I have noticed several women here carrying with them rolls of clothing.  On inquiring what these imported, I learn that they are widows who carry them, and that these are badges of mourning.  It is indispensable, when a woman of the Chippeway Nation loses her husband, for her to take of her best apparel—­and the whole of it is not worth a dollar—­and roll it up, and confine it by means of her husband’s sashes; and if he had ornaments, these are generally put on the top of the roll, and around it is wrapped a piece of cloth.  This bundle is called her husband, and it is expected that she is never to be seen without it.  If she walks out she takes it with her; if she sits down in her lodge, she places it by her side.  This badge of widowhood and of mourning the widow is compelled to carry with her until some of her late husband’s family shall call and take it away, which is done when they think she has mourned long enough, and which is generally at the expiration of a year.  She is then, but not before, released from her mourning, and at liberty to marry again.  She has the privilege to take this husband to the family of the deceased and leave it, but this is considered indecorous, and is seldom done.  Sometimes a brother of the deceased takes the widow for his wife at the grave of her husband, which is done by a ceremony of walking her over it.  And this he has a right to do; and when this is done she is not required to go into mourning; or, if she chooses, she has the right to go to him, and he is bound to support her.

I visited a lodge to-day, where I saw one of these badges.  The size varies according to the quantity of clothing which the widow may happen to have.  It is expected of her to put up her best and wear her worst.  The “husband” I saw just now was 30 inches high and 18 inches in circumference.

I was told by the interpreter that he knew a woman who had been left to mourn after this fashion for years, none of her husband’s family calling for the badge or token of her grief.  At a certain time it was told her that some of her husband’s family were passing, and she was advised to speak to them on the subject.  She did so, and told them she had mourned long and was poor; that she had no means to buy clothes, and her’s being all in the mourning badge, and sacred, could not be touched.  She expressed a hope that her request might not be interpreted into a wish to marry; it was only made that she might be placed in a situation to get some clothes.  She got for answer, that “they were going to Mackinac, and would think of it.”  They left her in this state of uncertainty, but on returning, and finding her faithful still, they took her “husband” and presented her with clothing of various kinds.  Thus was she rewarded for her constancy and made comfortable.

     The Choctaw widows mourn by never combing their hair for the
     term of their grief, which is generally about a year.  The
     Chippeway men mourn by painting their faces black.