[ 1 In the general belief, the soul took flight after the great ceremony
was ended. Many thought that there were two souls, one remaining with
the bones, while the other went to the land of spirits. ]

These relics of mortality, together with the recent corpses,--which were
allowed to remain entire, but which were also wrapped carefully in
furs,--were now carried to one of the largest houses, and hung to the
numerous cross-poles, which, like rafters, supported the roof. Here the
concourse of mourners seated themselves at a funeral feast; and, as the
squaws of the household distributed the food, a chief harangued the
assembly, lamenting the loss of the deceased, and extolling their
virtues. This solemnity over, the mourners began their march for
Ossossane, the scene of the final rite. The bodies remaining entire were
borne on a kind of litter, while the bundles of bones were slung at the
shoulders of the relatives, like fagots. Thus the procession slowly
defiled along the forest pathways, with which the country of the Hurons
was everywhere intersected; and as they passed beneath the dull shadow of
the pines, they uttered at intervals, in unison, a dreary, wailing cry,
designed to imitate the voices of disembodied souls winging their way to
the land of spirits, and believed to have an effect peculiarly soothing
to the conscious relics which each man bore. When, at night, they
stopped to rest at some village on the way, the inhabitants came forth to
welcome them with a grave and mournful hospitality.

From every town of the Nation of the Bear,--except the rebellious few
that had seceded,--processions like this were converging towards
Ossossane. This chief town of the Hurons stood on the eastern margin of
Nottawassaga Bay, encompassed with a gloomy wilderness of fir and pine.
Thither, on the urgent invitation of the chiefs, the Jesuits repaired.
The capacious bark houses were filled to overflowing, and the surrounding