80 



tending that the deeds of this life have no influence 

 upon a future state. 



Notwithstanding they know the difference be- 

 tween the body and the soul, their ideas of the spi- 

 rituality of the latter do not seem to be very dis- 

 tinct, as appears from the ceremonies practised at 

 their funerals. As soon as one of their nation dies, 

 his friends and relations seat themselves upon the 

 ground around the body, and weep for a long time ; 

 they afterwards expose it, cloathed in the best dress 

 of the deceased, upon a high bier called p'llluay^ 

 where it remains during the night, which they pass 

 near it in weeping, or in eating and drinking with 

 those who come to console them. This meeting is 

 called curicahuin^ the black entertainment, as that 

 colour is among them, as well as the Europeans, the 

 symbol of mourning. The following day, sometimes 

 not until the second or the third after the decease of 

 the person, they carry the corpse in procession to 

 the eltiin, or burying-place of the family, which is 

 usually situated in a wood or on a hill. Two young 

 men on horseback, riding full speed, precede the 

 procession. The bier is carried by the principal re- 

 lations, and is surrounded by women who bewail the 

 deceased in the manner of the hired mourners among 

 the Romans ; while another woman who walks be- 

 hind strews ashes in the road, to prevent the soul 

 from returning to its late abode. On arriving at the 

 place of burial, the corpse is laid upon the surface of 

 the ground, and surrounded, if a man, with his arms, 

 if a woman, with female implements, and with a 

 great quantity of provisions, and with vessels filled 



