ted with
vermilion, or a species 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 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.

The mourning customs of the Dakotas, though few of them appear to be
of universal observance, cover considerable ground. The hair, never
cut under other circumstances, is cropped off even with the neck,
and the top of the head and forehead, and sometimes nearly the whole
body, are smeared with a species of white earth resembling chalk,
moistened with water. The lodge, teepee, and all the family
possessions except