BURIAL CUSTOMS. 85 



wheu a death arises from small-pox or consump- 

 tion, and one or two other diseases that they 

 do not consider natural deaths ; nor do they 

 "cry" when the head of a tribe dies, as they 

 are always anxious to keep it a secret as long 

 as possible, most likely from political motives, 

 and it may be many months or a year before 

 the " wake," as one may call it, is held. 



A corpse is always washed before burial, and 

 dressed in new capalanes, all the old ones 

 being torn into shreds and put into tbe grave, 

 together with the sleeping-mat on which the 

 patient died, for the body to lie on. Every- 

 thing the deceased used in life (pots, pans, &c. 

 should it be a woman, all her baskets also) 

 is broken up and placed on the grave, which, 

 when possible, is made under a tree or bush 

 of the fine branched Euphorbia, and as near 

 the deceased's hut as they can make it. If no 

 Euphorbia bush is handy, a small piece is usually 

 planted on the grave. 



The hut where the death took place is never 

 afterwards inhabited, but is suffered to fall into 



