Memories of a Bear Hunter 



I found it in possession of a Mr. Evans, who told 

 me that it was trapped on what was afterward 

 called White Beaver 17 Creek, a tributary of the 

 Yellowstone River, below the mouth of the Big 

 Horn. Believing this to be the only white beaver 

 ever trapped in the Northwestern Territories, I 

 gave $25 for the skin and sent it to Dr. South- 

 worth, who was much gratified to receive it. 



On the prairie back of Fort Peck was a great 

 burial ground of Indians that had died at the 

 agency. It could be seen for a long way down the 

 river, and used to attract much curiosity. The 

 graves were not dug in the ground, but each body 

 wrapped in its robe or blanket, was placed upon a 

 platform about twelve feet high. 



The scaffold 18 rested on four poles, to which it 

 was bound by thongs of rawhide. While the 

 people were journeying here and there over the 

 prairie the bodies of the dead were deposited in 

 trees, where they were firmly tied, and at a date 

 later than this I observed that all the trees on the 

 river near Cow Island held one or more dead 

 bodies. After having been thus put in the trees 

 and on scaffolds, no further attention was paid 

 to the dead. 



It was not difficult to surmise the origin of this 

 custom ; if buried, bodies were quite sure to be dug 



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