BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 293 



Even chiefs are not always buried with religious care 

 and attention. Once, on a scout, I came upon an Indian 

 encampment very recently abandoned, and which, from 

 the dead horses, broken arms, cut-up lodges, and signs of 

 blood, I at first supposed had been harried by a hostile 

 band. A more critical examination soon convinced rne 

 that these were only evidences of the death of some 

 prominent man. I found where a heavy body had been 

 dragged over the ground. Following this trail for about 

 200 yards, I came to a small mound of dry leaves. 

 Pushing them aside I was astonished to recognise the 

 body of the war chief of the, Comanches^ a man greatly 

 loved and feared by his tribe. He was dressed in a uni- 

 form coat ; his head was adorned with a hat and feather ; 

 his face was painted ; his gun and equipment, complete, 

 were beside him, and in his hand he held a box of 

 matches. A closer examination disclosed the fact that 

 one end of a rope had been tied around his ankles, the 

 other evidently attached to the pommel of a saddle, and 

 the body, thus dragged naked from camp, was afterwards 

 dressed for the grave. All the skin was torn from the 

 back, sides, and loins, and the body otherwise greatly 

 mutilated by this rough treatment. It was not until some 

 months after that I learned that this chief had died of 

 delirium tremens. The tribe had gone into all the 

 usual mourning ecstasies, and had given him a good out- 

 fit for the Happy Hunting Grounds, but had shown its 

 appreciation of the mode of his death by treating his body 

 with indignity. 



