Part 13

About 5 or 6 o'clock they lined (pauerent) the bottom of the grave and bordered it with large new robes, the skins of ten beavers, in such a way that these extend more than a foot out of it. As they were preparing the robes which were to be used for this purpose, some of them descended into the grave, and came from it with their hands full of sand. I inquired what this ceremony meant, and learned that they believed that this sand will render them happy at their games (au ieu).

Of the twelve hundred offerings that had been exhibited on the platform, forty-eight robes were to line and trim the grave, and each complete body had, besides the robe in which it was wrapped, another one, and some even two others, to cover it. This is all: so that I do not think [? but] that each body had one to itself, taking one with another, which is the least that it could have for its burial; for these robes of beaver skin are what the clothes and shrouds are in France. But what becomes then of the rest? We will see presently.

At 7 o'clock the bodies were lowered into the grave. We had great difficulty in approaching it. Nothing ever pictured better to me the confusion among the damned. You could see unloaded on all sides bodies half decayed, and everywhere was heard a terrible uproar of confused voices of persons who were speaking without hearing one another; ten or twelve men were in the grave and were arranging the bodies all around it, one after the other. They placed, exactly in the center, three large kettles, which were of no use save for the spirits; one was pierced with holes, another had no handle, and the third was worth little more. I saw a few necklaces of shell beads there; it is true, many of them were put on the body. This was all that was done on this day.

The whole company passed the night on the spot, having lit a great many fires and boiled kettles. We retired to the old village with the intention of returning the next day at daylight when they were to cast the bones into the grave; but we barely arrived in time, notwithstanding all the diligence we employed, on account of an accident which happened. One of the skeletons, which was not well fastened, or perhaps was too heavy for the cord which held it, fell of itself into the grave. The noise it made awoke the whole troupe, who ran and immediately mounted, in a crowd, to the platform and emptied, without order, all the bundles into the grave, reserving, however, the robes in which they had been wrapped. We were just leaving the village at that time, but the noise was so great that it seemed almost as though we were there. Approaching we saw suddenly an image of the infernal regions. This great space was filled with fire and smoke and the air resounded on all sides with the mingled voices of the savages. This noise, nevertheless, ceased for a while, and was changed to singing, but in a tone so doleful and weird that it represented to us the terrible sadness and the depth of despair in which condemned souls are forever plunged.

Nearly all the bones had been cast in when we arrived, for it was done almost in a moment, each one being in haste for fear that there was not room for all these skeletons; nevertheless we saw enough of it to judge of the rest. There were five or six men in the grave, with poles, to arrange the bones. It was filled up within 2 feet of the top with bones, after which they turned over upon them the robes that bordered the grave all around, and covered the whole with mats and bark. The pit was then filled up with sand, rods, and stakes of wood which were thrown in promiscuously. Some of the women brought dishes of corn, and on the same day and the following days several cabins of the village furnished basketfuls of it, which were cast into the pit.

We have fifteen or twenty Christians buried with these infidels. We say a _De profundis_ for their souls, with the firm hope that if the Divine goodness does not cease His blessings on His people this feast will be made no more, or will be only for Christians, and will be celebrated with rites as holy as these are foolish and useless. They also begin to be a burden upon the people for the excess and superfluous expenses that are caused by them.

All the morning was spent in distributing gifts (largesses), and most of the robes that had been wrapped around the bodies were cut in pieces and thrown from the top of the platform into the midst of the crowd for whoever could seize them first. There was great sport when two or three contested the possession of one beaver skin. In order to settle it peaceably it was necessary to cut it into so many pieces, and thus they came out nearly empty-handed, for these tatters were hardly worth the picking up. I admired here the industry of one savage. He did not hurry himself to run after these flying pieces; but, as there is nothing so valuable this year in the country as tobacco (petun), he held some pieces of it in his hand, which he presented at once to those who were disputing over the skin, and thus acquired it for himself.

Before leaving the place we learned that, on the evening when presents had been given to the foreign nations, on the part of the master of the feast, we also had been named; and, in fact, as we were going, _Anenkhiondic_ came and presented a new robe composed of ten beaver skins, in return for the necklace which I had given them in the midst of the council to show them the heavenly way. They were so much obliged for this present that they wished to show some acknowledgment of it in so good an assembly. I would not accept it, however, saying to him that, as we had made them this present only to persuade them to embrace our faith, they could not oblige us more than in listening to us willingly and believing in Him who rules over all. He asked what I desired that he should do with the robe. I replied that he could dispose of it in whatever way he deemed best, with which he remained perfectly satisfied. Of the rest of the twelve hundred presents forty-eight robes were used to adorn the grave. Each body wore its robe and some of them two or three. Twenty were given to the master of the feast, to reward the nations who had assisted at it. A number were distributed on the part of the dead, through the captains, to their living friends. A part of them were only used for show, and were returned to those who had exhibited them. The old people (anciens), and great leaders of the country, who had the administration and management of it, privately took a great deal, and the rest were cut in pieces, as I have said, and scattered through the assembly. However, it was only the rich who lost nothing, or very little, at this feast. The mendicants and poor people brought and left there all they possessed of any value, and suffered much by striving to appear as well as others in this celebration. Every one stood upon this point of honor.

Indeed, it was only by a chance that we were not also participants of the feast. During this winter the Captain Aenons, of whom I have spoken before, came to make us a proposal on the part of all the anciens of the country. At that time the boiling of the kettle (chaudiere) was not yet divided. They proposed to us then that we should consent to exhume the remains of the two Frenchmen who had died in this country, to wit, Guillaume Chaudron and Estienne Bruslé, who was killed four years ago, and that their bones might be placed in the common grave of their dead. We replied at first that this could not be done; that it was forbidden; that as they had been baptized, and were, as we hoped, in heaven, we respected their bones too highly to allow them to be mixed with the bones of those who had not been baptized. Besides, it was not our custom to exhume the bodies of those who had been buried.

We decided, however, after all, that as they were interred in the wood and since the people desired it so much, we would consent to take up their bones on the condition that they allowed us to put them in a particular grave, with the bones of all that we had baptized in the country.

Four reasons especially persuaded us to give them this final answer. First, as it is the greatest expression of friendship and good-will that can be shown in this country, we yielded to them readily in this point that which they wished, and thus showed that we desired to love them as brothers and to live and die with them. Second, we hoped that God would be glorified in it, especially, in that separating by consent of all the nation the bodies of the Christians from those of the unbelievers, it would not be difficult afterwards to obtain special permission that their Christians should be interred in a separate cemetery, which we would bless for that purpose. Third, we claimed to bury them with all the rites of the Church. Fourth, the old men, of their own accord, desired us to raise there a beautiful and magnificent cross, as they showed us afterwards more particularly. Thus the cross would have been established by the authority of the whole country and honored in the midst of this heathenism, and they would have been careful not to impute to it afterwards, as they have done in the past, all the misfortunes that befell them.

This captain thought our proposition very reasonable and the old men (anciens) of the country remained very well contented with it. Some time after, the chaudiere was divided, and, as I have said, five villages of our part of the country resolved to hold their feast apart.

In the spring a general assembly of all the principal men was held, to consult about the feast and to endeavor to prevent this schism and reunite the cooking of the kettle. These dissatisfied ones were there and I also was invited. They made me the same proposition as before. I replied that we were very well satisfied, provided that this was done under the conditions that we had demanded. I was reminded of the division, and they asked me, since there were two feasts (chaudieres), that is, two graves, on which side I desired to have our special grave. To this I answered, in order to offend no one, that I would leave it to their judgment; that they were just and wise and they could decide between themselves. The master of the feast of Rochelle said, thereupon, with condescension, that he did not claim anything and that he was willing that the other, who is the chief at this place, should have on his side the remains of our two Frenchmen. The latter replied that he laid no claim to the one that had been buried at Rochelle, but that as for the body of Estienne Bruslé it belonged to him, as it was he that had engaged with him and led him into this country. So here the bodies were separated, one on one side, the other on the other side. At this some one said privately that indeed he (the chief) had the right to demand the body of Estienne Bruslé, and that it was reasonable that he should render some honor to his bones, since they had killed him. This could not be said so discreetly but that the captain had a hint of it; he concealed his feelings, however, at the time. After the council, as we had already gone, he raised this reproach and began to talk with the captain of Rochelle, and finally gave over entirely the body of Bruslé, in order not to embitter and make bloody this sore, of which the people of this point have not yet cleared themselves. This caused us to resolve, that we might keep in favor with those of Rochelle, not to meddle with either the one or the other.

Truly there is reason to admire the secret judgments of God, for this infamous man certainly did not merit that honor; and to tell the truth we had hesitated much in resolving to make on this occasion a particular cemetery, and to transport to holy ground a body that had led so wicked a life in the country and given the savages such a wrong impression of the manners of the French. At first some thought hard of it that we should have this opinion and were offended, alleging that this being so they could not boast as they hoped among strange nations of being related to the French, otherwise it would be said to them that they did not have much appearance of it, since we had not wished to put the bones of our people with theirs. Afterwards, however, having heard all our reasons, they decided that we had acted prudently and that it was the best means of maintaining our friendship with each other.

Shall I finish for the present with this funeral? Yes; since it is a mark sufficiently clear of the hope of a future life which nature seems to furnish us in the minds of these people, as a good means of making them understand the promises of Jesus Christ. Is there not reason to hope that they will do this, and that as soon as possible? Certainly I dare to assert that with this prospect we have reason to fortify our courage and to say of our Hurons what St. Paul wrote to the Philippians: "_Confidens hoc ipsum, quia qui c[oe]pit in vobis opus bonum, perficiet usque in diem Christi Iesu._" These poor people open their ears to what we tell them of the kingdom of heaven; they think it very reasonable, and do not dare to contradict it. They are learning the judgments of God in the other life; they are beginning to have recourse with us to His goodness in their necessities, and our Lord seems to favor them sometimes with some particular assistance. They procure baptism for those who they think are about to die; they give us their children to be instructed, even permitting them to come three hundred leagues for this purpose, notwithstanding the tender affection they have for them; they promise to follow them one day and show us that they would not give us such precious pledges if they did not desire to keep faith with us. You would say that they were waiting only to see some one among them to be the first to take this bold step and dare to go contrary to the custom of the country. They are, finally, a people who have a permanent home (demeure arrestée), are judicious, capable of reason, and well multiplied.

I made mention, the past year, of twelve nations entirely sedentary and harmonious, who understand the language of our Hurons; and the Hurons make in, twenty villages, about 30,000 souls; if the rest is in proportion, there are more than 300,000 who speak only the Huron language. God gives us influence among them; they esteem us, and we are in such favor with them, that we know not whom to listen to, so much does each one aspire to have us. In truth we would be very ungrateful for the goodness of God if we should lose courage in the midst of all this, and did not wait for Him to bring forth the fruit in his own time.

It is true that I have some little apprehension for the time when it will be necessary to speak to them in a new way of their manners and to teach them "à clouër leur chairs" and restrain themselves in the honesty of marriage, breaking off their excesses for fear of the judgment of God upon their vices. Then it will be a question of telling them openly, "_Quoniam qui talia agunt regnum Dei non possidebunt._" I fear that they will prove stubborn, when we speak to them of assuming Jesus Christ, wearing his colors, and distinguishing themselves in the quality of Christians from what they have been formerly, by a virtue of which they scarcely know the name; when we cry unto them with the Apostle: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor: not in the passion of lust, like the gentiles that know not God." There is, I repeat, reason to fear that they may be frightened with the subject of purity and chastity, and that they will be disheartened with the doctrine of the Son of God, saying with those of Capernaum, on another subject, "_Durus est hic sermo et quis potest eum audire?_" Nevertheless, since with the grace of God we have already persuaded them, by the open profession we have made of this virtue, neither to do or say in our presence anything which may be averse to it--even to threaten strangers when they forget themselves before us, warning them that the French and especially the "black robes," detest these intimacies--is it not credible that if the Holy Spirit touches them once, it will so impress upon them henceforth, in every place and at all times, the reverence which they should give to His divine presence and immensity, that they will be glad to be chaste in order to be Christians, and will desire earnestly to be Christians in order to be chaste? I believe that it is for this very purpose that our Lord has inspired us to put them under the charge of St. Joseph. This great saint, who was formerly given for a husband to the glorious Virgin, to conceal from the world and the devil a virginity which God honored with His incarnation, has so much influence over the "Sainte Dame," in whose hands His Son has placed, as in deposit, all the graces which co-operate with this celestial virtue, that there is almost nothing to fear in the contrary vice, for those who are devoted to Him, as we desire our Hurons to be, as well as ourselves. It is for this purpose, and for the entire conversion of all these peoples, that we commend ourselves heartily to the prayers of all those who love or wish to love God and especially of all our fathers and brothers.

Your very humble and obedient servant in our Lord, JEAN DE BREBEUF.

From the residence of St. Joseph, among the Hurons, at the village called Ihonatiria, this 16th of July, 1636.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Ancient Monuments, p. 161.

[2] It is somewhat strange that Rev. J. P. MacLean, who has long resided in Ohio and has studied the mounds and other works of the southern portion of that State with much care, should follow almost word for word this and the next statement of Squier and Davis (Mound-Builders, p. 50) and adopt them as his own, without modification or protest, when in the appendix containing his exceedingly valuable notes on the "Archæology of Butler County" nearly all the facts given bearing on these points show them to be incorrect.

[3] Ancient Monuments, p. 161.

[4] Antiquities of Wisconsin, p. 9.

[5] Smithsonian Report 1879, p. 337.

[6] Smithsonian Report 1879, p. 343.

[7] Antiquities of Wisconsin, p. 28.

[8] Pioneer Life.

[9] Potherie, Histoire de l'Amérique Septentrionale, II, p. 43.

[10] History of Indian Tribes of the United States, Part III, p. 193.

[11] As Dr. Yarrow has described the burial customs of the North American Indians in the first Annual Report of the Bureau, I will omit further quotations and refer the reader to his paper.

[12] Antiquities of Wisconsin, p. 89.

[13] Pp. 90-92.

[14] Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences, Vol. I, pp. 118-122.

[15] I wish it distinctly understood, that I do not by the use of this term, commit myself to the theory that these mounds or any others contain altars in the true sense of the term, as I very much doubt it.

[16] Brevis Narratio, Plate XXX. Admiranda Narratio, Plate XIX

[17] M[oe]urs des Sauvages, II, p. 4.

[18] See "Early Notices of the Indians of Ohio" by M. F. Force, pp. 18-20.

[19] According to Drake, "Indians of North America," he died October 3, 1838.

[20] Ancient Monuments, p. 162.

[21] Brevis Narratio, Tab. XI.

[22] American Antiquarian, October, 1881, p. 14.

[23] Pages 533-6.

[24] Smithsonian Report 1881, p. 537.

[25] Counting from the southern end of the line.

[26] Ancient Monuments, p. 161. It may be remarked here that the statement that "urn burial appears to have prevailed to a considerable extent in the Southern States" cannot be sustained by facts.

[27] Smithsonian Report 1866, p. 359.

[28] See, also, Smithsonian Report 1881, p. 596.

[29] Smithsonian Report 1877, p. 264.

[30] Page 598.

[31] Page 35.

[32] See 17th Report Peabody Museum, pp. 339-347.

[33] 17th Report Peabody Museum, pp. 342-343.

[34] 17th Report Peabody Museum, p. 344.

[35] Early Notices of the Indians of Ohio, by M. F. Force, 1879, p. 3.

[36] The circles and parallelograms in Figs. 32 and 33 have no other significance than to indicate the relative positions of the graves and the positions of the skeletons.

[37] M[oe]urs des Sauvages Amériquains, II, pp. 447-445.

[38] Jesuit Relations for 1636, pp. 128-139. For a translation of the lively description of the burial ceremonies of the Hurons by Father Brebeuf, see "Supplemental Note," at the end of this paper.

[39] Smithsonian Report, 1871, pp. 404, 405.

[40] Smithsonian Report 1867, p. 401.

[41] Smithsonian Report 1870, p. 378.

[42] See, for example, Foster's "Prehistoric Races," p. 97; Squier and Davis's, "Ancient Monuments," p. 30; Baldwin's "Ancient America," p. 57; Bancroft's "Native Races," IV, p. 785; Conant's "Foot-Prints of Vanished Races," p. 38; Marquis de Nadaillac's "L'Amérique Préhistorique," p. 185, etc.

[43] Sixteenth and Seventeenth Report Peabody Museum, p. 346.

[44] Referred to by Dr. Haven, Smithsonian Contributions, VIII, p. 25.

[45] Transactions of the American Philological Society, Vol. III.

[46] Archæology of the United States, Smithsonian Contributions, Vol. VIII, p. 31.

[47] Page 253.

[48] Vol. I, p. 353, 3d edition.

[49] Ancient America, pp. 70-75.

[50] American Antiquities, p. 71.

[51] Prehistoric Races, p. 339.

[52] Tenth Report Peabody Museum, p. 75.

[53] Travels, p. 365.

[54] Memoirs of the Kentucky Geological Survey, Vol. II.

[55] Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, p. 225.

[56] Ramsey. Annals of Tennessee, p. 51.

[57] Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, p. 223.

[58] Discoveries, etc., p. 3, London edition, 1672.

[59] Discoveries, London edition, p. 20.

[60] Pages 33-39.

[61] Jones, Southern Indians, p. 18.

[62] Page 169.

[63] History of Carolina, Raleigh, reprint, 1850, p. 315.

[64] History of Virginia, London, 1705, p. 58.

[65] Page 423.

[66] Antiquities of the Southern Indians, p. 400.

[67] Page 228.

[68] History of North America.

[69] Page 19.

[70] Page 324.

[71] History of Florida, edition 1723, Lib. III, Cap. XX, p. 139, and edition of 1605.

[72] Jones's Antiquities of the Southern Indians, Chap. VI, Pl. 1.

[73] Smithsonian Report 1880, p. 624.

[74] Science, April 11, 1884.

[75] Science, April, 1884.

[76] The Human Species, English translation, p. 307.

[77] Referred to on p. 71.

[78] Translated from Relations des Jésuites, 1636, pp. 128-139, by Miss Nora Thomas.

INDEX

Alexander, J. B., mounds on farm of 74

Allamakee County, Iowa, mounds 26

Altar mounds 57, 58

Anderson, W. G., opened Wisconsin mounds 16

Anderson Township, Ohio, mounds 49

Andrews, E. B., on Ohio mounds 47, 48

Appalachian mound district and mounds 10, 61-86

Arkansas mounds 11

Armstrong, Thomas, on Wisconsin mounds 16

Ashland County, Ohio, mounds 47

Athens County, Ohio, mounds 47

Baldwin, J. D., on mound builders 83

Bartow County, Georgia, mounds 96-104

Bartram, William, description of Cherokee council house 87

Beverly on shell ornaments 92

Black Hawk's grave 33, 34

Boulware, J. N., mounds on farm of 44

Branson, Judge, opening of Wisconsin mounds by 18

Brebeuf, Jean, on burial ceremonies of the Hurons 71, 110-119

Brinton, D. G., on a burial mound 39 --, on Indians as mound builders 84

Brown County, Illinois, mounds 39-41

Buffalo Creek, Worth Carolina, mounds near 68

Burial mounds of the northern sections of the United States, by Cyrus Thomas 3-119

Burke County, North Carolina, mounds 73

Butler County, Ohio, archæology of 13

Caldwell County, North Carolina, mounds 61-71

Carr, Lucien, cited 84, 87, 88, 92

Cartersville, Georgia, mounds near 96-104

Case, H. B., on Indian burial customs 47

Charleston, West Virginia, mounds near 51, 53, 55

Chattanooga, Tennessee, mounds near 77

Chelaque identical with Cherokee 89

Cherokee, the, probably mound builders 60, 87-107