beside it, not that they
supposed the spirit could use the implements or eat the food but merely
as a last tribute. Then the whole people would break camp and depart to
a distance, leaving the dead alone in an honorable solitude.

There was no prescribed ceremony of burial, though the body was carried
out with more or less solemnity by selected young men, and sometimes
noted warriors were the pall-bearers of a man of distinction. It was
usual to choose a prominent hill with a commanding outlook for the last
resting-place of our dead. If a man were slain in battle, it was an old
custom to place his body against a tree or rock in a sitting position,
always facing the enemy, to indicate his undaunted defiance and bravery,
even in death.

I recall a touching custom among us, which was designed to keep the
memory of the departed near and warm in the bereaved household. A lock
of hair of the beloved dead was wrapped in pretty clothing, such as it
was supposed that he or she would like to wear if living. This "spirit
bundle," as it was called, was suspended from a tripod, and occupied a
certain place in the lodge which was the place of honor. At every meal
time, a dish of food was placed under it, and some person of the same
sex and age as the one who was gone must afterward be invited in to
partake of the food. At the end of a year from the time of death, the
relatives made a public feast and gave away the clothing and other
gifts, while the lock of hair was interred with appropriate ceremonies.

Certainly the Indian never doubted the immortal nature of the spirit
or soul of man, but neither did he care to speculate upon its
probable state or condition in a future life. The idea of a "happy
hunting-ground" is modern and probably borrowed, or invented by the
white man. The primitive Indian was content to believe that the spirit
which the "Great Mystery" breathed into man returns to Him who gave it,
and that after it is freed from the body, it is everywhere and pervades
all nature, yet often lingers near the grave or "spirit bundle" for
the consolation of friends, and is able to hear prayers. So much of
reverence was due the disembodied spirit, that it was not customary with
us even to name the dead aloud.

It is well known that the American Indian had somehow developed occult
power, and although in the latter days there have been many impostors,
and, allowing for the vanity and weakness of human nature, it is fair
to assu