THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 147 



sometimes within two months) to the proper burial-place of their 

 ancestors. 



" This custom is strictly observed by the Moluches, Taluhets, 

 and Diuihets ; but the Chechehets, and Tehuelhets or Patagonians, 

 I>lace the bones on high, upon leaves or twigs woven together, to dry 

 and whiten with the sun and rain. 



" During the time that the ceremony of making the skeletons lasts, 

 the Indians, covered with long mantles of skins, and their faces 

 blackened with soot, walk round the tent with long poles or lances in 

 their hands, singing in a mournful tone of voice, and striking the 

 ground to frighten away the Valichus or Evil Beings. Some go to 

 visit and console the widow or widows and other relatives of the 

 dead — that is, if there is anything to be got, for nothing is done but 

 with a view of interest. During this visit of condolence, they cry, 

 howl, and sing in the most dismal manner, straining out tears, and 

 pricking their arms and thighs with sharp thorns to make them bleed. 

 For this show of grief they are paid with glass beads, brass cascabels, 

 and such like baubles, which are in high estimation among them. 

 The horses of the dead are also immediately killed, that he may have 

 wherewithal to ride upon in the Altrue Mapu, or Country of the 

 Dead, reserving only a few to grace the last funeral pomp, and to 

 carry the relics to their proper sepulchres." 



The same author also mentions that the Moluches, 

 Taluhets, and Diuihets, bury their dead in large square pits 

 about a fathom deep ; but that the Tehuelhets, or more 

 southern Patagonians, having dried the bones of their 

 dead, carry them to a great distance from their habitations, 

 and after placing them in order, and adorning them with 

 robes, beads, weapons, and other property of the deceased, 

 deposit them above ground, under a hut or tent, with the 

 skeletons of their dead horses placed around them. 



King thus describes a Patagonian tomb at Gregory Bay, 

 which he visited with the father of the deceased : — 



" It was a conical pile of dried twigs, and branches of bushes about 

 two feet high, and twenty-five in circumference at the base, the whole 

 bound round with thongs of hide, and the top covered with a piece of 



