FL661480

very emphatically before they desisted. Why poor fellow
he is quite dead they exclaimed. I said I am not
sure, I must look on him once more. He
recovered & lived above 24 hours] longer. [In margin: When they wrap up the corpse they draw up the knees so as to lay [indecipherable] on the body, thus the corpse looks much shorter.]
They usually bury the body the same day, if possible
or if a person dies at night he's sure to be buried
without delay next morning. When once in the
grave, they dislike having his name mentioned again
[crossed out: If a man dies leaving a widow the] At the death of a person the women usually
commence a sad melancholy wailing lamentation
besmear their faces with pipe-clay cover the head
with mud & somethimes cut their heads with pointed
sticks till the blood gushes out, & smoke
[indecipherable] with fire sticks & boughs is generally [indecipherable]
from the moment of death even till the day after
the funeral.[In margin: The smoke is intended to keep the evil spirits away who they believe are sorcery to hurt the dead body & above all to steal the heart out of it.] And here permit me to read an
extract of a description of a burial I
wrote about 20 years ago & which was published
in one of the missionary periodicals at the time.
The subject of the funeral was a leading man
who had almost the influence of a chief & was much
respected. He died late in the evening & was
buried next morning being carried about 2 miles
by some of the men & followed by groups of men
women & children. The narrative is as follows:
Here read the Extract of the C.ch Record x -
There is less ceremony in burying a woman than a man.
The Woman cannot marry again before at
least one year is expired after the death of her