erthold:

The Gros Ventres and Mandans never bury in the ground, but always on
a scaffold, made of four posts about eight feet high, on which the
box is placed, or, if no box is used, the body wrapped in red or
blue cloth if able, or, if not, a blanket of cheapest white cloth,
the tools and weapons being placed directly under the body, and
there they remain forever, no Indian ever daring to touch one of
them. It would be bad medicine to touch the dead or anything so
placed belonging to him. Should the body by any means fall to the
ground, it is never touched or replaced on the scaffold. As soon as
one dies he is immediately buried, sometimes within an hour, and the
friends begin howling and wailing as the process of interment goes
on, and continue mourning day and night around the grave, without
food sometimes three or four days. Those who mourn are always paid
for it in some way by the other friends of the deceased, and those
who mourn the longest are paid the most. They also show their grief
and affection for the dead by a fearful cutting of their own bodies,
sometimes only in part, and sometimes all over their whole flesh,
and this sometimes continues for weeks. Their hair, which is worn in
long braids, is also cut off to show their mourning. They seem proud
of their mutilations. A young man who had just buried his mother
came in boasting of, and showing his mangled legs.

According to Thomas L. McKenney,[67] the Chippewas of Fond du Lac, Wis.,
buried on scaffolds, inclosing the corpse in a box. The narrative is as
follows:

One mode of burying the dead among the Chippewas is to place the
coffin or box containing their remains on two cross-pieces, nailed
or tied with wattap to four poles. The poles are about ten feet
high. They plant near these posts the wild hop or some other kind of
running vine, which spreads over and covers the coffin. I saw one of
these on the island, and as I have described it. It was the coffin
of a child about four years old. It was near the lodge of the sick
girl. I have a sketch of it. I asked the chief why his people
disposed of their dead in that way. He answered they did not like to
put them out of their sight so soon by putting them under ground.
Upon a platform they could see the box that contained their remains,
and that was a comfort to them.

Figure 19 is copied from McKenney's picture of this form of burial.

K