FUNERAL PRACTICES. FIT 
over to the captors as slaves, and put to the 
service and drudgery of the camp. 
After their first entrance it seems rare for 
them to treat their captives with much cruelty: 
though an instance was related to me by some 
Mexican prisoners, of a very barbarous mas- 
sacre which they witnessed during their cap- 
tivity. Two white men, supposed to be 
Texans, were tied to a stake, and a number 
of their marksmen, retiring to a distance and 
using the naked bodies of their victims as tar- 
gets, began wantonly to fire at them, and con- 
tinued their horrid sport, until some fatal balls 
put an end to their sufferings! The capture 
of these had probably been attended with 
some aggravating circumstances, which in- 
duced the savages to resort to this cruel 
method of satiating their revenge. 
If a campaign has been unsuccessful, the 
warriors separate upon their return, and drop 
into the village one by one. Nothing is now 
heard for several days, but the wailings and 
howlings of the bereft relatives and friends. 
They will also scarify their arms and legs, and 
subject themselves to other carnal mortifica- 
tions of the most powerful character. On 
these occasions their previous captives, and 
particularly such as may belong to the nation 
of their victorious enemy, are sure to be 
roughly treated, and sometimes massacred by 
the enraged relatives of the slain. 
When a Comanche dies, a similar course 
of mourning is practised; and he is usually 
wrapped in his best blankets or robes, and in- 
27° 
