underneath him, and at his side, fires were burning in enormous
chafing-dishes; at a short distance about thirty assistants were
seated in a circle. Ten or twelve women formed another circle; they
were seated nearer to the corpse, close by which the widow was also
placed, and who was distinguished by a white veil, that covered her
from head to foot. The women brought some cotton, with which they
wiped off the moisture that the fire caused to exude from the corpse,
which was roasting by degrees. From time to time one of the Tinguians
spoke, and pronounced, in a slow, harmonious tone of voice, a speech,
which he concluded by a sort of laugh, that was imitated by all the
assistants; after which they stood up, ate some pieces of dried meat,
and drank some basi; they then repeated the last words of the orator,
and danced.

I endured--such is the word--this sight for an hour; but I did not
feel courage enough to remain in the cabin any longer. The odour that
exhaled from the corpse was unbearable. I went out, and breathed the
fresh air; my guide followed me, and I begged him to tell me what
had occurred from the beginning of the illness of the deceased.

"Willingly," he answered me.

Delighted to breathe freely, I listened with interest to the following
recital:

"When Dalayapo," said the narrator, "fell sick, they took him to the
grand square, to apply severe remedies to him; that is to say, all the
men of the village came in arms, and, to the sound of the gong and
the tom-tom, they danced around the sick man from the rising to the
setting of the sun. But this grand remedy had no effect--his illness
was incurable. At the setting of the sun they placed our friend in
his house, and no more heed was paid to him: his death was certain,
as he would not dance with his fellow-countrymen."

I smiled at the remedy and the reasoning, but I did not interrupt
the narrator.

"For two days Dalayapo was in a state of suffering; then, at the end
of these two days, he breathed no more; and, when that was perceived,
they immediately put him on the bench where we saw him just now. Then
the provisions that he possessed were gathered together to feed the
assistants, who paid him all due honours. Each one made a speech
in his praise: his nearest relations began the first, and his body
was surrounded with fire to dry it up. When the provisions are
consumed, the strangers will leave the cabin, and only the widow and
a few relations will wa