Note 784 — Chapter V · NEW MEXICANS.

Among the Navajos 'Immediately after a death occurs a vessel containing water is placed near the dwelling of the deceased, where it remains over night; in the morning two naked Indians come to get the body for burial, with their hair falling over and upon their face and shoulders. When the ceremony is completed they retire to the water, wash, dress, do up their hair, and go about their usual avocations.' Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 358. The Navajos 'all walked in solemn procession round it (the grave) singing their funeral songs. As they left it, every one left a present on the grave; some an arrow, others meat, moccasins, tobacco, war-feathers, and the like, all articles of value to them.' Pattie's Pers. Nar., p. 119; Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 57. 'A los niños y niñas de pecho les llevan en una jicara la leche ordenada de sus pechos las mismas madres, y se las echan en la sepultura; y esto lo hacen por algunos dias continuos.' Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 543; Neighbors, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. ii., p. 133; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 280; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 100; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 304; Marcy's Army Life, p. 56. 'When a young warrior dies, they mourn a long time, but when an old person dies, they mourn but little, saying that they cannot live forever, and it was time they should go.' Parker's Notes on Tex., pp. 192, 236.