74 THE FEAST OF THE DEAD. [1C36. 



and, as the squaws of the household distributed the 

 food, a chief harangued the assembly, lamenting 

 the loss of the deceased, and extolling their virtues. 

 This solemnity over, the mourners began their 

 march for Ossossane, the scene of the final rite. 

 The bodies remaining entire were home on a kind 

 of litter, while the bundles of bones were slung at 

 the shoulders of the relatives, like fagots. Thus 

 the procession slowly defiled along the forest path- 

 ways, with which the country of the Hurons was 

 everywhere intersected ; and as they passed be- 

 neath the dull shadow of the pines, they uttered at 

 intervals, in unison, a di'eary, wailing cry, designed 

 to imitate the voices of disembodied souls winging 

 their way to the land of spirits, and believed to have 

 an efi'ect peculiarly soothing to the conscious relics 

 which each man bore. When, at night, they stopped 

 to rest at some village on the way, the inhabitants 

 came forth to welcome them with a grave and 

 mournful hospitality. 



From every town of the Nation of the Bear, — 

 except the rebellious few that had seceded, — pro- 

 cessions like this were converging towards Ossos- 

 sane. This chief town of the Hurons stood on 

 the eastern margin of Nottawassaga Bay, encom- 

 passed with a gloomy wilderness of fir and pine. 

 Thither, on the urgent invitation of the chiefs, the 

 Jesuits repaired. The capacious bark houses were 

 filled to overflowing, and the surrounding woods 

 gleamed with camp-fires : for the processions of 

 mourners were fast arriving, and the throng was 

 swelled by invited guests of other tribes. Funeral 



