& 
98 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
brought the priest that Madame Jim, a middle-aged 
woman, was dying, with a request that he would 
-hasten to administer the last rites of the church. But 
the priest was anxious to be away; his house was a 
dozen miles distant, and half-way there, at the house 
of a friend, a dinner was awaiting him. With im- 
patience, then, he commanded that she be brought to 
the chapel; and the dying woman was placed ina 
hammock suspended between poles, and carried to 
the priest, over a mile of rough, steep road, patiently 
suffering, anxious only to receive extreme unction be- 
fore she passed away. 
The same Sabbath there was buried at the foot of 
the cross the oldest inhabitant of the nation, a very 
old Carib woman, whose death I lamented, as I was 
awaiting her recovery to secure from her a vocabulary 
of Carib words. My grief was only alleviated by the 
thought that an opportunity might occur for exhuming 
her skeleton, which would prove a valuable acquisi- 
tion to the Smithsonian Museum. 
Formerly, the Caribs buried their dead in a sitting 
posture, in order (as an old Indian told me) that they 
might be all ready to jump, when the Spirit came for 
them; and facing the sunrise, to see the light of 
morning. When the master of a house died, they 
buried him in the center of his hut, with his knees 
bent to his chin. They then left the hut and built 
another, some distance from it. 
Eight days after the death of Madame Jim,. the 
neighbors had a sort of wake, or “ praise”; until mid- 
night, the girls sang hymns. After twelve o’clock, 
all the younger people formed themselves in groups 
and played games until morning, while the wicked 
