84 BUREAU OF AMERICAiSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 71 



This refers to her having been drowned. The body of her husband, 

 who had been executed by the Seneca, was on the opposite side of the 

 cabin, '' but in a most humiliating posture, for he had been stretched 

 at length on his blanket, face downward, with his hands joined over 

 his head, as if to bear witness to the despair or the repentance which 

 he would have felt for his ci'ime, had he been alive." His body and 

 face were painted with white and black, and he was partly covered 

 with rags. Suspended from a pole placed for the purpose between 

 his legs were "his gun, his hatchet, his knife, his pouch of tobacco, 

 and all his belongings." The interior of the cabin was crowded, and 

 as many more were grouped about outside, and now the " Mistress of 

 Ceremonies . . . began to chant her doleful lamentations." She re- 

 lated how the two had met their deaths, and " scarcely had she made 

 the first movement, weeping alone, when the four other women whom 

 I have mentioned, arose and responded regularly to her cadence — 

 that is to say, they made their lamentations in turn and with the 

 same intonation as the leader, whose every gesture they imitated. 

 . . . These women tore their hair, joined their hands toward heaven, 

 and poured forth in a plaintive tone a torrent of words suitable to 

 the person whose part they represented, according to the different 

 degrees of relationship or connection, which this same person bore 

 to the deceased man or woman." This chanting continued for nearly 

 half an hour, when " an Algonquian, who was no relation of the 

 dead woman, imposed silence, rising, and instantly no more lamenta- 

 tions were heard. This Indian first made the Funeral Oration of 

 this unfortunate woman, whose good qualities he set forth in par- 

 ticular, as I was told, to make it understood that she must be happy 

 in the land of departed souls, and that her relatives should be con- 

 soled for her loss." The Algonquian speaker was immediately fol- 

 lowed by an old man of the Iroquois, who " made a defense for the 

 dead man, that is to say he undertook to account for his action in 

 representing to the assembly that this unfortunate husband had 

 doubtless been possessed with the evil Spirit on the day that he had 

 drowned his wife, and that consequently this Indian not having 

 been master of himself at the time of this evil deed, he rather merited 

 pity than the condemnation of the present assembly." He referred 

 to the dead man as a great warrior and hunter, and deplored the act 

 Avhich made it necessary for the T sonnontouanrue, to slay him. He 

 then called attention to the position of the body. " Finally, in order 

 the more to excite the compassion of the spectators, this Iroquois 

 threw himself at the feet of the dead woman whose pardon he be- 

 sought, in the name of her husband, and he protested that had it 

 been in his power to restore her to life, she Avould certainly not be 

 in her sad plight. Then to crown his discourse he addressed the 

 father-in-law of the executed man and asked if he was not satisfied 



