BUSHNELL] NATIVE CEMETERIES AND FORMS OF BURIAL 39 



ered with skins, much richer and better adorned than any of their 

 cabbins. A post is afterwards erected, on which they fix every thing 

 capable of expressing the esteem in whicli tliey lielcl the deceased. 

 * * * Fresh provisions are carried to the place every morning, 

 and as the dogs and other beasts do not fail to take advantage of 

 this, they would fain persuade themselves that it is the soul of the 

 deceased, who comes to take some refreshment." (Charlevoix, (1), 

 II, pp. 187-188.) 



This may have been intended as a general statement of the customs 

 of the tribes whom he had met during his journey, although written 

 while among the Miami, but its greatest value is the manner in which 

 the origin and cause of the flexed burial is explained, and this would 

 probably apply to the eastern as well as to the western Algonquians. 



" THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY " 



The term Illinois Indians as used by some early writers was in- 

 tended to include the various Algonquian tribes, encountered in the 

 " Illinois country," in addition to those usually recognized as form- 

 ing the Illinois confederacy. Thus, in the following quotation from 

 Joutel will be found a reference to the Chahouanous — i. e., Shaw- 

 nee — as being of the IsUnois, and in the same note Accancea referred 

 to the Quapaw, a Siouan tribe living on the right bank of the Mis- 

 sissippi, not far north of the mouth of the Arkansas. Describing 

 the burial customs of the Illinois, as witnessed by him during the 

 latter years of the seventeenth century, Joutel wrote : " They pay a 

 Respect to their Dead, as appears by their special Care of burying 

 them, and even of putting into lofty Coffins the Bodies of such as 

 are considerable among them, as their Chiefs and others, which is 

 also practised among the Accancea' s, but they differ in this Particu- 

 lar, that the Accancea^s weep and make their Complaints for some 

 Days, where as the CJiahouanous and other People of the Islinois 

 Nation do just the Contrary ; for when any of them die, they wrap 

 them up in Skins, and then put them into Coffins made of the Barks 

 of Trees, then sing and dance about them for twenty four Hours. 

 Those Dancers take Care to tie Calabashes, or Gourds about their 

 Bodies, with some Indian Wheat in them, to rattle and make a Noise, 

 and some of them have a Drum, made of a great Earthen Pot, on 

 which they extend a wild Goat's Skin, and beat thereon with one 

 Stick like our Tabors. During that Eejoicing, they throw their 

 Presents on the Coffin, as Bracelets, Pendents, or Pieces of Earthen 

 Ware, and Strings of Beads, encouraging the Singers to perform 

 their Duty well. If any Friend happens to come thither at that 

 Time, he immediately throws down his Present and falls a singing 

 and dancing like the rest. When that Ceremony is over, they bury 



