yarrow.] INHUMATION—-WAH-PETON AND SISSETON SIOUX. 107 
others. The graves of the chiefs are surrounded by neat wooden palings, each pale 
ornamented with a feather from the tail of the bald eagle. Baskets are usually staked 
down by the side, according to the wealth or popularity of the individual, and some- 
times other articles for ornament or use are suspended over them. The funeral cere- 
monies occupy three days, during which the soul of the deceased is in danger from 
O-mah-d, or the devil. To preserve it from this peril, a fire is kept up at the grave, 
and the friends of the deceased howl around it to seare away the demon. Should they 
not be.successful in this the soul is carried down the river, subject, however, to re- 
demption by Péh-ho-wan on payment of a big knife. After the expiration of three 
days it is all well with them. 
The question may well be asked, is the big knife a “ sop to Cerberus”? 
To Dr. Charles E. McChesney, acting assistant surgeon, United States 
Army, one of the most conscientious and careful of observers, the writer 
is indebted for the following interesting account of the mortuary cus- 
toms of the 
WAH-PETON AND SISSETON SIOUX OF DAKOTA. 
A large proportion of these Indians being members of the Presbyterian church (the 
missionaries of which church have labored among them for more than forty years 
past), the dead of their families are buried after the customs of that church, and this 
influence is felt to a great extent among those Indians who are not strict church mem- 
bers, so that they are dropping one by one the traditional customs of their tribe, and 
but few can now be found who bury their dead in accordance with their customs of 
twenty or more years ago. The dead of those Indians who still adhere to their modern 
burial customs are buried in the ways indicated below. 
Warrior.—After death they paint a warrior red across the mouth, or they paint a hand 
in black color, with the thumb on one side of the mouth and the fingers separated on the 
other cheek, the rest of the face being paintedred. (This latter isonly done as a mark of 
respect to a specially braveman.) Spears, clubs, and the medicine -bag of the deceased 
when alive are buried with the body, the medicine-bag being placed on the bare skin 
over the region of the heart. There is not now, nor has there been, among these Indi- 
ans any special preparationof the grave. ‘The body of a warrior is generally wrapped 
in a blanket or piece of cloth (and frequently in addition is placed in a box) and 
buried in the grave prepared for the purpose, always, as the majority of these Indians 
inform me, with the head towards the south. (I have, however, seen many graves in 
which the head of the ocenpant had been placed to the east. It may be that these graves 
were those of Indians who belonged to the church; and a few Indians inform me that 
the head is sometimes placed towards the west, according to the occupant’s belief when 
alive as to the direction from which his guiding medicine came, and I am personally 
inclined to give credence to this latter as sometimes occurring.) In all burials, when 
the person has died a natural death, or had not been murdered, and whether man, 
woman, or child, the body is placed inthe grave with the face up. In cases, however, 
when a man or woman has been murdered by one of their own tribe, the body was, and 
is always, placed in the grave with the face down, head to the south, and a piece of 
fat (bacon or pork) placed in the mouth. This piece of fat is placed in the mouth, as 
these Indians say, to prevent.the spirit of the murdered person driving or scaring the 
game from that section of country. Those Indians who state that their dead are al- 
ways buried with the head towards the south say they do so in order that the spirit 
of the deceased may go to the south, the land from which these Indiaus believe they 
originally came. 
Women and children.—Before death the face of the person expected to die is often 
painted in a red color. When this is not done before death it is done afterwards; the 
