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.

[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Scarification at Burial.]

Figure 20 represents scarification as a form of grief-expression for the
dead.

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, &c., 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, Caribs, 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 process to their domestic
animals, and Alexander, at the death of Hephaestin, not only cut off the
manes of his horses and mules, but took down the battlements from the
city walls, that even towns might seem in mourning and look bald.
Scarifying and mutilating the body has prevailed from a remote period of
time, having possibly replaced, in the process of evolution, to a
certain extent, the more barbarous practice of absolute personal
sacrifice. In later days, among our Indians, human sacrifices have taken
place to only a limited extent, but formerly many victims were
immolated, for at the funerals of the chiefs of the Florida and Carolina
Indians all the male relatives and wives were slain, for the reason,
according to Gallatin, that the hereditary dignity of Chief or Great Sun
descended, as usual, by the female line, and he, as well as all other
members of his clan, whether male or female, could marry only persons of
an inferior clan. To this day mutilation of the person among some tribes
of Indians is usual. The sacrifice of the favorite horse or horses is by
no means peculiar to our Indians, for it was common among the Romans,
and possibly even among the men of the Reindeer period, for at Solutre,
in France, the writer