32 LIFE IX THE FAR WEST. 



kindled in the centre of the open space ; and when a tliin 

 column of smoke arose, one of them planted the scalp-pole 

 obliquely across the fire. Squaws in robes of white dress- 

 ed buckskin, garnished with beads and porcupines' quills, 

 and their faces painted bright red and black, then appeared. 

 These ranged themselves round the outside of the square, 

 the boys and children of all ages, mounted on barebacked 

 horses, galloping round and round, and screaming with 

 eagerness, excitement, and curiosity. 



Presently the braves and warriors made their appearance, 

 and squatted round the fire in two circles, those who had 

 been engaged on the expedition being in the first or smaller 

 one. One medicine-man sat under the scalp-pole, having 

 a drum between his knees, which he tapped at intervals 

 with his hand, eliciting from the instrument a hollow 

 monotonous sound. A bevy of women, shoulder to shoul- 

 der, then advanced from the four sides of the square, and 

 some, shaking a rattledrum in time with their steps, com- 

 menced a jumping jerking dance, now lifting one foot from 

 the ground, and now rising with both, accompanying the 

 dance with a chant, which swelled from a low whisper to 

 the utmost extent of their voices now dying away, and 

 again bursting into vociferous measure. Thus they ad- 

 vanced to the centre and retreated to their former posi- 

 tions ; when six squaws, with their faces painted a dead 

 black, made their appearance from the crowd, chanting, in 

 soft and sweet measure, a lament for the braves the nation 

 had lost in the late battle : but soon as they drew near the 

 scalp-pole, their melancholy note changed to the music (to 

 them) of gratified revenge. In a succession of jumps, rais- 

 ing the feet alternately but a little distance from the ground, 

 they made their way, through an interval left in the circle 

 of warriors, to the grim pole, and encircling it, danced in 

 perfect silence round it for a few moments. Then they 

 burst forth with an extempore song, laudatory of the 

 achievements of their victorious braves. They addressed 

 the scalps as " sisters " (to be called a squaw is the greatest 

 insult that can be offered to an Indian), and, spitting at 

 them, upbraided them with their rashness in leaving their 



