The New Orleans Daily Democrat

Torture of the Widows,

In the interior of New Caledonia, which is east of Vancouver's Island and north of Columbia, among the tribe called "Taw-wa-tins," who are also Babines, and also among other tribes in their neighborhood, the custom prevails of burning bodies, with circumstances of peculiar barbarity to the widows of the deceased. The dead body of the husband is laid naked upon a large heap of resinous wood, his wife is then placed upon the body and covered with a skin; the pile is then lighted, and the poor woman is compelled to remain until she is nearly suffocated, when she is allowed to descend as best she can through the smoke and flames. No sooner, however, does she reach the ground than she is expected to prevent the body from becoming distorted by the action of the fire on the muscle and sinews; and whenever such an event takes place, she must with bare hands restore the burning corpse to its proper position; her person being the whole time exposed to the scorching effects of the intense heat. Should she fail in the due performance of this indispensable rite, from weakness or the intensity of her pain, she is held up by some one until the body is consumed. A continual singing and beating of drums is kept up throughout the ceremony, which drown her cries. Afterwards she must collect the unconsumed pieces of bone and ashes, and put them in a bag made for the purpose, which she has to carry on her back for three years; remaining for the time a slave to her husband's relations, and being neither allowed to wash nor comb herself for the whole time, so that she soon becomes a most disgusting object. At the expiration of the three years a feast is given by her tormentors, who invite all the friends and relations of her and themselves.