hoffman] TREE BURIAL MOURNING 241 



sacrilegious persons from desecrating the graves. An ordinary " worm" 

 fence is also sometimes built for tbe same purpose. 



Among the non-Christianized Menomini the grave covering is of a 

 slightly different character. These grave-boxes are more like an 

 inverted trough, as shown in figure 27, which illustrates the graves of 

 the late chief Osh'kosh and his wife. The openings in the head end of 

 the box are used for the introduction of ordinary food, as well as maple 

 sugar and other tributes of the first fruits of the year, on which the 

 shade of the departed may feast before it finally sets out for the laud 

 of the dead. 



Formerly, also, bodies were scaffolded, or placed in trees, according 

 to the wish of the deceased. In some instances it was customary to 

 dress and paint the body as during life, seat it on the ground facing 

 the west — in the direction of the path of the dead toward the land of 

 Naq'pote — when a log inclosure, resembling a small pen, was built 

 around it. Iu this manner the corpse was left. 



When a mita /T is about to be buried, his nearest mit;i' v relation 

 approaches the grave before earth is thrown into it and address s the 

 shade of the body, as mentioned at length iu connection with the pre- 

 liminaries of the introduction of a candidate into the medicine society. 



Mourners blacken their faces with charcoal or ashes. Formerly it 

 was sometimes customary to add pine resin to the ashes, that the 

 materials might remain longer on the skiii, and a widow was n t pre- 

 sumed to marry agaiu until this substance had entirely worn off. In 

 some instances of great grief, the hair above the forehead was cropped 

 short. 



GAMES AND DANCES 

 Till) AKA'nSnvnK GAME 



The game of aka'qsiwok was frequently played in former times, but 

 of late it is rarely seen. It corresponds to the Ojibwa game of •'plum- 

 stones," or "bowl," and is played for purposes of gambling, either by 

 two individuals or by two sets of 

 players, as below described. 



A hemispheric bowl, made of the 

 large round nodules of a inaple root, 

 is cut and hollowed out. Figure 29 

 represents a vessel of this character, 

 which was fashioned so* ly with the 

 aid of an ax and a knife of the char- 

 acter represented in figure 37, called 



wagaq'koman. The bowl is symmet- Fm 29 _ modenbowl for gambling . 



ric, and is very nicely finished. It 

 measures 13 inches in diameter at the rim and is G inches in depth. The 

 bowd is five-eighths of an inch in thickness at the rim, but gradually 

 increases in thickness toward the bottom, which is about an inch thick. 

 14 eth 16 



