404 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



and this other to erect a palisade around their tomb, in order that 

 the beasts and birds of prey may not disturb their repose . . . These 

 were the appropriate terms of the speech of this grave barbarian, 

 which was accompanied by eight beautiful presents of wampum, 

 which he made in the name of the public. Several individuals used 

 the same civility and the same liberality, which we have acknow- 

 ledged with interest on all occasions that we could find. 



In later days it was customary to express this personal sorrow 

 at some convenient meeting of a general nature, and sometimes 

 after an interval of months or years. Some trace of it yet remains 

 in the Iroquois dead feast at the end of 10 days. Long mourning 

 is now discountenanced, being a cause of sorrow to the dead. In 

 1657 there was mentioned " the custom that the relatives and 

 Ancients have, of keeping together in the night which follows the 

 day of the funeral, in order to relate old stories," but such features 

 were subject to frequent change, and sometimes were of a local 

 character. There are appropriate songs and games to be used be- 

 tween the death and burial, but these are features of feasts and not 

 of councils. 



Adoption 



Closely related to the condoling council was the ceremony of 

 adoption, largely practised by the Iroquois and other nations. 

 Among the former it was sometimes a wholesale measure, as when 

 after a successful war they increased their fighting force. Often 

 it was a family matter, a captive being given to replace some loss, 

 but leaving the family to dispose of the prisoner as they would. 

 Then it became an honorary distinction, conferred out of friend- 

 ship and originally securing privileges. Retaining this feature to 

 some extent it can now be had for a consideration. When Father 

 Poncet was taken by the Mohawks in 1653 he was given to a woman 

 in place of her brother: 



So soon as I entered her cabin she began to sing the song of the 

 dead, in which she was joined by her two daughters. I was stand- 

 ing near the fire during these mournful dirges ; they made me sit 

 upon a sort of table slightly raised, and then I understood I was in 

 the place of the dead, for whom these women renewed the last 

 mourning, to bring the deceased to life again in my person, accord- 

 ing to their customs. 



