TREE BURIAL— BLACKFEET. 67 



John Young, Indian agent at the Blackfeet Agency, Montana, sends 

 the following account of tree-burial among this tribe : 



" Their manner of burial has always been (until recently) to inclose 

 the dead body in robes or blankets, the best owned by the departed, closely 

 sewed up, and then, if a male or chief, fasten in the branches of a tree so 

 high as to be beyond the reach of wolves, and then left to slowly waste in 

 the dry winds. If the body was that of a squaw or child, it was thrown 

 into the underbrush or jungle, where it soon became the prey of the wild ani- 

 mals. The weapons, pipes, &c, of men were inclosed, and the small toys 

 of children with them. The ceremonies were equally barbarous, the rela- 

 tives cutting off, according to the depth of their grief, one or more joints of 

 the fingers, divesting themselves of clothing even in the coldest weather, 

 and filling the air with their lamentations. All the sewing up and burial 

 process was conducted by the squaws, as the men would not touch nor 

 remain in proximity to a dead body. 



" When an Indian of any importance is departing, the squaws assemble 

 in the lodge or teepee and sing the death-song, recounting the prowess and 

 virtues of the dying one, and the oldest man at hand goes into the open air 

 and solemnly addresses the ' Great Spirit,' bespeaking a welcome for him 

 into the happy hunting grounds. Whatever property the deceased lias- 

 lodge, arms, or ponies — if a will was made, it was carefully carried out ; if 

 not, all was scrambled for by the relatives. I have often had, when a man 

 wanted to go out of mourning, to supply the necessary clothing to cover his 

 nakedness. 



"Further mourning observances were and are, the women relatives 

 getting on some elevated spot near where the body rests, and keeping up a 

 dismal wail, frequently even in extreme cold weather, the greater part of the 

 night, and this is kept up often for a month. No cremation or burying in 

 a grave was practiced by them at any time. Pained by often coining on 

 skeletons in trees and the stench of half-consumed remains in the brush, and 

 shocked by the frequent mutilations visible, I have reasoned with the poor 

 savages. In one case, when a woman was about to cut off a finger in evi- 

 denceof her grief for the loss of a child, she consented on entreaty to cui 

 off only one joint, and on further entreaty was brought to merely making 



