381 



killed, that he may ride upou them in Albae Mapa, the country 

 of the dead ; only a few are reserved to carry his bones to the 

 sepulchre, and for the last ceremony. 



When the bohes are to be removed they pack them up in a 

 hide, and lay them on the favourite horse of the deceased, 

 tvhich they adorn in their best manner with mantles, feathers, 

 &c. and in this manner they travel to the family burial-place, 

 which is sometimes three hundred leagues off, so wide are 

 their wanderings. The Moluches aud the Pampas bury them 

 in large square pits, about a fathom deep: the boues are put 

 together and tied in their places, then clothed with tlieir best 

 robes, and ornamented with beads and feathers, all of which 

 are cleansed or changed once a year. They are placed in & 

 row, sitting, with all the weapons aud other things which be- 

 longed to the dead. The vault is then covered over witt 

 beams and twigs, over which the earth is thrown. An old 

 matron from each tribe is appointed to take care of these 

 graves. She opens them every year, and clothes and cleans 

 the skeletons ; for which she is held in great veneration. The 

 bodies of the horses are placed round the grave, raised upoa 

 their feet, and supported by stakes. These graves are in 

 general not far from their ordinary habitations. Every year 

 they pour upon them some bowls of their first made c^zca, 

 and drink to the good health of the dead. The Tehuelhets 

 and southern tribes carry their dead to a great distance from 

 their dwellings, into the desert by the sea-coast, where they 

 set them in order above ground, with their horses round them. 

 It is probable that they reduce them to skeletons only when 

 they have to carry them a considerable distance, for in the 

 Voyage of Discovery, made in 1746 by the St. Antonio, 

 from Buenos Ayrcs to the Straits, the Jesuits who accom- 

 panied that expedition found one of these tents or houses 

 of the dead. On one side there were six banners, as they may 

 be called, of cloth of various colours, each about half-ell 

 square, set upon high poles, which were fixed in the ground. 



