XXXVIU TNTKODUCTION. 



took no share in the feast, proclaimed in a loud voice the 

 contents of each kettle in turn, and at each announce- 

 ment the company responded in unison. Ho! The at- 

 tendant squaws filled with their ladles the bowls of all 

 the guests. There was talking, laughing, jesting, sing- 

 ing, and smoking ; and at times the entertainment was 

 protracted through the day. 



When the feast had a medical or mystic character, it 

 was indispensable that each guest should devour the 

 whole of the portion given him, however enormous. 

 Should he fail, the host would be outraged, the com- 

 munity shocked, and the spirits roused to vengeance. 

 Disaster would befall the nation, — death, perhaps, the 

 individual. In some cases, the imagined efficacy of tlie 

 feast was proportioned to the rapidity with which the 

 viands were despatched. Prizes of tobacco were offered 

 to the most rapid feeder ; and the spectacle then became 

 truly porcine.^ These festins a manger tout were much 

 dreaded by many of the Hurons, who, however, were 

 never known to decline them. 



Invitation to a dance was no less concise than to a 

 feast. Sometimes a crier proclaimed the approaching 

 festivity through the village. The house was crowded. 

 Old men, old women, and children thronged the plat- 

 forms, or clung to the poles which supported the sides 

 and roof. Fires were raked out, and the earthen floor 

 cleared. Two chiefs sang at the top of their voices, 

 keeping time to their song with tortoise-shell rattles.^ 



1 This superstition was not confined to the Hurons, but extended to 

 many other tribes, including, probably, all the Algonquins, with some of 

 which it holds in full force to this day. A feaster, unable to do his full 

 part, might, if he could, hire another to aid him ; otherwise, he must 

 remain in his place till the work was done. 



2 Sagard gives specimens of their songs. In both dances and feasts 

 there was no little variety. These were sometimes combined. It is im- 



