SwANTON] DSTDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTETIN UNITED STATES 727 



mourning at the grave was continued for 13 months, and a hoop was 

 taken from the grapevine chain each time, but Halbert denies that 

 the number of hoops was specified or that one was removed each 

 month. He states that there were only six poles, three at each side, 

 and that on the central pole on each side was fastened a string 

 of hoops and streamers. Each set, he says, was set up by members of 

 one of the moieties who had formerly been bone pickers. The pole 

 planting was the occasion for the entrance of the family into mourn- 

 ing, Avhen they discarded all their ornaments and good clothing and 

 left their hair unshorn. Every morning and evening thereafter they 

 went to the grave to weep and a visitor was supposed to do the same, 

 while a stranger passing by the place was supposed to stop for a 

 few minutes to wail. After some time what is called "the little 

 cry" was held at the grave, and then the family agreed on a time 

 for "the big cry," which might take place several months later and 

 was participated in by the whole community. A cry at the grave 

 was followed by a feast, the two moieties eating apart, preceded by 

 long orations by the headman of each moiety. Later came a dance 

 continuing until almost daylight when, after an interval of quiet- 

 ness of about 15 minutes, all were summoned to the last cry, there 

 was a brief speech by the headman of the opposite moiety, and after 

 four repetitions of "the warrior's call" on the part of the headmen 

 and reply by the pole pullers, the latter took the poles and carried 

 them off into the woods. A man and a woman of the opposite 

 moiety cut off a lock of hair from the heads of each member of the 

 same sex in the mourning moiety, the period of mourning was over, 

 and all returned to their homes. Relatives living at a distance were 

 allowed to set up a pole in their own neighborhood about which to 

 carr^^ on their lamentations (Swanton, 1931 a, pp. 170-193). 



The corpse of a Biloxi or Pascagoula chief was dried by the fire 

 immediately after death and then fastened on a kind of table near 

 the door of the temple, whither the people came every day to address 

 it and offer it food. Later it was placed with the bodies of the pre- 

 ceding chiefs, which had been similarly treated, around the interior 

 of the temple (Dumont, 1753, vol. 1, pp. 240-243; Dorsey and Swan- 

 ton, 1912, p. 7). 



Along the lower Mississippi the symbols of grief were much the 

 same as those exhibited farther east. The hair was singed or cut 

 off, the face was left unpainted, and the mourner stayed away from 

 all dances and assemblies. The corpse was laid out in the best cloth- 

 ing with arms and such other articles as a kettle and provisions by its 

 side. After burial the relatives repaired to the grave morning and 

 evening to bring food and to weep, mentioning as they did so their 

 degree of relationship. The food was placed at the feet of the corpse. 



