their having burned a prisoner, and that was in a war with the
Menominies, and in retaliation for a similar act, first committed by
that tribe. The young Indians go to war generally between the age of
seventeen and twenty, but sometimes as early as fifteen. Many of them at
the age of forty and forty-five, look old and are broken down in their
physical constitution, in consequence of the hardships which they have
endured in war and the chase. In old age they are usually provided for,
and live in peace at their villages. When one of them is sick, and
thinks he is about to go to the land of spirits, he not unfrequently
directs the manner in which he wishes to be buried, and his instructions
are complied with. The Sauks and Foxes bury their dead in the ground,
and have preferences for particular places of interment. The graves are
not dug to any great depth, and a little bark from a tree is made to
answer the purpose of a coffin. The body is usually carried to the grave
by old women, who howl at intervals, during the ceremony, most
piteously. Before closing the grave, one of the Indians present at the
funeral will wave a stick or war-club, called "puc-ca waw-gun," saying
in an audible voice, "I have killed many men in war, and I give their
spirits to my dead friend who lies here, to serve him as slaves in the
other world:" after which the grave is filled up with earth, and in a
day or two a rude cabin or shed is made over it of rough boards or bark.
If the deceased was a brave, a post is planted at the head of the grave,
on which, in a rude manner, the number of scalps and prisoners he has
taken in war, is represented by red paint. Upon the death of an adult,
his property is usually distributed among his relatives, and his widow
returns to her own family or nearest kinfolks. The widow is the
principal mourner for the deceased and her grief seems to be sincere.
Her countenance becomes dejected--she seldom smiles--clothes herself in
rags, and with disheveled hair and spots of black paint on her cheeks,
wanders about in a pensive mood, seldom shedding tears, except when