94 BUEIAL FEASTS— nUEONS. 



manes of Cloudy Weather's son-in-law, whose body had remained with the 

 Sioux, and was suspected to have furnished one of their repasts. What 

 appeared not a little singular and indeed ludicrous in this funeral comedy 

 was the contrast, exhibited by the terrific lamentations and yells of one part 

 of the company while the others were singing and dancing with all their 

 might. 



"At another funeral ceremony for a member of the Grand Medicine, 

 and at which as a man of another world I was permitted to attend, the same 

 practice occurred. But at the feast which took place on that occasion an 

 allowance was served up for the deceased out of every article of which it 

 consisted, while others were beating, wounding, and torturing themselves, 

 and letting their blood flow both over the dead man and his provisions, 

 thinking possibly that this was the most palatable seasoning for the latter 

 which they could possibly supply. His wife furnished out an entertain- 

 ment present for him of all her hair and rags, with which, together with his 

 arms, his provisions, his ornaments, and his mystic medicine bag, he was 

 wrapped up in the skin which had been his last covering when alive. He 

 was then tied round with the bark of some particular trees which they use 

 for making cords, and bonds of a very firm texture and hold (the only ones 

 indeed which they have), and instead of being buried in the earth was 

 hung up to a large oak. The reason of this was that, as his favorite Mani- 

 tou was the eagle, his spirit would be enabled more easily from such a 

 situation to fly with him to Paradise." 



Hind* mentions an account of a burial feast by De Brebeuf which 

 occurred among the Hurons of New York : 



" The Jesuit missionary, P. de Brebeuf, who assisted at one of the 

 'feasts of the dead' at the village of Ossosane, before the dispersion of the 

 Hurons, relates that the ceremony took plftce in the presence of ?,000 In- 

 dians, who offered 1,200 presents at the common tomb, in testimony of their 

 grief. The people belonging to five large villages deposited the bones of 

 their dead in a gigantic shroud, composed of forty-eight robes, each robe 

 being made of ten beaver skins. After being carefully wrapped in this 

 shroud, they were placed between moss and bark. A wall of stones was 



* Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition. I860, ii, p. 1(>4. 



