It was a consolation to find that, although delayed, we were yet in time
to furnish a quantity of white cotton for a flag to wave over the grave,
and also to pay a considerable bill at the sutler's for the different
articles that had been found necessary for the funeral parade--it being
a duty expected of their Father to bury the dead suitably.

The funeral observances in honor of the chief had not yet ceased.
Throughout the day, and all that night, the sound of instruments,
mingled with doleful lamentations, and with the discordant whoops and
yells of those in a partial state of intoxication, filled the air, and
disturbed our repose. To these were added occasionally the plaintive
sounds of the Indian flute, upon which the young savage plays when he is
in love. Grief and whiskey had made their hearts tender, and the woods
resounded to their melancholy strains.

Early the following morning, before I left my room, I was startled by
the sounds of lamentation and woe proceeding from the adjoining
apartment. On entering it, I found several squaws seated on the floor,
with downcast looks expressive of condolence and sympathy, while in
their midst sat a little ugly woman, in tattered garments, with
blackened face and dishevelled hair, sobbing and wailing bitterly.

Not doubting they were the family of the deceased chief, I was quite
troubled at my inability to express, otherwise than by gestures, my
participation in their sorrows.

Unacquainted as I was with their customs, I took it for granted from
their wretched appearance that poverty and destitution formed one of the
sources of their affliction. One of the party, at least, seemed in the