of red earth found in various portions of the Territory when the
vermilion of the traders cannot be had. The clothes and personal
trinkets of the deceased ornament the body. When blankets are
available, it is then wrapped in one, all parts of the body being
completely enveloped. Around this a dressed skin of buffalo is then
securely wrapped, with the flesh side out, and the whole securely
bound with thongs of skins, either raw or dressed; and for ornament,
when available, a bright-red blanket envelopes all other coverings,
and renders the general scene more picturesque until dimmed by time
and the elements. As soon as the scaffold is ready, the body is borne
by the women, followed by the female relatives, to the place of final
deposit, and left prone in its secure wrappings upon this airy bed of
death. This ceremony is accompanied with lamentations so wild and
weird that one must see and hear in order to appreciate. If the
deceased be a brave, it is customary to place upon or beneath the
scaffold a few buffalo-heads which time has rendered dry and
inoffensive; and if he has been brave in war some of his implements of
battle are placed on the scaffold or securely tied to its timbers. If
the deceased has been a chief, or a soldier related to his chief, it
is not uncommon to slay his favorite pony and place the body beneath
the scaffold, under the superstition, I suppose, that the horse goes
with the man. As illustrating the propensity to provide the dead with
the things used while living, I may mention that some years ago I
loaned to an old man a delft urinal for the use of his son, a young
man who was slowly dying of a wasting disease. I made him promise
faithfully that he would return it as soon as his son was done using
it. Not long afterwards the urinal graced the scaffold which held the
remains of the dead warrior, and as it has not to this day been
returned I presume the young man is not done using it.