AV 77/7: FAR 111- ST. 43 



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 

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

 made up my mind to bear it as philosophically as possible. 

 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 gaily 

 as if the) had never known a sorrow, and certainly not one so 

 recent. AVe reached the f/ow wow two days after, and re- 

 mained 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 reservation, the agent, and a 

 superintendent of Indian a Hairs, we turned backward on our 

 route, and reached once more the old camp near the chasm ; 

 but the band would not pitch their wigwams there, owing to 

 their belief that it \v;;s a fatal spot, and was haunted by the 

 spirit of the brave. Being anxious to see again the place 

 that had so deeply impressed itself on my memory, I descended 

 the chasm and visited the grave; but on reaching it 1 was 

 horror-stricken to find that the wolves had scraped up the 

 body and eaten it. I saw that the remains of the mustang 

 killed by the grizzly had also been devoured by the same 

 hungry creatures, and could then readily understand why some 

 of them are one mass of sores in some portions of the West. 

 The sightless, fleshless skull of the brave, with its long, lank 

 hair, was so displeasing a sight to me that I was ^lud to beat 



