IKi EXPEDITION TO THE 



the belief that the living require it much more than the 

 dead. An invocation is then made to the deceased, who 

 is entreated to speed his course direct to the Great Prairie, 

 without casting his eyes back ; for they hold, that if on 

 his way to the land of Spirits, he were to look behind him, 

 it would bring ill luck upon some one of his relations, to 

 whom it w ould be a signal, that his company was required 

 by his departed friend. It is usual to mark the grave with 

 a post, on which are inscribed in hieroglyphics the deeds 

 of the deceased, whether in the way of hunting or of fight- 

 ing. It is not uncommon for the survivors to adopt a male 

 or female child as a substitute for their lost relative. When 

 they bury a corpse in a trough hollowed out of a tree, they 

 prefer one of ash wood, as they observe that it is less easily 

 penetrated by water. 



We are informed, that they profess to have been well 

 acquainted with the art of making maple sugar previous 

 to their intercourse with the whites. Our interpreter 

 states, that having once expressed his doubts on the sub- 

 ject in the presence of Jose Renard, a Kickapoo chief, the 

 latter answered him immediately, with a smile, " can it 

 be that thou art so simple as to ask me such a question, 

 seeing that the Master of Life has imparted to us an instinct 

 which enables us to substitute stone hatchets and knives for 

 those made of steel by the whites ; wherefore should we 

 not have known as well as they how to manufacture sugar ? 

 He has made us all, that we should enjoy life ; he has placed 

 before us all the requisites for the support of existence, 

 food, water, fire, trees &c. ; wherefore then should he have 

 withheld from us the art of excavating the trees in order 

 to make troughs of them, of placing the sap in these, of 

 heating the stones and throwing them into the sap so as 

 to cause it to boil, and by this means reducing it into 



