originated from the circumstance that this animal's bones were mistaken for those of the Patagonians. And the Red Indian desires the company of his steed, when the Great Spirit calls him to the hunting-grounds beyond the setting sun. Longfellow has celebrated the burial of the Minnisink, an Indian chief, in some of his happiest verses.
'Behind, the long procession came
Of hoary men and chiefs of fame,
With heavy hearts, and eyes of grief,
Leading the war-horse of their chief.
Stripp'd of his proud and martial dress,
Uncurb'd, unrein'd, and riderless,
With darting eye, and nostril spread,
And heavy and impatient tread,
He came; and oft that eye so proud
Ask'd for his master in the crowd.
They buried the dark chief; they freed
Beside the grave his battle steed;
And swift an arrow cleaved its way
To his stern heart! One piercing neigh
Arose—and, on the dead man's plain,
The rider grasps his steed again.'
In Central Africa, for lack of horses, other creatures accompany the deceased, if he be a wealthy individual.[1]
In France, as we have already mentioned, and as will be again referred to, this mode of sepulture was common
- ↑ 'When a Wanyamwezi dies in a strange country, and his comrades take the trouble to inter him, they turn the face of the corpse towards the mother's village, a proceeding which shows more sentiment than might be expected from them. The body is buried standing, or tightly bound in a heap, or placed in a sitting position with the arms clasping the knees; if the deceased be a great man, a sheep and a bullock are slaughtered for a funeral feast, the skin is placed over his face, and the hide is bound to his back.
