Harmon's journal* 



217 



ny was continued, until the body was nearly 

 consumed. This operation was interrupted by 

 their frequent turns of fainting, arising from the 

 intensity of the heat. If they did not soon re- 

 cover from these turns, and commence the op- 

 eration of striking the corpse, the men would 

 seize them by the little remaining hair on their 

 heads, and push them into the flames, in order 

 to compel them to do it. This violence was 

 especially used toward one of the wives of the 

 deceased, who had frequently run away from 

 him, while he was living. 



When the body was nearly burned to ashes, 

 the wives of the deceased gathered up these ash- 

 es, and the remaining pieces of bones, which they 

 put into bags. These bags they will be compell- 

 ed to carry upon their backs, and to lay by their 

 sides, when they lie down at night, for about two 

 years. The relations of the deceased will then 

 make a feast, and enclose these bones and ashes 

 in a box, and deposit them under a shed, erected 

 for that purpose, in the centre of the village. 

 Until this time, the widows are kept in a kind of 

 slavery, and are required to daub their faces over 

 with some black substance, and to appear clothed 

 with rags, and frequently to go without any cloth- 

 ing, excepting round their waists. But, at the 

 28 



