hat those dying on the way were
bound upon horses and thus frequently carried several hundred miles
for interment at the burial places of their friends.

At the graveyard of the Indians the ceremony partakes of a double
nature; upon the one hand it is sanguinary and cruel, and upon the
other blended with the deepest grief and most heartfelt sorrow.
Before the interment of the dead the chattels of the deceased are
unloaded from the wagons or unpacked from the backs of ponies and
carefully arranged in the vault-like tomb. The bottom, which is
wider than the top (graves here being dug like an inverted funnel),
is spread with straw or grass matting, woven generally by the Indian
women of the tribe or some near neighbor. The sides are then
carefully hung with handsome shawls or blankets, and trunks, with
domestic articles, pottery, &c., of less importance, are piled
around in abundance. The sacrifices are next inaugurated. A pony,
first designated by the dying Indian, is led aside and strangled by
men hanging to either end of a rope. Sometimes, but not always,
a dog is likewise strangled, the heads of both animals being
subsequently laid upon the Indian's grave. The body, which is now
often placed in a plain coffin, is lowered into the grave, and if a
coffin is used the friends take their parting look at the deceased
before closing it at the grave. After lowering, a saddle and bridle,
blankets, dishes, &c., are placed upon it, the mourning ceases, and
the Indians prepare to close the grave. It should be remembered,
among the Otoe and Missouri Indians dirt is not filled in upon the
body, but simply rounded up from the surface upon stout logs that
are accurately fitted over the opening of the grave. After the
burying is completed, a distribution of the property of the deceased
takes place, the near relatives receiving everything, from the
merest trifle to the tent and homes, leaving the immediate family,
wife and children or father out-door pensioners.

Although the same generosity is not observed towards the whites
assisting in funeral rites, it is universally practiced as regards
Indians, and poverty's lot is borne by the survivors with a
fortitude and resignation which in them amounts to duty, and marks a
higher grade of intrinsic worth than pervades whites of like
advantages and conditions. We are told in the Old Testament
Scriptures, "four days an