hen he mentioned hanging, I thought I could do no less
than ask who hanged her, which you forgot to do. "Who hanged her?" said
I; and then the man told me that she had done it herself; been her own
hinjiri; and then I thought to myself what a sin and shame it would be if
I did not go to the funeral, seeing that she was my own mother-in-law. I
would have brought my wife, and, indeed, the whole of our party, but
there was no time for that; they were too far off, and the dead was to be
buried early the next morning; so I went with the man, and he led me into
Wales, where his party had lately retired, and when there, through many
wild and desolate places to their encampment, and there I found the
Hernes, and the dead body--the last laid out on a mattress, in a tent,
dressed Romaneskoenaes in a red cloak, and big bonnet of black beaver. I
must say for the Hernes that they took the matter very coolly; some were
eating, others drinking, and some were talking about their small affairs;
there was one, however, who did not take the matter so coolly, but took
on enough for the whole family, sitting beside the dead woman, tearing
her hair, and refusing to take either meat or drink; it was the child
Leonora. I arrived at nightfall, and the burying was not to take place
till the morning, which I was rather sorry for, as I am not very fond of
them Hernes, who are not very fond of anybody. They never asked me to
eat or drink, notwithstanding I had married into the family, one of them,
however, came up and offered to fight me for five shillings; had it not
been for them I should have come back as empty as I went--he didn't stand
up five minutes. Brother, I passed the night as well as I could, beneath
a tree, for the tents were full, and not over clean; I slept little, and
had my eyes about me, for I knew the kind of people I was among.

'Early in the morning the funeral took place. The body was placed not in
a coffin but on a bier, and carried not to a churchyard but to a deep
dell close by; and there it was buried beneath a rock, dressed just as I
have told you; and this was done by the bidding of Leonora, who had heard
her bebee say that she wished to be buried, not in gorgious fashion, but
like a Roman woman of the old blood, the kosko puro rati, brother. When
it was over, and we had got back to the encampment, I prepared to be
going. Before mounting my gry, however, I bethought me to ask what could
have induced the dead woman