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SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL, LIFE 179
III
When anyone died a scafford was made in a yard near the house, put high
enough to be safe from the dogs. On the top of this the body was laid on its
side ; and then a blanket or bear skin was thrown over it ; and there it remained
until it perished. Then the bone-pickers came and picked the flesh off and put
the bones in a box, and then the boxes were put away in a bone-house—a house
set apart to receive them, and placed at the edge of the town. At this time
there was a large collection of people. The bone-pickers had some ceremonies,
but I do not recollect them. Twice a year—fall and spring—the people assem-
bled, and had a great gathering over the bones of the dead. The two families
would meet. One day one family would cry; and on the next day the other
would cry, and then the bones would be brought out in the boxes and buried.
A little present was made to the bone-pickers.*^
Elsewhere Cushman describes the ceremonial wailings for the dead
at greater length, as follows:
They had specific cries for the dead, which to us of the present day would
appear strange and even bordering upon the romantic, yet could not be witnessed
without emotions of sadness. After the death and burial, the time was
set by the near relations of the deceased for the cry, and notice was given to
the neighboring villages for their attendance, to which all gave a ready re-
sponse. When assembled, as many as could conveniently, would kneel in a
close circle around the grave, both men and women ;
then drawing their blankets
over their heads would commence a wailing cry in different tones of voice,
which, though evident to a sensitive ear that the rules of harmony had been
greatly overlooked, produced a solemnity of feeling that was indescribable, to
which also the surroundings but added to the novelty of the scene : for here and
there in detached little groups, were seated upon the ground many others, who
in solemn demeanor chatted in a low tone of voice and smoked the indispensable
pipe; while innumerable children of all ages and sexes, engaged in their juvenile
sports and in thoughtless glee mingled their happy voices with the sad
dirge of their seniors; which added to the barking of a hundred dogs intermingling
with the tinkling chimes of the little bells that were suspended upon
the necks of as many ponies, made a scene baffling all description. At diiTerent
intervals, one, sometimes three or four together, would arise from the circle of
mourners, quietly walk away and join some one of the many little groups
seated around, while the vacancy in the mourning circle was immediately filled
by others, who promptly came forward, knelt, drew their blankets over their
heads, and took up the mournful strain ; and thus for several days and nights,
the wailing voices of the mourners, the gleeful shouts of thoughtless yet innocent
and happy childhood ; the howling and barking of innumerable dogs, and
the tinkling of the pony-bells of every tone imaginable, in all of which dissonance
was a prominent feature, was heard for miles away through the
surrounding forests, echoing a wild, discordant note, more incomprehensible
than the united voices of a thousand of the different denizens of the wilderness,
of which no one, who has not been an eyewitness, can form even the most remote
conception. If alone in the silent gloom of the wilderness, the boldest heart
would quail, and the strongest nerve relax, unless the course and meaning were
known and understood ; for he could but believe that all the lost spirits of the
lower world had left their dark and dismal abodes, ascended to earth, and, in
one mystic concert, brayed the fearful discord. More than once have I wit-
*2 Cushman, Hist. Inds., p. 389.