Note 4 — Chapter XV · FUNERAL CEREMONIES

At a funeral seen by Mr. Walhouse4 the earth was thrown into a circle made of rough stones laid upon the grass with an opening on one side, and Mr. Thurston5 records a similar case in which the earth was thrown into a circle of stones about a yard and a half in diameter, which had been constructed for the occasion. This is probably done when the funeral is held at a place where there is no tu, and it is possible that these funerals were not being held at regular funeral places of the clan, and that the circles of stones were intended to represent buffalo pens. At the funeral seen by Mr. Walhouse the ‘priest’ handed a bag to the nearest relatives, who tied it to the stick with which they turned up the earth.