchral rites of the Sea Dayaks--useful things for consumption in the next world placed in the grave--Sea Dayaks who fall in battle not disturbed--Mourning among the Indians of North America--dirtiness the most favourite symbol--tombs in the air--exorcising an evil spirit--custom of the Sacs and Foxes--of the Tahkalis--of the New Caledonians--a New Caledonian suttee--barbarous treatment of the widow--her scorching, and her three years’ mourning and drudgery--the village of the dead--burial unknown among the Mandans--a Mandan place of skulls--praying to the dead--singular ceremonies attending the interment of an Ojibbeway--Ojibbeway mourners--disposing of the property of the dead--a Chippewa ghost story--an invisible presence--a spirited ghost--veneration for the dead--a royal funeral. Pages 361–385.

CHAP. XXIX.--Funeral rites in Damara land--dutiful behaviour of the eldest son of the deceased--a Damara tomb--offering a pail of milk at the grave--the Koossan method of disposing of their dead--deserting the sick--duties of the dead Koossan’s wife--returning in the night to burn down the house--the ox-tail hair necklace worn by the Koossan widower--Koossan chiefs buried in the cattle-fold--the magic woman among the Koossans--no recovering spilt water--no cure, no pay--fate of the unlucky mortal whom the magic woman denounces--death in Central Africa--waking a defunct man--no half-mourning among savages--the guests who are invited to the wake--_Bota woga_--a tremendous boose--a slave barracoon at Santanga--the sight that M. Chaillu saw--a thousand bleaching skeletons--funeral ceremonies in Angola--a jollification in consequence of the death of his mother--the mortal remains of a Bechuana--planting the top of the head with grass--the burying-ground at Fetish point--disinclination of the natives to approach the place of graves--the tomb of old King Passol--a wealthy grave-holder--burying at Anbago, Western Africa--the bereaved wife carried a pick-a-back--security for “Gungo”--a Barrodo Beondo funeral--occupying the bed of the deceased--“making a cry” among the Bulloms and Timannecs--King Archibongo and his devil house--the painted widows--the “chop-nut” test--Malagasey burial rites--ceremonials observed on the death of Prince Razahooatrino--lying in state--the attendant slaves and the fly fanners--subscription among the mourners to pay the funeral expenses--1500 oxen slain and eaten at a funeral feast--stepping over dead oxen--no special places for burial in Madagascar--death in Australia--the name of the dead never mentioned by the surviving relatives--perching dead old women on tree boughs--“take that for dying!”--the Abyssinian a believer in the doctrine of purgatory--dancing and singing and face-scratching--funeral of an Ailat man--how the Sambo Indian is buried--the body in the pitpan--running away with the corpse to cheat the devil--artful device of the corpse-bearers--cutting down the palm trees--the way to find out if “Wulasha” has been cheated--what the traveller Stephens saw at La Rayas, in Mexico--a _Christian_ burial--death in Dahomey--the very last grand custom--the king’s ingenious device for the more ready performance of human sacrifice--a victim saved--how a Dahoman king is buried--providing his majesty with means for paying his way in the next world. Pages 386–418.

List of Wood-Cuts,

FROM DESIGNS BY HARDEN S. MELVILLE.

ENGRAVED BY H. NEWSOM WOODS.

PAGE

FORBE’S RECEPTION BY THE KING OF DAHOMEY 1

A MALAGASEY BALL 52

BORNEO 54

AUSTRALIAN WEAPONS 66

POLYNESIAN WAR CANOE 67

WAR DANCE OF NEW ZEALANDERS 88

DAYAK AND MALAY WEAPONS 93

POLYNESIAN GOODS BOAT 106

NORTH AMERICAN WAR WEAPONS 111

A CHIPPEWA WARRIOR 115

POLYNESIAN WAR TOOLS 122

THE EUROPEAN’S HUT IN THE WILDERNESS 133

TORRES’ STRAITS CANOE 147

AN AUSTRALIAN DUEL 154

AFRICAN ARMS 162

THE UNIVERSAL WEAPON 168

A SAVAGE BOWMAN 169

PAPUAN BLACKSMITHS 180

THE EXPLORER’S HIGHWAY 183

THE TWO DOGS OR NONE 192

BOATMEN OF ROCKINGHAM BAY 203

THE TRUE WORD EXPOUNDED IN WESTERN AFRICA 204

SAMOAN IDOL WORSHIP 218

A POLYNESIAN IDOL 221

SPECTRE OF A HEADLESS DOG 240

MAKING BROTHERS 243

THE DREAM OF LITTLE WASP 262

THE COVETOUS PAWNEE 275

AN IROQUOIS WARRIOR 280

A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF BOUDA 289

PUNISHMENT FOR KILLING FETISH SNAKES 293

CEREMONY OF TOUCHING THE BULL 301

DIVINATION SCENE 307

MAKING RAIN 312

DU CHAILLU’S PEEP INTO A HEATHEN TEMPLE 321

THE WIZARD IN THE STOCKS 324

INHABITANTS OF THE FAN COUNTRY 336

BURYING ALIVE IN FIGI 337

MOURNING SUIT OF LEAVES 341

FUNERAL OBSEQUIES OF KING FINOW 354

A SAMOAN SEPULCHRE 364

A MANDAN CHIEF 374

MANDAN PLACE OF SKULLS 375

“HE HEARD THEM RECOUNT THEIR VALIANT DEEDS” 380

DAMARA TOMB 387

AFRICAN WAKE 392

THE “MASTER OF LIFE” IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA 395

THE VERY LAST DAHOMAN “CUSTOM” 414