ended, the women (being painted all their faces with black coale and oyle) do sitt twenty-four howers in their howses, mourning and lamenting by turnes, with such yelling and howling as may expresse their great passions.

While this description brings the subject under the head before given —­house burial—­at the same time it might also afford an example of embalmment or mummifying.

Figure 1 may be referred to as a probable representation of the temple or charnel-house described.

The modes of burial described in the foregoing accounts are not to be considered rare; for among certain tribes in Africa similar practices prevailed.  For instance, the Bari of Central Africa, according to the Rev. J.G.  Wood,[26] bury their dead within the inclosure of the home-stead, fix a pole in the ground, and fasten to it certain emblems.  The Apingi, according to the same author, permit the corpse to remain in its dwelling until it falls to pieces.  The bones are then collected and deposited on the ground a short distance from the village.  The Latookas bury within the inclosure of a man’s house, although the bones are subsequently removed, placed in an earthen jar, and deposited outside the village.  The Kaffirs bury their head-men within the cattle inclosure, the graves of the common people being made outside, and the Bechuanas follow the same general plan.

The following description of Damara burial, from the work quoted above (p. 314), is added as containing an account of certain details which resemble somewhat those followed by North American Indians.  In the narrative it will be seen that house burial was followed only if specially desired by the expiring person: 

When a Damara chief dies, he is buried in rather a peculiar fashion.  As soon as life is extinct—­some say even before the last breath is drawn—­the bystanders break the spine by a blow from a large stone.  They then unwind the long rope that encircles the loins, and lash the body together in a sitting posture, the head being bent over the knees.  Ox-hides are then tied over it, and it is buried with its face to the north, as already described when treating of the Bechuanas.  Cattle are then slaughtered in honor of the dead chief, and over the grave a post is erected, to which the skulls and hair are attached as a trophy.  The bow, arrows, assagai, and clubs of the deceased are hung on the same post.  Large stones are pressed into the soil above and around the grave, and a large pile of thorns is also heaped over it, in order to keep off the hyenas, who would be sure to dig up and devour the body before the following day.  The grave of a Damara chief is represented on page 302.  Now and then a chief orders that his body shall be left in his own house, in which case it is laid on an elevated platform, and a strong fence of thorns and stakes built round the hut.

The funeral ceremonies being completed, the new chief forsakes the place and takes the