1636.] FRENZY OF THE MOURNERS. 77 



During these harangues, other functionaries were 

 lining the grave throughout with rich robes of 

 beaver-skin. Three large copper kettles were next 

 placed in the middle,^ and then ensued a scene of 

 hideous confusion. The bodies which had been 

 left entu-e were brought to the edge of the grave, 

 flung in, and arranged in order at the bottom by 

 ten or twelve Indians stationed there for the pur- 

 pose, amid the wildest excitement and the uproar 

 of many hundred mingled voices.^ When this part 

 of the work was done, night was fast closing in. 

 The concourse bivouacked around the clearing, and 

 lighted their camp-fires under the brows of the for- 

 est which hedged in the scene of the dismal solem- 

 nity. Brebeuf and his companions withdrew to 

 the village, where, an hour before dawn, they were 

 roused by a clamor which might have wakened the 

 dead. One of the bundles of bones, tied to a pole 

 on the scaffold, had chanced to fall into the grave. 

 This accident had precipitated the closing act, and 

 perhaps increased its frenzy. Guided by the un- 

 earthly din, and the broad glare of flames fed with 

 heaps of fat pine logs, the priests soon reached the 

 spot, and saw what seemed, in their eyes, an image 

 of Hell. All around blazed countless fixes, and 



1 In some of these graves, recently discovered, five or six large 

 copper kettles have been found, in a position corresponding with the 

 account of Brebeuf. In one, there were no less than twenty-six ket- 

 tles. 



2 " lamais rien ne m'a mieux figure la confusion qui est parmy les 

 damnez. Vous eussiez veu decharger de tous costez des corps a demy 

 pourris, et de tous costez on enteudoit vn horrible tmtamarre de voix con- 

 fuses de personnes qui parloient et ne s'entendoient pas." — BreTjeuf, 

 Relation des Hurons, 1636, 135. 



7* 



