four or five days, but is occasionally resorted to, at intervals, for
weeks, or even months, according to the mood of the bereft. I have
seen few things in life so touching as the spectacle of an old father
going daily to the grave of his child, while the shadows are
lengthening, and pouring out his grief in wails that would move a
demon, until his figure melts with the gray twilight, when, silent and
solemn, he returns to his desolate family. The weird effect of this
observance is sometimes heightened, when the deceased was a grown-up
son, by the old man kindling a little fire near the head of the
scaffold, and varying his lamentations with smoking in silence. The
foregoing is drawn from my memory of personal observances during a
period of more than six years' constant intercourse with several
subdivisions of the Dakota Indians. There may be much which memory has
failed to recall upon a brief consideration."

Perhaps a brief review of Dr. Turner's narrative may not be deemed
inappropriate here.

Supplying food to the dead is a custom which is known to be of great
antiquity; in some instances, as among the ancient Romans, it appears
to have been a sacrificial offering, for it usually accompanied
cremation, and was not confined to food alone, for spices, perfumes,
oil, etc., were thrown upon the burning pile. In addition to this,
articles supposed or known to have been agreeable to the deceased were
also consumed. The Jews did the same, and in our own time the Chinese,
Caribe and many of the tribes of North American Indians followed these
customs. The cutting of hair as a mourning observance is of very great
antiquity, and Tegg relates that among the ancients whole cities and
countries were shaved (_sic_) when a great man died. The Persians
not only shaved themselves on such occasions, but extended the same