CHAPTER Vn. 



1636, 1637. 

 THE FEAST OF THE DEAD. 



HuKON Graves. — Preparation for the Ceremony. — Disinter- 

 ment. — The Mourning. — The Funeral March. — The Great 

 Sepulchre. — Funeral Games. — Encampment op the Mourn- 

 ers. — Gifts. — Harangues. — Frenzy of the Crowd. — The 

 Closing Scene. — Another Rite. — The Captive Iroquois.— 

 The Sacrifice. 



Mention has been made of those great deposi- 

 tories of human bones found at the present day in 

 the ancient country of the Hurons.^ They have 

 been a theme of abundant speculation ; ^ yet their 

 origin is a subject, not of conjecture, but of his- 

 toric certainty. The peculiar rites to which they 

 owe their existence were first described at length 

 by Brebeuf, who, in the summer of the year 1636, 

 saw them at the town of Ossossane. 



The Jesuits had long been familiar with the 

 ordinary rites of sepulture among the Hurons : the 

 corpse placed in a crouching posture in the midst 

 of the circle of friends and relatives ; the long, 



1 See Introduction. 



2 Among those who have wondered and speculated over these re- 

 mains is Mr. Schoolcraft. A slight acquaintance with the early writers 

 would have solved his doubts. 



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