Feb. 1, 1886.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



123 



From the village of his childhood, 

 From the homes of those who knew him, 

 Passing silent through the forest. 

 Like a smoke-wreath wafted sideways. 

 Slowly vanished Chibiabos !* 

 Where he passed the branches moved not, 

 Where he trod the grasses bent not, 

 And the fallen leaves of last year 

 Made no sound beneath his footsteps.t 

 Four whole daj-s he journeyed onward, 

 Down the pathway of the dead men : 

 On the dead man's strawberry feasted. 

 Crossed the melancholy river. 

 On the swinging log he crossed it. 

 Came unto the Lake of Silver, 

 In the Stone Canoe was carried 

 To the islands of the Blessed." 



" Chibiabos crossed the mehracholy rirer." The 

 Guinea negroes believe " that the departed shall be 

 judged by their god at the river of death, to be gently 

 wafted bj- him to a pleas-int land," if they have done 

 well, but if not, "to be plunged into the river bj- the 

 god, and thus drowned and buried in eternal oblivion.''^ 

 The Hurons believe that a tree-trunk bridges the river 

 of death : here the dead must cross. The dog that 

 guf.rds it attacks some souls, and they fall.§ Most likelj- 

 this is the "swinging log" referred to iii the poem of 

 " Hiawatha. ' " The Hurons and Iroquois told the 

 earliest missionaries that after death the sotil must cross 

 a deep, swift river, on a bridge formed by a single slender 

 tree, most lightly supported, where it had to defend 

 itself against the attacks of a dog. The Athapascans 

 (Chepewyans) also told of a great water, which the .soul 

 must cross in a stone canoe ; the Algonquins and Dakotas 

 of a stream bridged by an enormous snake, or a narrow 

 and precipitous rock ; and the Araucanians of Chili tell 

 of a sea in the West, in crossing which the soul was 

 required to pay toll to a malicious old woman. AVere it 

 unluckily impecunious, she deprived it of an eye." With 

 the Aztecs this water was called Chicunoapa, the Nine 

 Rivers. It was guarded by a dog and a green dragon, to 

 conciliate which the dead were furnished with slips of 

 paper by way of toU."iJ 



But, to return to Chibiabos : — 



" On that journey, moving slowly. 

 Many weary spirits saw he. 

 Panting under heavy burdens. 

 Laden with war-clubs, bows and arrows. 

 Robes of fur, and pots and kettles. 

 And with food that friends had given 

 For that solitary journey. 

 ' Ah 1 why do the living,' said they, 

 ' Lay such heavy burdens on us 1 

 Better were it to go naked, 

 Better were it to go fasting. 

 Than to bear such hea^y burdens 

 On our long and weary journey 1 ' '' 



This refers to the custom of making provision for the 

 dead, and in many cases horses, dogs, and even the widow, 



* " It was the custom among the Algonquins and other tribes to 

 bum the dead bodies after death. It was, however, a great distinc- 

 tion among the Algonquins. as only those of the distinguished totem 

 of the Great Hare were entitled to this peculiar honour. They 

 gave as a reason, that members belonging to so illustrious a clan as 

 that of Michabo, the Hare, should not be put under the ground as 

 common folks, but rise to the heavens on flame and smoke." — 

 Brinton. p. 162. 



f He had left his body behind him, and only his shadow travelled 

 to the sun — or, rather his body had been burned, so only his shadow 

 was left. 



X Tylor. " Prim. Culture,'' vol. ii., p. 23. 



§ Tylor. Ibid. p. 91. 



!J Brinton's " Jlyths of the Xew World, " p. 266. " It was the 

 custom of the Vikings to be buried in a boat, so that they might 

 cross the waters of Ciinungo-gap to the inviting strands of God- 

 heim." P. 26.-.. 



are sacrificed to bear him company on his weary journey. 

 In Schiller's burial song of the chieftain, translated by 

 Bulwer, this custom is referred to : — 



" Here bring the last gifts : loud and shrill 

 Wail deatli-dirge of the brave 1 

 What pleased him most in life, may still 

 Give pleasure in the grave. 

 We lay the axe beneath his head. 

 He swung when strength was strong, 

 The bear on which his hunger fed ; 

 And here, new-sharpened, place the knife. 

 Which severed from the clay. 

 From which the axe had spoiled the life. 

 The conquered scalp away. 

 The paints that deck the head bestow ; 

 Aye, place them in his hand. 

 That red the kiugly shade may glow 

 Amid the spirit land 1 " 



Ou the north-west const the American Indians, in 

 burying a chieftain, would place the body in a life-like 

 position, dressed and armed, and often as if engaged in 

 some congenial occupation, such as huuting, fishing, itc. 

 In some cases, horses and dogs are buried alive with the 

 dead body of their master. In one case a chieftain desired 

 a favourite war-steed to be buried alive under him. He 

 owned, among many horses, a noble white steed, that was 

 led to the top of the grass-covered hill, r.itd with great 

 pomp and ceremony, in the presence of the whole nation, 

 and several of the fur-traders ."nd the Indian r.gent, he 

 was placed astride of his horse's back, with his bow in 

 his hand, and his .shield and quiver slung, with his pipe 

 and his medicine -bag, with his supply of dried-meat, 

 and his tobacco-pouch replenished to kst him through 

 the journey to the beautiful hiinting-gr.mnds of the 

 shades of his fathers ; with his flint, its steel, and his 

 tinder to light his pipe by the way; the scalps he had 

 taken from his enemies' heads could be trophies for 

 nobody else, and were hung to the bridle of his horse. 

 He was in full dress and fully equipped, and on his head 

 waved to the last moment his beautiful head-dress of the 

 war-eagle's plumes. In this plight, and the last funeral 

 honours having been performed by the medicine-man, 

 every warrior of his band painted the palm and fingers of 

 his right hand with vermilion, which was stamped and 

 perfectly impressed on the milk-white sides of the devoted 

 horse. Tliis all done, turfs were brought and placed 

 around the feet and legs of the horse, and gradually laid 

 up to its sides, and at last over the head and back of the 

 unsuspecting animal, and last of all over the head and even 

 the eagle plumes of the valiant rider, where all together 

 have smouldered and remained undisturbed to the present 

 day.* 



ORIGIN OF COMETS AND METEORS, 



Bt Richaed a. Proctor. 



X Nov. 27, 1872, the meteors following 

 after Biela's comet were seen in tens of 

 thousands, as predicted. A few were seen 

 in 1879, on Nov. 28. And on Friday, 

 Nov. 27 last, the display of Bielan meteors 

 announced by me in the Times as likely 

 to occur took place as expected, and was 

 witnessed all over Europe. No doubt can remain, I 

 think, in any reasoning mind that the connection of these 

 meteors with the comet named after Biela (which should 

 properly be called Gambart's comet, as Gambart first 

 determined its path) has been amply established. We 



* "Bureau of Ethnologv," Smithsonian Institute, p. 139, forvear 

 1880-1881 



