MOHAVE INDIANS.

Winfield Courier, March 23, 1882. A letter from Arizona Territory, the Colorado River Agency. March 3, 1882.

EDS. COURIER: The religion of the Mohave Indians is worthy of attention; it determines many of their customs. All human beings, it is generally believed, have their religion, Robert Ingersoll not excepted. Having formed the acquaintance of Hookerow, or >Fast beat,= I began cautiously to enquire regarding their customs and ideas. They are very taciturn about their dead. To gain his confidence and draw him out, I explained the burial customs of the >HICO,= or whites. He listened with marked interest, and after a profound silence of several moments, he began.

AWe burn because our God tells us to do so. If we disobey, the dead are no more. If they are burned, they live and are happy always. We consider it a sacred duty to perform this service for the dead; we, in our turn, will need it performed.

AThe camp blanket, dog, horse are all sacrificed on the altar of love. Immortality does not depend on the burning of those things, but we love our friends and do not wish to look on anything that will remind us of them. Their names are never mentioned after death.

AThe earth and sky always existed; earth is the mother, sky the father of God. God made all men. He made the Mohave last and so he is naked; the other races took all the clothes. God had a son and daughter. The son took a stick, went to the Rocky Mountains, made a hole in the side of the mountain, and the Colorado River flowed forth. He then made fishes, then birds when the sky stretches to give the birds room to fly. The animals he made next, after which came forth the sun, moon, and stars. God=s daughter cannot be seen, but sometimes heard. She tells the medicine man how to cure, she tells the witches how to kill or cure. The witches know good and bad. Those who do bad we kill. We also kill our medicine men when they follow the advice of a bad witch. In heaven there is plenty to eat, and many beautiful maidens.@

The worse fate of a Mohave is to be no more after death. This belief deters them from war.

Respectfully. S/ C.G. Smith.