114 BURIAL MOUNDS OF THE NORTHERN SECTIONS. 
they called the bones of the dead Atisken. He explained as clearly as he could, and 
J learned from what he said that many believe that we have two souls, both divisible 
and material and yet both rational ; one leaves the body at death, but remains, how- 
ever, in the cemetery until the feast of the dead, after which it either is changed into 
a turtle-dove, or according to the more general belief, it goes immediately to the vil- 
lage of souls. 
The other soul is attached to the body; it marks the corpse, as it were, and remains 
in the grave after the feast, never to leave it, ‘si ce n’est que quelqu’vn l’enfante de 
rechef.”” He mentioned to me, as a proof of this metempsychosis, the perfect resem- 
blance which some persons bear to others who are deceased. Here is a grand phi- 
losophy. This is why they call the bones of the dead Atisken, “the souls.” 
A day or two before departing for the feast they carried all these bodies into one of 
the largest cabins of the village, where some of them were attached to the poles of 
the cabin, and others laid around it, and the captain entertained and made a grand 
feast in the name of the deceased captain, whose name he bore. I was present at 
this “feast of spirits,” and observed four things in particular: First, that the offer- 
ings which were given for the feast by the friends, and which consisted of robes, 
necklaces of shell beads, and kettles, were hung on poles extending the whole length 
of the cabin from one side to the other. Second, the captain sang the song of the dead 
captain, according to the desire he had expressed before his death, that it should be 
sung on this occasion. Third, all the guests had the privilege of dividing among 
themselves all the good things they had brought, and even of carrying them home, 
contrary to the custom at ordinary feasts. Lastly, at the close of the feast, as a com- 
pliment to him who had entertained them, they imitated as they sang the ery of the 
spirits, and left the cabin crying haéé haé. 
The master of the feast, and even Anenkhiondic, captain-general of all the country, 
sent to invite us several times with much solicitation. You would have thought 
that the feast could not be a success without us. I sent two of our fathers several 
days beforehand to see the preparations and to learn exactly the day of the feast. 
Anenkhiondic received them very kindly, and on their departure conducted them 
himself a quarter of a league from there to where the graye was dug, and showed 
them with much display of emotion all the arrangements, &c., of the feast. 
This feast was to have taken place on the Saturday of Pentecost, but some affairs 
which came up unexpectedly, and the uncertainty of the weather, caused it to be put 
off until Monday. 
The seven or eight days before the feast were passed in collecting the bodies (les 
Ames) as well as assembling the strangers who were invited ; meanwhile from morning 
till night gifts were distributed by the living to the young men in honor of the dead. 
On one side women were drawing the bow to see who should have the prize, 
which was sometimes a girdle of porcupine quills or a necklace of beads; on the other 
hand, in several parts of the village the young men were drawing clubs upon any 
who would try to capturethem. The prize of this victory was a hatchet, some knives, 
orevenabeaver robe. Every day the remains were arriving. ‘There is some pleasure 
in seeing these funeral processions which number sometimes from two to three hun- 
dred persons. Each one carries the remains of his friends, that is the bones, packed 
upon his back after the manner that I have described, under a beautiful robe. Some 
arranged their packets in the shape of a man, decorated with strings of beads, with 
a fine crown of red hair. On leaving their village the whole company cried haéé haé 
and répeated this ‘‘cry of the spirits” all along the way. This cry, they say, com- 
forts them greatly, otherwise their burdens, although souls, would weigh very 
heavily and cause a weakness of the side (costé) for the rest of their lives. They 
travel by short stages; the people of our village were three days in going four leagues 
and in reaching Ossossané, which we call Rochelle, where all the ceremonies were to 
be held. As soon as they arrive near any village they shout again the haéé haé. The 
whole village comes out to meet them; many presents are again distributed on this 
