d the work. When they had
finished, the cabins were all inspected, to see if they were in proper
order. Next day the party approached the village. They were all
frightfully painted, and each man had a bunch of white feathers on his
head. They were marching in single file, the chief of the party leading
the way, bearing in one hand a branch of cedar, laden with the scalps
they had taken, and all chanting their war-song. As they entered the
village, the chief led the way to the war-pole which stood in front of
the council-house. In this house the council-fire was then burning. The
waiter, or _Etissu_ of the leader, then fixed two blocks of wood near the
war-pole, and placed upon them a kind of ark, which was regarded by them
as one of their most sacred things. The chief now ordered that all should
sit down. He then inquired whether his cabin was prepared, and everything
made ready, according to the custom of his fathers. They then rose up and
commenced the war-whoop, as they marched round the war-pole. The ark was
then taken and carried with great solemnity into the council-house, and
here the whole party remained three days and nights, separate from the
rest of the people. Their first business now was to wash themselves
clean, and sprinkle themselves with a mixture of bitter herbs. While they
were thus in the house, all their female relatives, after having bathed
and dressed themselves in their finest clothes, placed themselves in two
lines facing each other on each side of the door. Here they continued
singing a slow monotonous song all day and night; the song was kept up
steadily for one minute, with intervals of ten minutes of dead silence
between. About once in three hours the chief would march out at the head
of his warriors, raise the war-whoop, and pass around the war-pole,
bearing his branch of cedar. This was all that was done for the whole
three days and nights. At length the purification was ended, and upon
each of their cabins was placed a twig of the cedar with a fragment of
the scalps fastened to it, to satisfy the ghosts of their departed
friends. All were now quiet as usual, except the leader of the party and
his waiter, who kept up the purification three days and nights longer.
When he had finished, the budget was hung up before his door for thirty
or forty days, and from time to time Indians of the party would be seen
singing and dancing before it. When Boone asked the meaning of all this
strange ceremony