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106 carry off the rain-water. The grass and weeds for a small space around the grave are cut with a tomahawk and removed, the roots burnt off, and the place is made smooth, and swept. Boughs of trees are placed around it as a fence, a fire is made at the eastern end of the grave, and the tribe then desert the spot.

They desert the spot because they say they believe that the wild black who has taken the kidney-fat of the deceased, or the spirit which has destroyed him, will wander about the site of the old encampment. This is the reason they give for keeping away from the grave; but it is probable that the strong human instinct which leads men to refrain from amusements, cheerful talk, and the common acts of life in the vicinity of tombs and burial places, and the superstitions which are interwoven with all our thoughts of death, rather than any dread of wicked spirits, are the causes which lead them to abandon the sepulchre. No thought of danger nor dread of ghosts deters the widow from performing her duties if the performance of them be practicable. If the new encampment is within any reasonable distance of the grave, she visits it every night before sunset and every morning before sunrise, and remakes the fire, and sweeps the ground, and sits by the lonely bed of her deceased husband, sometimes in silent sorrow, sometimes wailing or singing a dirge as she wanders slowly through the forest. Watching her figure, white with the ashes which cover her wounds, and feeble from torture, we see a picture of real distress which is far more affecting in its simplicity than the more elaborate mourning which civilization requires of one bereaved. The fire at the grave is usually kept burning for about ten days.

If the deceased had in his life performed any remarkable feats, or rendered himself notorious as a great hunter, or as a wise counsellor, the sorcerer would have made a great speech on the occasion of the burial. Sitting cross-legged at the side of the grave, and sometimes lying on his stomach with his head a little raised, and sometimes with ear bent down, as if listening to the words of the deceased, he would have alternately praised him as a valiant man, or a good hunter, or as wise and skilful in deliberation or debate, and then listened for his