﻿1 86 FIELD AND FOREST. 



Tom " agreed to conduct us direct to the spot, and one morning two 

 of us, with two soldiers as escort, started for the mountain or rather 

 the peak of one directly in rear of our camp. It is hardly worth 

 while to describe the road, suffice it to say that it was the worst moun- 

 tain trail I have ever ridden over and so obscure, that without a guide 

 we had most assuredly lost our way both going and returning ; at 

 some parts it was necessary to alight or run the risk of being thrown 

 over fearful precipices. Finally our guide made a halt and we found 

 that we had arrived at a sort of plateau some few hundred feet below 

 the mountain's peak ; pointing to a rock-slide composed of masses of 

 stone ranging in size from a pebble to the enormous boulder, he said 

 ''there are the graves." At first we saw only a confused mass of 

 rocks piled up apparently without design, but a nearer inspection re- 

 vealed a grave-like outline. To reach them we were obliged to walk 

 over the osseous remains of many unfortunate horses butchered to 

 accompany their masters to the happy hunting grounds. It was' not 

 our intention to disturb the remains at this time with a looker on 

 who might object, but we removed enough of the stones from one of 

 the piles to satisfy ourselves that they actually contained dead In- 

 dians, after which we carefully replaced them and descended again to 

 camp, not however without marking the trail in such a way that it 

 could easily be found again; this task was entrusted to one of our 

 cavalrymen who purposely lagged behind. 



The next day we were on the ground at an early hour and the work of 

 exhumation commenced. It was found after removing the boulders, 

 that a layer of branches was reached upon which the stones had been 

 piled, displacing these, the body was perceived resting in a sort of 

 concavity formed by the removal of stones. In all, seven such graves 

 were opened and in each instance the skeleton was found lying on the 

 back with weapons and utensils of different kinds on either side. In 

 a grave supposed to be that of a medicine-man were found a number of 

 articles pertaining to his trade, a gourd rattle, painted truncheon of 

 wood, besides beads, bow and arrows and various cooking implements. 

 In a grave separated a little from the rest a skeleton was found wrapped 

 in skins and surrounded by all sorts of odds and ends, kettles, bows, 

 arrows, two old-fashioned rifles and quite a number of brass buttons. 

 In this same grave was found the head of a child, the other bones 

 having been probably dragged out by animals. Tradition relates that 



