I commenced the conversation by complimenting
him on the perfection of his wives and daughters in the dance, and on
his own agility in the performance; and inquired for whom the ceremony
had been performed.
He replied, that it was for a man who had been recently killed, but no
one of great importance, the same ceremony being observed for every
person without distinction. I asked him why those slain in battle were
allowed to remain unburied. He said, it had always been the custom, but
that he could not explain it.
"But," I replied, "why should you disturb the bones of those whom you
have already buried, and expose them on the outskirts of the town?"
"It was the custom of our forefathers," he answered, "therefore we
continue to observe it."
"Have you no belief in a future existence after death? Is not some idea
expressed in the act of exhuming the bones after the flesh is decayed?"
Commoro (loq.). - "Existence AFTER death! How can that be? Can a dead man
get out of his grave, unless we dig him out?"
"Do you think man is like a beast, that dies and is ended?"
Commoro. - "Certainly; an ox is stronger than a man; but he dies, and his
bones last longer; they are bigger. A man's bones break quickly - he is
weak."
"Is not a man superior in sense to an ox?
