56 THE DISCOVERY OF BURLINGTON BAY. 



scaled it by rude ladders, and hung their relics and gifts to the for- 

 ests of poles which surrounded it. Then the ladders were removed, 

 and a number of chiefs standing on the scaffold harangued the crowd 

 below, while other functionaries were lining the grave throughout 

 with rich robes of beaver skin. Three large copper kettles were next 

 placed in the middle and then ensued a scene of hideous confusion. 

 The bodies which were left entire were brought to the edge of the 

 grave, flung in and arranged in order at the bottom by ten or twelve 

 Indians stationed there for that purpose, amid the wildest excitement 

 and uproar of many hundred mingled voices. When this part of the 

 work was done night was fast closing in. The concourse bivouacked 

 around the clearing and lighted their camp fires under the brows of 

 the forest which hedged in the scene. We withdrew to the village, 

 when an hour before dawn we were aroused by a terrible clamor. 

 One of the bundles of bones, tied to a pole on the scaffold, had 

 chanced to fall into the grave. This accident precipitated the closing 

 act and perhaps increased its frenzy. Guided by the unearthly din, 

 and the broad glare of the flames, fed with heaps of fat pine log, we 

 soon reached the spot and saw what seemed to us an image of pan- 

 demonium. All around blazed countless fires, and the air resounded 

 with discordant outcries. 



" The naked multitude, on, under and around the scaffold were 

 flinging the remains of their dead, pell mell into the pit, where we 

 discovered men who, as the ghastly shower fell around them, arranged 

 the bones in their places with long poles. All was soon over ; earth 

 logs and stones were cast upon the grave, and the clamor subsided 

 in a funeral chant, dreary and lugubrious." 



Such was the origin of those numerous and strange sepulchres 

 which have been the wonder and perplexity of the early settlers of the 

 county of Simcoe, similar in every respect to the one at Lake Medad 

 where stood the Iroquois village visited by La Salle as before 

 mentioned in the year 1669. 



Briefly in closing I might add, that La Salle finding the season 

 far advanced, and seeing before him the uninviting prospect of a 

 winter camp in the woods, parted from the Sulpicians at Otin- 

 aoustettawa after solemn mass and probably returned to Montreal. We 

 hear of him nine years later, in company with Father Hennepin, 

 building the " Griffin " above the Falls of Niagara, the first schooner 

 which floated on Lake Erie. 



