80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 71 



ha\e been across the river, and not far distant from C'anawaugus, 

 and may have been a burial place belonging to that village. 



LATER HURON BURIAL, 1675 



Having such a clear and vivid description of the early burial cus- 

 toms of the Huron, and the various ceremonies which were enacted 

 by members of that tribe at the time of the death of one of their 

 number, as recorded by Pere Le Jeune, in 1636, it is of interest to 

 compare them with the later customs of the same people, after they 

 had become influenced by the teachings of the missionaries. The later 

 account relates to the people of 7a Mission de Nofre-Dame de Lorette^ 

 in the year 1675, at which time " about 300 souls, both Huron and 

 Iroquois," were gathered about the Mission and heard the teachings 

 of the Jesuits. And regarding the burial of their dead it was said: 

 ''Their custom is as follows: as soom as any one dies, the captain 

 utters a lugubrious cry through the village to give notice of it. The 

 relatives of the deceased have no need to trouble themselves about 

 anything, beyond weeping for their dead; because every family 

 takes care that the body is shrouded, the grave dug, and the corpse 

 borne to it and bivried, and that everything else connected with the 

 burial is done, — a service that they reciprocally render to one another 

 on similar occasions. 



"When the hour for the funeral has come, the clergy usually go 

 to the cabin to get the body of the deceased, wdiich is dressed in his 

 finest garments, and generally covered over with a fine red blanket, 

 quite new. After that, nothing is done beyond what is customary 

 for the French, until the grave is reached. Upon arriving there, the 

 family of the deceased, who hitherto have only had to weej), display 

 all their wealth, from which they give various presents. This is 

 done through captain, who, after pronouncing a sort of funeral 

 oration, which is usually rather short, offers the first present to the 

 church, — generally a fine large porcelain collar, — in order that 

 prayers may be said for the repose of the dead person's soul. Then 

 he gives, out of all the dead man's effects, three or four presents to 

 those who bury him ; then some to the most intimate friends of the 

 deceased. Tlie last of all these presents is that given to the relatives 

 of the deceased, by those who bury him. Finally, the whole ceremony 

 concludes by placing the body in the ground in the following man- 

 ner. A wide grave is dug, 4 to 5 feet deep, capable of holding more 

 than six bodies, but all lined with bark on the bottom and four sides. 

 This forms a sort of cellar, in which they lay the body, and over 

 which they place a large piece of bark in the shape of a tomb ; it is 

 supported by sticks placed crosswise over the excavation, that this 

 bark may not sink into the tomb, and that it may hold up the earth 

 that is to be thrown on it ; the body thus lies therein as in a cham- 



