alone in the woods. They generally cease mourning at the suggestion of
some friend, wash, paint themselves red and put on their best clothes
and ornaments. Some of the Sauks and Foxes entertain the opinion that
the spirit of the deceased hovers about the village or lodge, for a few
days, and then takes its flight to the land of repose. On its way, they
suppose it passes over an extensive prairie, beyond which the woods
appear like a blue cloud. Between this woodland and the prairie, there
is a deep and rapid stream of water, across which there is a pole, kept
in continual motion by the force of the current. This stream, the spirit
must cross on the pole, and if it has belonged to a good person, it will
get over safe and find all its good relations that have gone before it.
In this woodland, game of all kinds is abundant, and there the spirits
of the good live in everlasting happiness. If on the contrary, the
spirit has belonged to a bad or wicked person in this world, it will
fall off the pole into the stream, and the current will sweep it down to
the land of evil spirits, where it will forever remain in poverty and
misery. There is nothing very peculiar in the religious opinions of the
Sauks and Foxes, to distinguish them from the aborigines of this
country, generally. They believe in one Great and Good Spirit, who
controls and governs all things, and in supernatural agents who are
permitted to interfere in their concerns. They are of opinion that there
is also a bad spirit, subordinate, however, to the great Manito, who is
permitted to annoy and perplex the Indians, by means of bad medicines,
by poisonous reptiles, and by killing their horses and sinking their
canoes. All their misfortunes are attributed to the influence of this
bad spirit, but they have some vague idea that it is in part permitted
as a punishment for their bad deeds. They all believe in ghosts, and
when they fancy that they have seen one, the friends of the deceased
give a feast and hang up some clothing as an offering to appease the
troubled spirit. So far as the ceremonials are concerned, the Sauks and