THOMAS. BURIAL CEREMONIFS OF THE HURONS. 111 
Notice is also given of this death to the friends who live in other villages, and as 
each family employs another who has the care of their dead, they come as soon as 
possible to give orders about everything and to fix the day of the funeral. They 
usually inter the dead ou the third day ; in the morning the captain gives an order 
that kettles shall be boiled for the deceased throughout the village. No one spares 
his best efforts. They do this, in my opinion, for three reasons: First, to console 
each other, for they exchange dishes among themselves, and scarcely any one eats out 
of the kettle that he has prepared ; secondly, on account of the arrival of those of 
other villages, who often come in large numbers, lastly and principally, to gratify 
the soul of the deceased, who. they think, takes pleasure in eating hisshare. All the 
kettles being emptied, or at least distributed, the captain informs all the village that 
the body is to be carried to the cemetery. All the people assemble in the cabin; the 
mourning is renewed, and those who have charge of the funeral prepare a litter upon 
which the body is placed, laid upon a mat and wrapped in a robe of beaver skin; 
they then raise it and carry it by the four corners. All the people follow in silence 
to the cemetery. 
There is in the cemetery a tomb made of bark and raised on four stakes of from 8 
to 10 feet in height. While the body is placed in this and the bark is trimmed, the 
captain makes known the presents that have been given by the friends. In this 
couatry, as well as in others, the most agreeable consolations for the loss of relations 
are always accompanied by presents, which consist of kettles, hatchets, beaver skins, 
and necklaces of shell beads. If the deceased was of some importance in the coun- 
try, not only the friends and neighbors but even the captains of other villages will 
come in person to bring their presents. Now, all these presents do not follow the body 
into the tomb ; a necklace of beads is sometimes placed on its neck and near it a comb, 
a gourd-full of oil, and two or three small loaves of bread; that is all. A large part 
of them goes to the relatives to dry their tears; the rest is given to those who have 
had charge of the funeral, to pay them for their trouble. They also keep in reserve 
some robes or hatchets to make presents (largesse) to the young men. The captain 
places in the hand of one of them a stick about afoot long, offering a prize to any one 
who will take it from him. They throw themselves headlong upon him and remain 
engaged in the contest sometimes for an hour. After this each one returns peaceably 
to his cabin. 
I forgot to say that generally throughout the ceremony the mother or wife stands 
at the foot of the sepulcher, calling the deceased, singing, or rather lamenting, in 
mournful tones. 
These ceremonies are not always all observed; those who die in war they place 
in the ground, and the relatives make presents to their patrons, if they have any, 
which is generally the case in this country, to encourage them to raise soldiers and 
avenge the death of the warrior. Those who are drowned are also buried, after the 
most fleshy parts of the body have been taken away in pieces, as I have explained 
more particularly in speaking of their superstitions. The presents are doubled on 
this occasion, and all the people of the country are often there, contributing from their 
store; all this, they say, is to appease the Heaven or the Lake. 
There are even special ceremonies for small children deceased under one or two 
months; they are not placed as others, in sepulchers of bark raised on stakes, 
but buried in the road, in order, they say, ‘‘ que quelque femme passant par 1A, ils 
entrent secretement en son ventre, et que derechef elle leur donne la vie et les en- 
fante.” I doubt that the good Nicodemus would have found much difficulty there, 
although he doubted only for old men, ‘‘ Quomodo potest homo nasci cum sit senex.” 
This beautiful ceremony took place this winter in the person of one of our little 
Christians, who had been named Joseph in baptism. I learned it on this occasion 
from the lips of the father of the child himself. 
When the funeral is over the mourning does not cease: the wife continues it all the 
year for her husband, the husband for the wife; but the grand mourning itself 
