20 BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 71 



Montague had been made ceremonies had been enacted similar to that 

 described by Heckewelder. He wrote: 



DELAWARE CEREMONY, 1762 



" I was present in the year 1762, at the funeral of a woman of the 

 highest rank and respectability, the wife of the valiant Delaware 

 chief Shingask; . . . all the honours were paid to her at her 

 interment that are usual on such occasions. ... At the moment 

 that she died, her death was announced through the village by 

 women especially appointed for that purpose, who went through 

 the streets cr^'ing, ^ iShe is 7io vioir! She Is no moreP The place on 

 a sudden exhibited a scene of universal mourning; cries and lamen- 

 tations were heard from all quarters." The following day the body 

 was placed in a coffin which had been made by a carpenter em- 

 ployed by the Indian trader. The remains had been '' dressed and 

 painted in the most superb Indian style. Her garments, all new, 

 were set off with rows of silver broaches, one row joining the other. 

 Over the sleeves of her new ruffled shirt were broad silver arm 

 spangles from her shoulder down to her wrist, on which were bands, 

 forming a kind of mittens, worked together of wampum, in the same 

 manner as the belts which they use when they deliver speeches. Her 

 long plaited hair was confined by broad bands of silver, one band 

 joining the other, yet not of the same size, but tapering from the 

 head downwards and running at the lower end to a point. On the 

 neck were hanging five broad belts of wampum tied together at the 

 ends, each of a size smaller than the other, the largest of which 

 reached below her breast, the next largest reaching to a few inches 

 of it, and so on, tlie uppermost one being the smallest. Her scarlet 

 leggings were decorated with different coloured ribands sewed on, 

 the outer edges being finished off with small beads also of various 

 colours. Her mocksens were ornamented with the most striking fig- 

 ures, wrought on the leather with coloured porcupine quills, on the 

 borders of which, round the ancles, were fastened a number of small 

 round silver bells, of about the size of a musket ball. All these 

 things together with the vermilion paint, judiciously laid on, so as 

 to set her off in the highest style, decorated her person in such a 

 manner, that perhaps nothing of the kind could exceed it." Later, 

 " the spectators having retired, a number of articles were brought 

 out of the house and placed in the coffin." These included articles 

 of clothing, a dressed deerskin for the making of moccasins, needles, 

 a pewter basin. " with a number of trinkets and other small articles 

 which she was fond of while living." The coffin was then closed, the 

 lid being held in place by three straps. Across it were then placed 

 three poles, 5 or 6 feet in length, " also fastened with straps cut up 



