In short speeches somewhat similar to this does every chief speak the praises of his departed friend. When they have so done, if they happen to be at a great distance from the place of interment appropriated to their tribe, and the person dies during the winter season, they wrap the body in skins, and lay it on a high stage built for this purpose, or on the branches of a large tree, till the spring arrives. They then, after the manner described in my Journal, carry it, together with all those belonging to the same nation, to the general burial-place, where it is interred with some other ceremonies that I could not discover.
When the Naudowessies brought their dead for interment to the great cave, I attempted to get an insight into the remaining burial rites; but whether it was on account of the stench which arose from so many bodies, the weather being then hot, or whether they chose to keep this part of their customs secret from me, I could not discover; I found, however, that they considered my curiosity as ill-timed, and therefore I withdrew.
After the interment, the band to which the person belongs, take care to fix near the place such hieroglyphicks as shall show to future ages his merit and accomplishments. If any of these people die in the summer at a distance from the burying-ground, and they find it impossible to remove the body before it putrefies, they burn the flesh from the bones, and preserving the latter, bury them in the manner described.
As the Indians believe that the souls of the deceased employ themselves in the same manner in the country of spirits, as they did on earth, that they acquire their food by hunting, and have there, also, enemies to contend with, they take care that they do not enter those regions defenceless and unprovided: they consequently bury with them their bows, their arrows, and all the other weapons used either in hunting or war. As they doubt not but they will likewise have occasion both for the necessaries of life, and those things they esteem as ornaments, they usually deposit in their tombs such skins or stuffs as they commonly made their garments of, domestic utensils, and paint for ornamenting their persons.
The near relations of the deceased lament his loss with an appearance of great sorrow and anguish; they weep and howl, and make use of many contortions, as they sit in the hut or tent around the body, when the intervals between the praises of the chiefs will permit.
One formality in mourning for the dead among the Naudowessies is very different from any mode I observed in the other nations through which I passed. The men, to show how great their sorrow is, pierce the flesh of their arms, above the elbows, with arrows; the scars of which I could perceive on those of every rank, in a greater or less degree; and the women cut and gash their legs with sharp broken flints, till the blood flows very plentifully.
Whilst I remained among them, a couple whose tent was adjacent to mine, lost a son of about four years of age. The parents were so much affected at the death of their favourite child, that they pursued the usual testimonies of grief with such uncommon rigour, as through the weight of sorrow and loss of blood, to occasion the death of the father. The woman, who had hitherto been inconsolable, no sooner saw her husband expire, than she dried up her tears, and appeared cheerful and resigned.
As I knew not how to account for so extraordinary a transition, I took an opportunity to ask her the reason of it; telling her at the same time, that I should have imagined the loss of her husband would rather have occasioned an increase of grief, than such a sudden diminution of it.
She informed me, that as the child was so young when it died, and unable to support itself in the country of spirits, both she and her husband had been apprehensive that its situation would be far from happy; but no sooner did she behold its father depart for the same place, who not only loved the child with the tenderest affection, but was a good hunter, and would be able to provide plentifully for its support, than she ceased to mourn. She added, that she now saw no reason to continue her tears, as the child on whom she doated was happy under the care and protection of a fond father, and she had only one wish that remained ungratified, which was that of being herself with them.
Expressions so replete with unaffected tenderness, and sentiments that would have done honour to a Roman matron, made an impression on my mind greatly in favour of the people to whom she belonged, and tended not a little to counteract the prejudices I had hitherto entertained, in common with every other traveller, of Indian insensibility and want of parental tenderness.