168 A V O Y A G E T O 



'779- I had hardly got out of fight, before I heard their cries and 



March. ° ° 



lamentations ; and meeting them a few hours afterward, 

 I found they had painted the lower part of their faces per- 

 fect black. 



The other opportunity I had of obferving thefe cere- 

 monies, was in the cafe of an ordinary perfon ; when, on 

 hearing fome mournful female cries ilTue from a miferable 

 looking hut, I ventured into it, and found an old woman 

 with her daughter, weeping over the body of an elderly 

 man, who had but juft expired, being mil warm. The 

 .firft flep they rook, was to cover the body with cloth, 

 after which, lying down by it, they drew the cloth over 

 themfelves, and then began a mournful kind of fong, 

 frequently repeating, Azveb medoaab J Aiveh tance '. Oh my 

 father ! Oh my hufband ! A younger daughter was alio 

 at the fame time lying proflrate, in a corner of the houfe, 

 covered over with black cloth, repeating the fame words. 

 On leaving this melancholy fcene, I found at the door a 

 number of their neighbours collected together, and liflen- 

 ing to their cries with profound fllence. I was refolved not 

 to mifs this opportunity of Ceehig in what manner they dif- 

 pofc of the body ; and therefore, after fatisfying myfelf, 

 before I went to bed, that it was not then removed, I gave 

 orders, that the fentries fhould walk backward and forward 

 before the houfe, and, in cafe they fufpeCled any meafures 

 were taking for the removal of the body, to give me im- 

 mediate notice. However, the fentries had not kept a good 

 look-out, for in the morning I found the body was gone. 

 On inquiring, what they had done with it ? They pointed 

 .toward the fea ; indicating, mod probably, thereby, that if 

 had been committed to the deep, or perhaps that it had 

 been carried beyond the bay, to fome burying-ground in 



another 



