36 MUMMIES— VIRGINIA. 



the Skin from shrinking, by the help of a little Oil or Grease, which saves it 

 also from Corruption. The Skin being thus prepar'd, they lay it in an apart- 

 ment for that purpose, upon a large Shelf rais'd above the Floor. This Shelf 

 is spread with Mats, for the Corpse to rest easy on, and skreened with the 

 same, to keep it from the Dust. The Flesh they lay upon Hurdles in the Sun 

 to dry, and when it is thoroughly dried, it is sewed up in a Basket, and set 

 at the Feet of the Corpse, to which it belongs In this place also they set up 

 a Quioccos, or Idol, which they believe will be a Guard to the Corpse. Here 

 Night and Day one or other of the Priests must give his Attendance, to take 

 care of the dead Bodies. So great an Honour and Veneration have these 

 ignorant and unpolisht People for their Princes even after they are dead." 



It should be added that, in the writer's opinion, this account and others 

 like it are somewhat apocryphal, and it has been copied and recopied a 

 score of times. 



According to Pinkerton*, the Werowance preserved their dead as 

 follows : 



u* * * By him is commonly the sepulchre of their Kings. Their 

 bodies are first bowelled, then dried upon hurdles till they be very diy, 

 and so about the most of their joints and neck they hang bracelets, or 

 chains of copper, pearl, and such like, as they used to wear. Their inwards 

 they stuff with copper beads, hatchets, and such trash. Then lap they them 

 very carefully in white skins, and so roll them in mats for their winding- 

 sheets. And in the tomb, which is an arch made of mats, they lay them 

 orderly. What remaineth of this kind of wealth their Kings have, they set 

 at their feet in baskets. These temples and bodies are kept by their priests. 



" For their ordinary burials, they dig a deep hole in the earth with 

 sharp stakes, and the corpse being lapped in skins and mats with their 

 jewels they lay them upon sticks in the ground, and so cover them with 

 earth. The burial ended, the women being painted all their faces with 

 black coal and oil do sit twenty-four hours in the houses mourning and 

 lamenting by turns with such yelling and howling as may express their 

 great passions. * * * 



"Upon the top of certain red sandy hills in the woods there are three 



* Collection of Voyages, 1812, vol. xiii, p. 39. 



