Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/199

194 The dead are never cremated, as they are by the adjoining tribes on the west. There is an apparent exception to this rule in the occasional eremation practised while on the warpath. The writer is unable to account for this, unless it be due either to the influence of the Maricopas or to a survival pointing toward western affinities of the Piman stock. So far as ascertained, no disinterment for removal had ever been made by the Pimas. They never buried beneath the floors, as did the Hohokam.

Water and pinole are placed on the grave for the use of the soul in the other world, not on the journey thither, as that takes but a moment's time. In order that the soul may betake itself to the proper abiding place and not disturb the survivors, the latter are accustomed to say at the grave, "We put you here. Go to your home in the East. Do not come back." Ghosts are uncanny things to have about and are liable to touch sleeping persons, this meaning that the one touched must accompany the visitor back to the land of shades.

When a householder died his ki was formerly burned—an excellent hygienic precaution, but detrimental to the development of architecture. The other structures about the premises were either burned or piled on the grave. Personal property was similarly destroyed, and if there was any live stock, it was killed and eaten by anyone who chanced to be on hand, though the immediate relatives never partook