422 A STUDY OF SIOUAN CULTS. 



not know whither. In ffoing to battle each warrior traces an imaginary figure of 

 the thiiuder ou the soil; he who represents it incorrectly is killed by the thunder. 

 A person saw this thunder one day on the ground, with a beautiful moccasin on each 

 side of it. Having need of a pair, he took them and went his w.ay ; but ou his return 

 to the same spot the thunder took him otf, and he has not since been heard of. 



They seem to have vague notions about the future state. They think that a brave 

 man or a good hunter will walk in a good path; but a bad man and a coward will 

 find a bad path. Thinking that the deceased has far to travel, they bury with his 

 body moccasins, some .articles of food, etc., to support him on the journey. Many 

 persons, they believe, who have revived have been, during their apparent death, to 

 strange villages, where they were not treated well by the people, so they returned 

 to life. 



The authoi', when among the Kansa, in the winter of 1882-'83, learned 

 the following, which differs from anything he has ever obtained else- 

 where: "The Kansa believe that when there is a death the ghost re- 

 turns to the spirit village nearest the pre.sent habitat of the living. 

 That is to say, all Indians do not go to one spirit village or ' happy 

 hunting ground,' but to different ones, as there is a series of spirit vil- 

 lages for the Kansa, beginning with the one at Council Grove, where 

 the tribe dwelt before they removed to their present reservation in In- 

 dian Territory, and extending along both sides of the Kansas Eiver to 

 its mouth, thence up the Missouri Eiver, as far as the tribe wandered 

 before meeting the Cheyennes (near the State line), thence down the 

 liver to the mouth of Osage River, and so ou, down to the mouths of the 

 Missouri and Ohio rivers," etc. 



