ed toward Shipapu, in the far-distant mythical North. The
road must be long to Shipapu, else it would not require four entire days
to reach it; and there are neither eating-places nor half-way houses on
the way, where the dead may stop for refreshments. Therefore the
survivors placed on the spot where the body had rested for the last time
an effigy of the dead, a wooden carving, and covered it with a piece of
cloth; while by the side of this effigy they deposited food and water,
in order that neither cold, hunger, nor thirst might cause the
travelling spirit to suffer. But the road is not only long, it is also
dangerous; evil spirits lie in wait for the deceased to capture him if
possible, and hamper his ultimate felicity. To protect himself against
them a small war-club is added to the other necessaries, and to render
the journey safe beyond a doubt a magic circle is drawn, encompassing
the statuette with a circle of cruciform marks, imitating the footprints
of the shashka, or road-runner. As these crosses point in all four
directions, it is supposed that evil spirits will become bewildered and
unable to pursue the soul in its transit. At the end of the fourth day,
with many prayers and ceremonies, the circle is obliterated, and the
other objects, including the effigy, are taken away by the shamans to be
disposed of in a manner known to them alone.

During the period of official mourning the loud wail was carried on
incessantly, or at least at frequent intervals; fasting was practised;
the women wept, sobbed, screamed, and yelled. Both sexes gathered daily
around the place where the effigy lay, praying loudly for the safe
journey and arrival at Shipapu of the defunct. The women alone shed
tears on such occasions, the men only stared with a gloomy face and
thoughtful mien. They recalled and remembered the dead. What the great
master of historical composition has said of the ancient Germans may be
applied here also: "Feminis lugere honestum est, viris meminisse."

In the humble abode where Topanashka Tihua had dwelt with his deaf old
wife, and where his bloody remains had rested previous to being borne to
the funeral pyre, his effigy lay covered by the handsomest piece of
cotton cloth that could be found among the homes of the Rito, and a
quaintly painted and decorated specimen of pottery contained the
drinking-water for his soul. It was dusky in the room, for the window as
well as the hatchway afforded little light. Sub