Ishi's mortal remains reunited

"The last wild American" photographed in San Francisco in 1912

In a private ceremony at a Washington museum, the brain of a Native American has been handed to a Californian tribe who will bury it next to his cremated remains.

The Indian, called Ishi, first wandered into the remote town of Oroville, California, in 1911, after having apparently survived a massacre by whites.

He was employed until his death in 1916 as a janitor and living exhibit by Californian anthropologist Alfred Kroeber who regarded him as a link with the Stone Age.

Visitors were able to watch as he made spears, bows and arrows.

The name Ishi comes from a Native American dialect word meaning "man". In fact, he never revealed what his real name was.

Body and spirit

Before he died, Ishi left strict instructions that his whole body was to be cremated without an autopsy being performed.

"A person should be complete upon burial," said Art Engel of the Butte County Native American Cultural Commission.

"If indeed it's not complete, then the spirit cannot ascend to where it needs to go, it's kind of in a lost position."

But those orders were ignored. An autopsy was carried out, Ishi's brain was removed and sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

On Tuesday, his brain was handed back to descendants of a tribe related to Ishi's. One of that tribe has said he hopes now that Ishi will be at peace and free to join his family and ancestors.