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disturbance between the two, followed by blows and the effusion 

 of blood. When a child gets hurt, either by falling from a 

 tree, or into the fire, &c., the women set up a terrible howling at 

 once. The children show no affection for their parents, and 

 sometimes leave them as early as at six years of age to rove about 

 with others. Such a vagabond kind of life they love dearly, and, 

 for this reason, delight much in riding about on horseback with 

 white people. The girls are hard to train to domestic work, and 

 the boys to any occupation binding them to a certain place. 



When a child sickens, the mother takes it in her lap, and does 

 not leave the spot, the father sitting near by ; from time to time 

 others join the group. If the illness becomes serious they begin 

 to scream, and the women throw themselves over the patient, 

 covering him with the upper part of their bodies, so that he is 

 suffocated. The same is done with other persons when very 

 seriously ill. But for this habit some might recover. An illus- 

 trative case came under our observation. The women having 

 crowded over the patient as usual we drove them away, and gave 

 the child some medicine. It got better, and is alive at the present 

 day. Since then the natives have discontinued the practice, 

 and always ask for advice in the illness of their children. 

 When the patient has breathed his last the lamentations and 

 mournings become accentuated. The eldest person in the camp 

 shouts at intervals some five or six, long-drawn, mournful sounds 

 in a deep bass voice, and with widely-open mouth. At the same 

 time the others throw sand and ashes over each other, untie their 

 hair so that it hangs in a dishevelled mass, the women lacerating 

 their heads with their pointed sticks, and the men cutting each 

 other's backs so that the blood Hows. And why ? They want to 

 propitiate Death, so that he may not take them as well ! There 

 the majority crouch near the dead for a short while with the head 

 hung low, while a few depart in haste to dig the grave. All per- 

 sons present in the camp assemble at the place of mourning, the 

 corpse still lying upon the lap of the mother or the wife or sister, 

 and covered by the bodies of other women. The graves for men 

 are dug by men only, those for women and children partly by 

 men and partly by women, a sandy spot being selected for the 

 purpose, situated at some considerable distance from the camp. 

 The earth is loosened with the stick and thrown out with a 

 trough, until the hole is four to five feet deep, and so wide that a 

 man can work comfortably in it. Then an excavation is made at 

 the bottom on the side toward their tiiiara altjira — i.e., the place 

 where the mother of the dead person was born — forming a 

 lateral chamber. When the grave is finished the gravediggers 

 step close up to the corpse, putting their long beards between 

 their teeth, holding it firmly, and making the most grotesque 



