this has again grown to a certain length she cannot remarry. (Spencer, D.S., 20.) Among the Patagonians, “the widow, or widows, of the dead, are obliged to mourn and fast for a whole year after the death of their husbands.”  They must abstain from certain kinds of food, and must not wash their faces and hands for a whole year; while “during the year of mourning they are forbidden to marry.” (Falkner, 119.) The grief is all prescribed and regulated according to tribal fancy.  The Brazilians “repeat the lamentation for the dead twice a day.” (Spix and Martins, II., 250.) The Comanches

“mourn for the dead systematically and periodically with great noise and vehemence; at which time the female relatives of the deceased scarify their arms and legs with sharp flints until the blood trickles from a thousand pores.  The duration of these lamentations depends on the quality and estimation of the deceased; varying from three to five or seven days.”

(Schoolcraft, I., 237.) James Adair says in his History of the American Indians (188), “They compel the widow to act the part of the disconsolate dove, for the irreparable loss of her mate.”

In Dahomey, during mourning “the weeping relatives must fast and refrain from bathing,” etc. (Burton, II., 164.) In the Transvaal, writes the missionary Posselt,

“there are a number of heathenish customs which the widows are obliged to observe.  There is, first, the terrible lamentation for the dead.  Secondly, the widows must allow themselves to be fumigated,” etc.

Concerning the Asiatic Turks Vambery writes that the women are not allowed to attend the funeral, but “are obliged meanwhile to remain in their tent, and, while lamenting incessantly, scratch their cheeks with their nails, i.e., mar their beauty.”  The widow must lament or sing dirges for a whole year, etc.  Chippewa widows are obliged to fast and must not comb their hair for a year or wear any ornament.  A Shushwap widow must not allow her shadow to fall on any one, and must bed her head on thorns.  Bancroft notes (I., 731) that among the Mosquito Indians

“the widow was bound to supply the grave of her husband with provisions for a year, after which she took up the bones and carried them with her for another year, at last placing them upon the roof of her house, and then only was she allowed to marry again.”

The widows of the Tolkotin Indians in Oregon were subjected to such maltreatment that some of them committed suicide to escape their sufferings.  For nine days they were obliged to sleep beside the corpse and follow certain rules in regard to dressing and eating.  If a widow neglected any of these, she was on the tenth day thrown on the funeral pile with the corpse and tossed about and scorched till she lost consciousness.  Afterward she was obliged to perform the function of a slave to all the other women and children of the tribe.[124]