es that we forbear to speak of the charming family which
surrounds him; but the rarity of Christian households in the army made
our visit there like to an oasis in the desert.

To visit the Indian graves surrounding the post was a prominent object
before us in going. Lieutenant Theodore F. True, with an orderly, two
mules, and a horse saddled, found us fording the Laramie River to
inspect the grave,--if such it can be called, as shown in the picture
on this page,--where the body was dried up like a mummy, and nothing
else but fragments of a buffalo-robe dangling in the wind was to be
seen. Relic hunters had carried away everything in the shape of bow and
arrow, wampum, etc.

We moralized over this beautiful feature of Indian superstition,
wherein they are certainly free from the horrid thought that any one is
ever buried alive!

Next we sought the place where the remains of Mon-i-ca, daughter of
Zin-ta-gah-lat-skah, was placed, by her request, in the white man's
cemetery, and alongside of the body of her uncle Sho-ta,--"Old
Smoke,"--an old warrior. The coffin was made at the post, and elevated
on posts about ten feet high. They cover these coffins with handsome
red broadcloth, and deposit in each all the trinkets and valuables
belonging to the departed. One other grave there the Indians visit
annually, and mourn over with their lamentations,--that of a Frenchman
named Sublette, who brought them down and directed them how to vanquish
their enemies, the Pawnees, in a great battle.

THE HEAD CHIEF--RED CLOUD.

Red Cloud is regarded as the head chief of the Sioux nation, and for
over twenty years has been thus venerated. He is fifty-three years old,
and claims to have fought in eighty-seven battles, often wounded, but
never badly hurt. Red Cloud is about six feet six inches in his
stockings (I mean moccasins), large features, high cheek bones, and a
big mouth, and walks knock-kneed, as others do. His face is painted,
and his ears pierced for gaudy rings, which men and women have an equal
pride for. His and other chiefs' robes were beautifully worked with
hair, beads, and jewels. His leggins were red, handsomely worked with
beads and horse-hair and ribbons, and his moccasins were fit for a
prince to wear.

He has encountered the Utes, Pawnees, Snakes, Blackfeet, Crows, and
Omahas. Thirty-three years ago, while he was the youngest of the
braves, he engaged with a party of one hundred and twenty-five warriors
o