BURIAL FEASTS. 93 



"When the husband dies the friends assemble, prepare the grave, and 

 place the corpse in it, but do not fill it up. The gun, bow and arrows, 

 hatchet and knife are deposited in the grave. Poles are planted at the 

 head and the foot, upon which flags are placed; the grave is then enclosed 

 by pickets driven in the ground. The funeral ceremonies now begin, the 

 widow being the chief mourner. At night and morning she will go to the 

 grave and pour forth the most piteous cries and wailings. It is not impor- 

 tant that any other member of the family should take any very active part 

 in the 'cry,' though they do participate to some extent. 



' The widow wholly neglects her toilet, while she daily goes to the 

 grave during one entire moon from the date when the death occurred. On 

 the evening of the last day of the moon the friends all assemble at the 

 cabin of the disconsolate widow, bringing provisions for a sumptuous feast, 

 which consists of corn and jerked beef boiled together in a kettle. While 

 the supper is preparing, the bereaved wife goes to the grave, and pours out, 

 with unusual vehemence, her bitter wailings and lamentations. When the 

 food is thoroughly cooked the kettle is taken from the fire and placed in 

 the center of the cabin, and the friends gather around it, passing the buffalo- 

 horn spoon from hand *to hand and from mouth to mouth till all have been 

 bountifully supplied. While supper is being served, two of the oldest men 

 of the company quietly withdraw and go to the grave and fill it up, taking 

 down the flags. All then join in a dance, which not unfrequently is con- 

 tinued till morning ; the widow does not fail to unite in the dance, and to 

 contribute her part to the festivities of the occasion. This is the ' last cry,'' 

 the days of mourning are ended, and the widow is now ready to form 

 another matrimonial alliance. The ceremonies are precisely the same 

 when a man has lost his wife, and they are only slightly varied when any 

 other member of the family has died. (Slaves were buried without cere- 

 monies.)" 



FEASTS. 



In Beltrami* an account is given of the funeral ceremonies of one of 

 the tribes of the west, including a description of the feast which took place 

 before the body was consigned to its final resting place : 



" I was a spectator of the funeral ceremony performed in honor of the 



* Pilgrimage, 1828, ii, p. 443. 



