THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 63 



Every person in camp visited the tepee of the young 

 man and took a last glance at his features; but they were 

 so ghastly that I was glad to hasten away and forget their 

 expression. No person indulged in a word of condolence 

 to his parents, and the only comments I heard made by the 

 men was a simple " too bad." As the chief would not wait 

 another day in camp, the friends of the deceased dug a 

 rude grave, and placed him and all his paraphernalia in it, 

 without any other covering than his clothes. When this 

 simple and hurried ceremony was over, two of his mus- 

 tangs and three dogs were killed, and their skins placed on 

 a pole above the grave, in order that he might have some 

 useful animals in the happy hunting-grounds. To spend 

 another night in this wild chasm was anything but a pleas- 

 ant anticipation to me, yet there was no avoiding it, so I 

 made up my mind to bear it as philosophically as possi- 

 ble. Disagreeable as the previous night had been, I found 

 the second much worse; for not only were the same noises 

 in operation, but they were^ increased by the moaning 

 of weeping women, the guttural gabble of men grouped 

 around the camp-fires, and occasionally by the melancholy 

 howling of packs of gaunt wolves that prowled over the 

 ground above in search of food. I did manage to get a 

 little sleep, however, late in the night, but, when roused in 

 the morning, I felt as weary as if I had not closed my eyes. 



After a hasty breakfast, the camp was struck and the 

 march resumed, but not a word was uttered by anybody 

 about the name or fate of the deceased ; but what struck 

 me as most curious was the apparent absence of all signs 

 of grief on the features of his kindred, for they laughed 

 and chatted as gayly as if they had never known a sorrow, 

 and certainly not one so recent. We reached the pow-wow 

 two days after, and remained in attendance for three days ; 

 and after a lot of useless talk and idle ceremony had been 

 indulged in between the Indians belonging to the reserva- 

 tion, the agent, and a superintendent of Indian affairs, we 

 turned backward on our route, and reached once more the 

 old camp near the chasm ; but the band would not pitch 



