yarrow. ] SCAFFOLD BURIAL—SIOUX. 165 
Figure 20 represents scarification as a form of grief-expression for the 
dead. 
Perhaps a brief review of Dr. Turner’s narrative may not be deemed 
inappropriate here. 
Supplying food to the dead is a custom which is known to be of great 
antiquity ; in some instances, as among the ancient Romans, it appears 
to have been a sacrificial offering, for it usually accompanied cremation, 
and was not confined to food alone, for spices, perfumes, oil, &c., were 
thrown upon the burning pile. In addition to this, articles supposed or 
known to have been agreeable to the deceased were also consumed. The 
Jews did the same, and in our own time the Chinese, Caribs, and many 
of the tribes of North American Indians followed these customs. The 
cutting of hair as a mourning observance is of very great antiquity, and 
Tegg relates that among the ancients whole cities and countries were 
shaved (sic) when a great man died. The Persians not only shaved 
themselves on such occasions, but extended the same process to their 
domestic animals, and Alexander, at the death of Hephestin, not only 
cut off the manes of his horses and mules, but took down the battle- 
ments from the city walls, that even towns might seem in mourning and 
look bald. Searifying and mutilating the body has prevailed from a re- 
mote period of time, having possibly replaced, in the process of evolu- 
tion, to a certain extent, the more barbarous practice of absolute per- 
sonal sacrifice. In later days, among our Indians, human sacrifices 
have taken place to only a limited extent, but formerly many victims 
were immolated, for at the funerals of the chiefs of the Florida and 
Carolina Indians all the male relatives and wives were slain, for the 
reason, according to Gallatin, that the hereditary dignity of Chief or 
Great Sun descended, as usual, by the female line, and he, as well as all 
other members of his clan, whether male or female, could marry only 
persons of an inferior clan. To this day mutilation of the person among 
some tribes of Indians is usual. The sacrifice: of the favorite horse or 
horses is by no means peculiar to our Indians, for it was common among 
the Romans, and possibly even among the men of the Reindeer period, 
for at Solutré, in France, the writer saw horses’ bones exhumed from the 
graves examined in 1875. The writer has frequently conversed with 
Indians upon this subject, and they have invariably informed him that 
when horses were slain great care was taken to select the poorest of the 
band. 
Tree-burial was not uncommon among the nations of antiquity, for 
the Colchiens enveloped their dead in sacks of skin and hung them to 
trees; the ancient Tartars and Seythians did the same. With regard 
to the use of scaffolds and trees as places of deposit for the dead, it 
seems somewhat curious that the tribes who formerly occupied the 
eastern portion of our continent were not in the habit of burying in this 
way, which, from the abundance of timber, would have been a much 
easier method than the ones in vogue, while the western tribes, living 
