56 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
have been used in ordinary speech. However, he could understand 
enough to be able to say that the speaker was reciting the various topics 
of consolation, much as they are contained in the Onondaga portion of 
the printed Book of Rites, though generally at greater length. He 
‘“ came before the mourners where they were bowed in great darkness,” 
and ‘stood beside the ashes of their hearth, and sought to comfort 
them.” He ‘ mourned for the chief who had passed away, and who had 
been sent to work for the good of them all—of the warriors, the women 
and the children. Sooner or later they would all follow him to the grave. 
Meanwhile they would show their reverence for his memory. They would 
deck his grave, and cover it carefully, so that the rain should not pene- 
trate into it. And he now wiped away the tears of the mourners, and 
bade the bright sun again shine upon them. They must remember that 
they had their duties to the people to perform, in the place of the chiefs 
who were gone.” And finally he called upon them to show him the men 
who were proposed as candidates in place of the deceased chiefs. 
While Montour spoke, he held in his hand a string of wampum, or 
sometimes two or three strings united together. When he had finished 
one topic or section of his speech, he handed the string, or knot of strings, 
to an attendant, who with a measured pace bore it along the hall to the 
upper corner, where he delivered it to Chief Skanawati (John Buck), the 
spokesman of the elder nations. The wampum beads were variously dis- 
posed in these strings, according to the topic which they intended to 
recall. For instance, the most mournful subject—the reference to the 
death of the late chief—was indicated by a string entirely black. The 
complete consolation of the shining sun was figured by a string or knot 
of pure white beads. In some of the other strings the white beads pre- 
dominated, and in others the black. They varied. also in their length, 
and in the number (from one to three strings) appropriated to each 
topic. 
The style of recitation was somewhat remarkable. It was neither 
singing nor ordinary speaking, but a mode of utterance evidently pecu- 
liar to this part of the ceremony. He spoke in brief sentences, each 
commencing with a high, sudden, explosive outburst, and gradually sink- 
ing to the close, where it ended abruptly, in a quick, rising inflection. 
The whole was plainly a set form of phrases, which the speaker was 
reciting with a sort of perfunctory fervour. Occasionally there was a 
brief response—a low wail of assent—from the upper corner, where the 
chiefs of the elder nations sat motionless, with their faces bowed, during 
the whoie recital. The ceremony had taken nearly an hour, and some 
eleven or twelve of the wampum tokens had passed before it was com- 
pleted. 
Three hours had now been occupied by this monotonous chanting 
and recitation, and I hoped that the end had been reached. The silent 

