Tooker] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 39 



courageous also ( JE 10 : 227 ; cf . JK 17 : 75) . Sometimes a man made 

 an incision in the upper part of liis neck and let the blood of the 

 tortured prisoner run into it : since the enemy's blood had mingled with 

 his own, he would never be surprised by the enemy, no matter how 

 secret that knowledge might be ( JR 10 : 227-220) . The dead prisoner 

 might be cut up and put piece by piece into a kettle to be cooked. At 

 other feasts the head of the animal — ^bear, dog, deer, or large fish — 

 was given to the chief; ^^ but at this feast it was given to the lowest 

 person in the company. Some ate of the prisoner with horror, others 

 with relish (JR 10: 229; cf. JR 15: 173; 17: 99; 18: 31-33; S 162). 

 [See the martyrdom of Brebeuf and Lallemant (JR 34: 27-85, 

 141-149) for further accounts of torture of prisoners.] 



The war song ( JR 33 : 183) was sung on other occasions in addition 

 to the farewell feast and the torture. The "doleful chant" the Jesuits 

 mention the Indians singing when they despair of their lives (as 

 before going to war or while in the midst of a storm on the lake) 

 was probably this song (JR 23: 173-175).^" 



After sunset on the day the captive was tortured to death, his 

 soul was expelled from the houses by making a "horrible and miiversal 

 noise." Souls of enemies who died in other ways and those of friends 

 and relatives were not feared (JR 39: 29). 



THE VILLAGE 



Some of the villages, the principal ones, were enclosed by strong 

 wooden palisades ( JR 10 : 51, 229 ; 11 : 7 ; 22 : 305 ; 23 : 57 ; 34 : 125-127 ; 

 S 91) ." One such stockade was made of pine trees from 15 to 16 feet 

 high and had a deep ditch (JR 34: 123-125). In general, these pali- 

 sades were made in three rows, interlaced into one another and 

 reinforced within by large thick pieces of bark to a height of 8 or 9 

 feet. At the bottom were placed lengthwise large tree trunks that 

 rested on strong short forks made from tree trunks. Above the pali- 

 sades were galleries or watch towers [called ondaqua (S 91)], which 

 in war time were stocked with stones to hurl upon the enemy and 



*5 See below, "Feasts." The head of the animal, now often that of a pig, still has a 

 special importance in the feasts of some medicine societies (see note 24, p. 73). 



*• See "Death" (p. 129), for singing of this song at the farewell feast. By Iroquoian cus- 

 tom, each man has a personal chant (adfinwe') which belongs either to his father or to 

 his maternal line and which was and is sung on certain occasions. It was the last song 

 sung by an Iroquois warrior before his death and was the song sung by a warrior while 

 boasting during the war feasts. It is currently sung as a part of certain Iroquois cere- 

 monials, as Midwinter, and is one of the Four Sacred Ceremonies of the Iroquois, cere- 

 monies thought to have been given In the creation and confirmed by Handsome. Lake. Its 

 war connotations are no longer important and Its purpose Is now to return thanks to the 

 Creator (Fenton 1936 : 16 ; 1941 b : 106 n. ; 1942 b : 18-19 ; 1953 : 103 ; Speck 1949 : 135- 

 137). 



«The Iroquois village often also was stockaded (see Beauchamp 1905: 110-116 and 

 Morgan 1852: 113-114 for descriptions of these stockades). 



