NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.



plums to children to entice them to do M
sire.



rhat



we de-



  "The interment is followed by presents, which they
make to the afflicted family; and this is called covertng
the dead. These presents are made in the name of the
village and sometimes in the name of the nation. Allies
also make presents at the death of considerable persons.
But first the family of the deceased make a great feast in
his name, and this feast is accompanied with games, for
which they propose prizes, which are performed in this
manner. A chief throws on the tomb three sticks about
a foot long; a young man, a woman, and a maiden, take
each of them, and those of their age, their sex, and cons-
dition, strive to wrest it out of their hands. Those with
whom the sticks remain are conquerors. There are also
races, and they sometimes shoot at a mark. In short,
by a custom which we find established in all the times
of Pagan antiquity, a ceremony entirely mournful is
terminated by songs and shouts of victory.
  " It is true that the family of the deceased take no
part in these rejoicings; they observe even in his cabin,
after the obsequies, a mourning, the laws of which are
very severe; they must have their hair cut, and their
faces blacked; they must stand with their faces wrapped
in a blanket; they must not look at any person, nor
make any visits, nor eat any thing hot; they must dee
prive themselves of alI pleasures, wear scarcely any thing
on their bodies, and never warm themselves at the fire,
even in the depth of winter.
  "After this deep mourning, which lasts two years,
they begin a second more moderate, which lasts two or
three years lonaer, and which maw be softened by little
and little; but they dispense with nothing that is pre-
scribed, without the consent of the cabin to which the



widow or widow
as the end of the
  cpThe first and
Indians make to



er belongs. These. permissions, as well
mourning, always cost a feast.
l often the only compliment which the
a friend, and even to a stranger whom
       15



166