286 FOSSIL MEN. 



literary composition, and such orations and songs as 

 have been preserved to us are sometimes by no means 

 despicable efforts. The dying speech having been 

 finished, presents were given to the sick man by 

 members of his family, and the relatives took their 

 last farewell, wishing him a happy journey, and con- 

 soling him with the hope of the joys at its termination, 

 and with the assurance that his children would sustain 

 the reputation of his name. Among one northern 

 tribe, according to Charlevoix, it was believed that 

 when old persons survived until their dotage, they 

 would have to begin their new life in the other world 

 as mere infants. To avoid this, so strong was the 

 conviction of eternal life, old persons verging on 

 decrepitude were in the habit of beseeching their 

 relatives to strangle them, that they might enter the 

 future life in the full possession of their powers. * 



The faith of the survivors in the immortality of 

 their deceased friends was exhibited in the care of the 

 body, and in the simple rites and offerings by which 

 they hoped to promote the welfare of the disembodied 

 spirit. First among these may be mentioned the 

 securing of companions and assistants to the departed 

 shade. The terrible expedient of immolating prison- 

 ers, slaves, and wives, on the tomb, so prevalent in 

 the Old World, was not unknown in the New. Among 

 the northern tribes, their only domestic animal, the 

 dog, was obliged to accompany his master into the 



* The same belief and practice are recorded by Hunt as 

 existing among the Fijians. 



