canes tied fast at both ends. When everything is prepared
for the interment, the corpse is carried from the house in
which it has been lying into the orchard of peach-trees and
is there deposited in another hurdle. Seated upon mats are
there congregated the family and tribe of the deceased and
invited guests. The medicine man, or conjurer, having
enjoined silence, then pronounces a funeral oration, during
which he recounts the exploits of the deceased, his valor,
skill, love of country, property, and influence; alludes to
the void caused by his death, and counsels those who remain
to supply his place by following in his footsteps; pictures
the happiness he will enjoy in the land of spirits to which
he has gone, and concludes his address by an allusion to the
prominent traditions of his tribe.

Let us here pause to remind the reader that this custom has prevailed
throughout the civilized world up to the present day--a custom, in the
opinion of many, "more honored in the breach than in the observance."

At last [says Mr. Lawson], the Corpse is brought away from
that Hurdle to the Grave by four young Men, attended by the
Relations, the King, old Men, and all the Nation. When they
come to the Sepulcre, which is about six foot deep and eight
foot long, having at each end (that is, at the Head and
Foot) a Light-Wood or Pitch-Pine Fork driven close down the
sides of the Grave firmly into the Ground (these two Forks
are to contain a Ridge-Pole, as you shall understand
presently), before they lay the Corps into the Grave, they
cover the bottom two or three time over with the Bark of
Trees; then they let down the Corps (with two Belts that the