The third rule or ordinance which the founders enacted "to strengthen
the house" is of a remarkable character. It relates to the mortuary
usages of the people; and when these are understood, the great
importance of this law becomes apparent. Among the Indians of the
Huron-Iroquois family the ordinary mourning for the dead became
exaggerated into customs of the most extravagant character, exhausting
the time and strength of the warriors, and devouring their substance.
The French missionaries have left us an account of these singular usages
among the Hurons, some of which excited their respect, and others their
astonishment. "Our savages," they wrote, "are in no way savage as
regards the duties which nature herself requires us to render to the
dead. You would say that their efforts, their toils and their commerce
had no other end than to amass the means of honoring the departed. They
have nothing too precious for this object. To this they devote their
robes of skins, their hatchets and wampum, in such profusion that you
would fancy they made nothing of them; and yet these are the riches of
their country. Often in midwinter you will see them going almost naked,
while they have at home, laid up in store, good and handsome robes,
which they keep in reverence for the dead. This is their point of
honor. In this, above all, they seek to show themselves magnificent."
[Footnote: Brebeuf, _Relation of_ 1636, p. 128.]

During the three days that preceded the burial of the dead, or the
removal of his remains to the scaffold, the wails, groans and
lamentations of the relatives and neighbors resounded in the cabin where
he lay. All the stored riches were brought forth and lavished in gifts
"to comfort the mourners." The mourning did not end with the burial; in
fact, it may be said to have then only begun. The "great mourning," as
the missionaries term it, lasted for six days longer, during which the
mourners lay, face downward, upon their mats, and enveloped in their