Tooker] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 141 



Each nation had its own viUage. Thus, if a soul of an Algonquin 

 was bold enough to present itself at the village of the Bear Nation's 

 souls, it would not be well received. The old people and the little 

 children, not having as strong legs as the others, did not make the 

 journey (for old people cf. JR 14: 51), but remained in the country, 

 where they had their own villages. Some said that they had heard 

 the noise of their house doors and the voices of the children chasing 

 birds in the fields. These souls sowed corn in the fields the living 

 had abandoned and, if a village took fire, they collected the roasted 

 corn and laid it in as part of their provisions ( JR 10 : 143-145) . 



The souls of those who had died in battle formed a band of them- 

 selves, for the others feared them and did not allow them into the 

 village.*^ Suicides also were not allowed to enter the village ( JR 10 : 

 145 ).«^ 



Some had seen souls going to their village in the west. The road 

 to this village was broad and well-beaten and passed near a rock 

 named ecaregniondi^ which was often found marked with the paint 

 they used on their faces (JR 10: 145). On this road was a house in 

 which lived oscotarach ("Pierce-head"), who drew the brains out of 

 the heads of the dead and kept them.^^ There was also a river across 

 which the only bridge was a tree trunk ; it was guarded by a dog who 

 jumped at many souls and made them fall into the water and drown 

 (JR10:147).'^» 



The land of the dead was known to the Huron from the reports of 

 those who had died and who had been brought back to life ( JR 10 : 

 147; 13: 153). They said that the village of the souls was like the 

 village of the living ; that the souls went hunting, fishing, and to the 

 woods, and that axes, robes, and collars were highly valued there 

 (JR 10: 147). The souls in the afterlife needed to drink, eat, clothe 



*» This may be related to the present Iroquois belief that death In a foreign land is 

 considered punishment for past sins (see note 52, p. 132). 



^ Kirkland also said that the Iroquois who were suicides, as well as those who had been 

 disobedient to the councils of the chiefs, and those who put away their wives because of 

 pregnancy, were not admitted to the afterworkl (Beauchamp 1922 : 158 ; cf. note 51, p. 132). 

 The Iroquois today believe in a heaven and a hell, the one governed by the Great Spirit 

 (Creator) and the other by the Evil Spirit (I.e., the Devil, in Western thought) 

 (Morgan 1901(1) : 163), but it is difficult to know how much of these beliefs were intro- 

 duced by Handsome Lake, who did make use of Christian elements (Shimony 1961 a: 

 204-205; Parker 1913: passim; Deardorff 1951). Jackson's (1830 b: 23) implication 

 that one went to the land of the dead if one's conduct had been orderly and his mention 

 of a Great Spirit and an Evil Spirit indicate that perhaps these basic dualistic ideas 

 were already present in Iroquois culture, although there is always the question of how 

 much of Christian beliefs Christians read into other eschatologies. The most probable 

 interpretation on the basis of this material is that there was in Iroquoian cultures 

 a belief that certain individuals did not go to the land of the dead (a belief indicated 

 by the Jesuits and by Kirkland) and that more and more Christian ideas were added to 

 this, culminating in the doctrine of Handsome Lake. 



88 This "Head-opener" who takes out brains and eats, according to some, or keeps, 

 according to others, is also mentioned by Hewitt (1895 b : 112). 



69 Kirkland notes an Iroquois belief in a gloomy, fathomless gulf where a great dog 

 (some say dragon) lives and Into which guilty people fall and catch a disease (a great 

 itch) of the dog (Beauchamp 1922 : 158). 

 671-292—64 10 



