denio] THE ASSINIBOIN 479 



do it, owing to the difficulty of having these requests fulfilled after 

 their demise. The dying request of a chief or warrior, if he makes 

 any, is that his favorite horse, or sometimes two or three horses, 

 shall be killed at his grave. Other horses, his gun, etc., are some- 

 times given to his relatives as bequests, and this gift contains an 

 intimation to go to war after his death. The death of a warrior 

 entails revenge, from whatever cause his death arises — sickness 

 or accident. The horses, therefore, there bequeathed are put in 

 mourning by having their mane, tail, and cars cut off and their body 

 smeared over with white clay. These, with the guns and other 

 weapons bequeathed, are taken on the first war expedition by the 

 persons who received them. We have been appointed executor of 

 the will of an Indian who died at Fort Union some years since 

 from a wound through the bowels. A short time before his death 

 (about three hours) he called us to his bedside and made a distribu- 

 tion of some horses and other property to be kept for his children's 

 use, and desired his best running horse to be shot on the spot where 

 he was to be buried, while he was yet living, which with the other 

 requests were attended to. 



There can be no doubt that if they were certain their dying re- 

 quests would be fulfilled the custom of bequeathing their property 

 when the circumstances of their death admitted it would be more 

 general; but they know that the customs are such that after death 

 all property must pass into the hands of strangers, as will be stated 

 under the head of Death and Its Consequences. Even when dying 

 bequests are made they are not always carried out. The horses and 

 other property thus given to their families are given to others who 

 cut their legs and bodies and cry a great deal at the interment, or 

 rather on the occasion of their placing the body in a tree, as they 

 usually do. When the great chief of the Crows, Long Hair, died 

 no less than four hands were held out by four different Crow Indians, 

 each offering to cut off two fingers to obtain the chief's war horse 

 that he ordered to be killed upon his grave, but their offers were 

 rejected and the horse was killed. 



Crime 



Crime of any and all kinds among them is considered an offense 

 to the individual and as such liable to punishment by the person 

 offended. But no idea of a moral offense toward the Great Spirit 

 is exhibited or consequent future punishment feared. All our en- 

 deavors to extract from them even an acknowledgment of the greatest 

 crimes being morally wrong have been unavailing. They can not 

 see that any act of theirs should meet with punishment after death 

 because they think they have just cause for these acts, and also they 



