116 BURIAL MOUNDS OF THE NORTHERN SECTIONS. 
eight robes were to line and trim the grave, and each complete body had, besides the 
robe in which it was wrapped, another one, and some even two others, to cover it. 
This is all: so that I do not think [? but] that each body had one to itself, taking one 
with another, which is the least that it could have for its burial; for these robes of 
beaver skin are what the clothes and shrouds are in France. But what becomes then 
of the rest? We will see presently. 
At 7 o’clock the bodies were lowered into the grave. We had great difficulty 
in approaching it. Nothing ever pictured better to me the confusion among the 
damned. You could see unloaded on all sides bodies half decayed, and everywhere 
was heard a terrible uproar of confused voices of persons who were speaking without 
hearing one another; ten or twelve men were in the grave and were arranging the 
bodies all around it, one after the other. They placed, exactly in the center, three 
large kettles, which were of no use save for the spirits; one was pierced with holes, 
another had no handle, and the third was worth little more. I saw a few necklaces 
of shell beads there; it is true, many of them were put on the body. This was all 
that was done on this day. 
The whole company passed the night on the spot, having lit a great many fires and 
boiled kettles. We retired to the old village with the intention of returning the next 
day at daylight when they were to cast the bones into the grave; but we barely ar- 
rived in time, notwithstanding all the diligence we employed, on account of an 
accident which happened. One of the skeletons, which was not well fastened, or 
perhaps was too heavy for the cord which held it, fell of itself into the grave. 
The noise it made awoke the whole troupe, who ran and immediately mounted, in a 
crowd, to the platform and emptied, without order, all the bundles into the grave, 
reserving, however, the robes in which they had been wrapped. We were just leay- 
ing the village at that time, but the noise was so great that it seemed almost as 
though we were there. Approaching we saw suddenly an image of the infernal 
regions. This great space was filled with fire and smoke and the air resounded on all 
sides with the mingled voices of the savages. This noise, nevertheless, ceased for a 
while, and was changed to singing, but in a tone so doleful and weird that it repre- 
sented to us the terrible sadness and the depth of despair in which condemned souls 
are forever plunged. 
Nearly all the bones had been cast in when we arrived, for it was done almost in a 
moment, each one being in haste for fear that there was not room for all these skele- 
tons; nevertheless we saw enough of it to judge of the rest. There were five or six 
men in the grave, with poles, to arrange the bones. It was filled up within 2 feet of 
the top with bones, after which they turned over upon them the robes that bordered 
the grave all around, and covered the whole with mats and bark. The pit was then 
filled up with sand, rods, and stakes of wood which were thrown in promiscuously. 
Some of the women brought dishes of corn, and on the same day and the following 
days several cabins of the village furnished basketfuls of it, which were cast into the 
pit. 
We have fifteen or twenty Christians buried with these infidels. We say a De 
profundis for their souls, with the firm hope that if the Divine goodness does not 
cease His blessings on His people this feast will be made no more, or will be only for 
Christians, and will be celebrated with rites as holy as these are foolish and useless. 
They also begin to be a burden upon the people for the excess and superfluous ex- 
penses that are caused by them. 
All the morning was spent in distributing gifts (largesses), and most of the robes 
that had been wrapped around the bodies were cut in pieces and thrown from the top 
of the platform into the midst of the crowd for whoever could seize them first. There 
was great sport when two or three contested the possession of one beaver skin. In 
order to settle it peaceably it was necessary to cut if into so many pieces, and thus 
they came out nearly empty-handed, for these tatters were hardly worth the picking 
up. Iadmired here the industry of one savage. He did not hurry himself to run 
a 
