Note 310.4 — Chapter XIII · FUNERAL RITES.

The meaning of some ceremonies may not be quite so clear; as when one tribe of Tartars, having eaten the favourite horse of the departed, sticks up its head on the grave; or another tribe, killing and eating a fat mare, hangs her skin from the branches of the tree that shades the tomb.310.4 The southern tribes of British Columbia often killed the horse of the deceased and decked the grave with its skin.310.5 The Yoruba of West Africa collect the bones of the fowls and sheep eaten by the guests, and of the other victims sacrificed, and place them over the grave.311.1 The Kamtchadales eat a fish in memory of the departed and throw the fins into the fire.311.2 The Kirghiz Tartars burn on the tomb the bones of the horse they have eaten—usually the favourite of the dead man.311.3 Animal bones, burnt and unburnt, and especially the head of an ox, are frequently found in opening barrows in this country, pointing to practices on the part of the prehistoric inhabitants analogous to these.311.4 Probably, in many cases at least, they are the remains of a banquet common to the living and the dead.