162 MORTUARY CUSTOMS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
The poles are about ten feet high. They plant near these posts the wild hop or some 
other kind of running vine, which spreads over and covers the coffin. I saw one of 
these on the island, and as I have described it. It was the coffin of a child about four 
years old. It was near the lodge of the sick girl. I have a sketch of it. I asked the 
chief why his people disposed of their dead in that way. He answered they did not 
like to put them out of their sight so soon by putting them under ground. Upon a 
platform they could see the box that contained their remains, and that was a comfort 
to them. 
Figure 19 is copied from McKenney’s picture of this form of burial. 
Keating* thus describes burial scaffolds : 
On these scaffolds, which are from eight to ten feet high, corpses were deposited in 
a box made from part of a broken canoe. Some hair was suspended, which we at first 
mistook for a scalp, but our guide informed us that these were locks of hair torn from 
their heads by the relatives to testify their grief. In the center, between the four 
posts which supported the scaffold, a stake was planted in the ground; it was about 
six feet high, and bore an imitation of human figures, five of which had a design of a 
petticoat, indicating them to be females; the rest, amounting to seven, were naked 
and were intended for male figures; of the latter four were headless, showing that 
they had been slain; the three other male figures were unmutilated, but held a staff 
in their hand, which, as our guide informed us, designated that they were slaves. 
The post, which is an usual accompaniment to the scaffold that supports a warrior’s 
remains, does not represent the achievements of the deceased; but those of the war- 
riors that assembled near his remains danced the dance of the post, and related their 
martial exploits. A number of small bones of animals were observed in the vicinity, 
which were probably left there after a feast celebrated in honor of the dead. 
The boxes in which the corpses were placed are so short that a man could not lie in 
them extended at full length, but in a country where boxes and boards are searce this 
is overlooked. After the corpses have remained a certain time exposed, they are taken 
down and buried. Our guide, Renville, related to us that he had been a witness to 
an interesting, though painful, circumstance that occurred here. An Indian who re- 
sided on the Mississippi, hearing that his son had died at this spot, came up in a canoe 
to take charge of the remains and convey them down the river to his place of abode, 
but on his arrival he found that the corpse had already made such progress toward 
decomposition as rendered it impossible for it to be removed. He then undertook, 
with a few friends, to clean off the bones. All the flesh was scraped off and thrown 
into the stream, the bones were carefully collected into his canoe, and subsequently 
carried down to his residence. 
Interesting and valuable from the extreme attention paid to details 
is the following account of a burial case discovered by Dr. George M. 
Sternberg, United States Army, and furnished by Dr. George A. Otis, 
United States Army, Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. ©. It re- 
lates to the Cheyennes of Kansas: 
The case was found, Brevet-Major Sternberg states, on the banks of Walnut Creek, 
Kansas, elevated about eight feet from the ground by four notched poles, which were 
firmly planted in the ground. The unusual care manifested in the preparation of the 
case induced Dr. Sternberg to infer that some important chief was inclosed in it. Be- 
lieving that articles of interest were inclosed with the body, and that their value 
would be enhanced if they were received at the Museum as left by the Indians, Dr. 
Sternberg determined to send the case unopened. 
I had the case opened this morning and an inventory made of the contents. The 
case consisted of a cradle of interlaced branches of white willow, about six feet long, 
* Long’s Exped, to the St. Peter’s River, 1824, p. 332. 
