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olbbechts] the swimmer Manuscript 137
But as early as 10 a. m. the people of the settlement are assembling
at the cabin of the deceased. Those who have not yet seen the corpse
may go inside and look at it, to join afterwards those who have not
entered the house and who have remained outside, squatting on the
ground, or sitting on logs; as is usual at all Cherokee social gather-
ings, the women keep apart, and do not sit down, but keep standing
in a group, some 20 or 30 feet away from the men.
It struck me that the women hardly talk, even among themselves,
whereas the men did not seem to take matters quite so seriously,
and they smoke and talk, and even joke in subdued tones.
All the people of the settlement, men, women and children, are
present, unless prevented by serious illness, or by some other major
impediment. Also from the near-by settlements many friends and
all the relatives, however distant, are present.
The relatives go inside and sit on boards—improvised benches
and hardly speak a word. Female relatives do not try to hide their
sorrow, but do not wail, or in any way give proof of frantic grief.
It is rare to see a man weep.
An hour or so before the corpse is to be taken away a native preacher
may come, whether the deceased professed to be a Christian or not,
read some chapter of the Cherokee translation of the New Testament,
and deliver a long speech, addressing the deceased, and stressing the
main facts of his life.
At a sign of the chief of the coffin makers, four men will start hunt-
ing around for two stout poles or strong boards on which the coffin
is put to be carried, and the funeral procession starts. There is not
the slightest ceremonial as regards this. Five or ten men may step
briskly in front or alongside of the cofiin, and behind it a medley of
men and women in groups, in no definite order, jostling each other,
pushing and hurrying, even if there is nothing to jostle or to hurry-
about.
Every 200 yards or so the chief of the cofiin makers, who now
acts as a kind of "master of ceremonies," shouts out: am'so'i' no'"-
Gwo"' ("other ones now"), and four other men, not necessarily
belonging to this company, come out of the crowd and take the places
of the coffin carriers.
The coffin is now usually carried as described above : On two poles
or smaU beams, carried by four men, two on each side, not on their
shoulders, but at arm's length.
Another way of carrying the corpse, and which may be older, but
which is now disappearing, is to hang the coffin by two chains from
a long pole, which is carried by two men on the shoulders. This
device is still used in the lowland settlements where the cemetery is
at some distance ; in this case the coffin is transported by an ox-drawn
wagon, but on the wagon it is fixed in such a way as to be hanging by