BURIAL OF A CHILD. 



141 



whom he had buried in the fall of the year. In 

 going to the spot, I found that all the snow 

 and the grass had been removed, and that a 

 number of Indians, with Pigewis, had encircled 

 the place where the body had been deposited ; 

 and, as is their custom, they smoked the cal- 

 umet, wept, and sacrificed a little of what they 

 possessed to the departed spirit of the child. 

 They do this, under the idea that the deceased 

 may want these articles in the world whither 

 they are gone ; and it is very affecting occa- 

 sionally to hear the plaintive and mournful 

 lamentations of the mother at the grave of her 

 child, uttering in pitiful accents, " Ah ! my 

 child, why did you leave me ! Why go out of 

 my sight so early! Who will nurse you and 

 feed you in the long journey you have under- 

 taken ! " The strength of natural affection will 

 sometimes lead them to commit suicide, under 

 the idea that they shall accompany the spirit, 

 and nurse their departed child in the other 

 world. This persuasion, that the spirits of the 

 deceased want the same attendance in their 

 new station as in the present life, is so deeply 

 rooted in the minds of the Indians, that the 

 Carriers, west of the Rocky Mountains, some- 

 times burn the widow ; and a chief, on the 

 North- West coast of America, sacrificed a 



