FEE-HISTORIC RACES OF MEX. 177 



sacrificed at graves during later times, and probably formed 

 part of the funeral feast. The teeth of oxen are so common 

 in tumuli, that they are even said by Mr. Bateman to be 

 " uniformly found with the more ancient interments." 



The very frequent presence of the bones of quadrupeds in 

 tumuli appears to show that sepulchral feasts were generally 

 held in honour of the dead, and the numerous cases in which 

 interments were accompanied by burnt human bones tend to 

 prove the prevalence of still more dreadful customs, and that 

 not only horses* and dogs, but slaves also, were frequently 

 sacrificed at their masters' graves ; it is not improbable that 

 wives often were burnt with their husbands, as in India, and 

 among many savage tribes. For instance, among the Fijis 

 it is usual on the death of a chief to sacrifice a certain number 

 of slaves, whose bodies "are called 'grass' for bedding" the 

 grave.f " It is probable," says Mr. Bateman, " that the critical 

 examination of all deposits of burnt bones would lead to much 

 curious information respecting the statistics of suttee and 

 infanticide, both which abominations we are unwillingly com- 

 pelled, by accumulated evidence, to believe were practised in 

 pagan Britain." From the numerous cases in which the bones 

 of an infant and a woman have been found together in one 

 grave, it would seem that if any woman died in childbirth, or 

 while nursing, the baby was buried alive with her, as is still 

 the practice among some of the Esquimaux families. It is, 

 however, an interesting fact, and throws some light on the 

 social relations of the times, that there are several cases in 

 which a barrow even of considerable size has been erected 

 over the remains of an infant, the favourite child, we may 

 suppose, of some powerful chief. 



* Even so lately as in 1871, t Manners and Customs of the 



Frederick Casimir was laid in his Feegees, by T. "Williams, 1860, 



grave with his slaughtered horse. vol. i. p. 189. 

 Hora3 feral es, p. 66. 



N 



