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220 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 103
no healing oil for their wounds—nothing but an eternity of pain—no games
no voluptuous pleasures—nothing save an illimitable land of blasted foliage.
. , . Previous to a spirit winging its flight to the happy hunting ground, or
the land of briers and blasted foliage, it was supposed to hover arouud the
place where its tabernacle lay for several days—four at least. They believed
that the happy hunting ground was at a distance of many days journey."
Hence the provisions placed near the grave, the animals killed, the
fire kindled there, and the mourning ceremonies as given elsewhere.
Cushman explains aversion to hanging on the ground that the
spirit of the person disposed of in this manner would continue to
haunt the place,^^ and he informs us that, as was supposed by the
Chickasaw and Creeks, " the spirit of the murdered Indian could
never take its flight from earth, or find rest anywhere in the eternal
unknown, until blood had atoned for blood."^" Lincecum implies
that it was thought the spirits of the dead would resent any indig-nity
offered to their bones,^^ and, like the other southern tribes, the Choctaw
believed that the names of the dead should not be uttered.^®
From the Choctaw of Bayou Lacomb Bushneil obtained the following
notes, which in some respects agree remarkably with Wright's
statements
Persons dying by violent deaths involving loss of blood, even a few drops,
do not pass to the home of Aba (heaven), regardless of the character of
their earthly lives, or their rank in the tribe. . . .
The spirits of all persons not meeting violent deaths, with the exception of
those only who murder or attempt to murder their fellow Choctaw, go to the
home of Aba. There it is always spring, with sunshine and flowers ; there are
birds and fruits and game in abundance. There the Choctaw ever sing and
dance, and trouble is not known. All who enter this paradise become equally
virtuous without regard to their state while on earth.
The unhappy spirits wlio fail to reach the home of Aba remain on earth in the
vicinity of the places where they have died. But Nanapolo [Nan okpulo], the
bad spirit, is never able to gain possession of the spirit of a Choctaw.^'
Thus our latest authority agrees with the one first quoted and
neither says anything about the peeled log. Does this mean that
there were two different sets of ideas regarding the fate of souls?
That souls of the good went to live with the sky spirit was also the
belief of the Chickasaw and Creeks, and probably also of the Siouan
tribes farther east. That death by violence condemns one to the
region of unfortunate souls as well as infliction of death on others
is an idea wholly Indian. The immunity of the Choctaw from harm
by the evil sjiirit is evidently a local or, perhaps, rather a personal
opinion.
" Cushman, Hist. Inds., pp. 362-863.
^=See p. 108.
'« Cushman, Hist. Inds., p. 265.
"See p. 14.
" See pp. 14, 120-121.
10 Bushneil, Bull. 48, Bur. Araer. Ethn., pp. 28-29.