313 
beneath cairns of logs and stones;^ but usually they followed the 
procedure described by De 8met : 
“ They bind the bodies with thongs of rawhide between the 
branches of large trees, and, more frequently, place them on scaffolds, 
to protect them from the wolves and other wild animals. They are 
higher than a man can reach. The feet are always turned to the west. 
There they are left to decay. AYhen the scaffolds or the trees to which 
the dead are attached fall, throiigli old age, the relatives bury all the 
otlier bones, and place the skulls in a circle in the plain, with the faces 
tui'iied towai’d the centre. They ]3reserve these with care, and con- 
sider them objects of religious veneration. You will generally find 
there several bison skulls. In the centre stands the medicine pole, 
about twenty feet high, to which Wah-kons are hung, to guard and 
protect the sacred deposit. The Indians call the cemetery the village 
of the dead. They visit it at certain seasons of the year, to converse 
affectionately with their deceased relatives and friends, and always 
leave scnne present.”^ 
The principal deities of the Assiniboine were the sun and the 
thunder, which were regarded, at least in historic times, as direct 
manifestations of the Great Spirit, the ruler of all things. Both 
deities received public worship at the sun-dance and horse-dance 
festivals held during the summer months, and on solemn occasions 
individual Indians frequently made them offerings of tobacco smoke 
and pi'ayed for long life, health, or success in some special venture. 
But the Assiniboine, like the eastern Indians, placed less reliance 
on these “ higher ” ])()wers than on tlie supernatural blessing sup- 
posedly bestowed in a vision, generally in answer to fasting and 
supplication. To the average Indian this vision brought oidy an 
indefinite assurance or conviction of some supernatural power who 
watched over his every action, and stoorl ready to help in times 
of crisis; but to some it brought special powers or privileges, e.g., 
power to heal diseases with herbal remedies or else by supernatural 
means, authority to establish a dancing society, or the privilege of 
painting on the outside of the tent an ei>isode in the dream itself. 
1 Maximilian, in Thwaitns, vol. 22, p. 393, Denip; say.=! “the gra’i'e is excavatcrl to the depth of about 
5 foi't, and made large enough to contain the implements b^ore referred to, which are all buried with 
the body, the grave filled up and large rocks rolled upon it. , . . Very brave and formerly renowned 
warriors sometimes requested not to be inteired in any way, in which case thejf are placed insirle their 
lodge propped up ... . and the whole is thus left on the plains.” Denig: Op. cit., p, 572 f. 
“ De Smet ; vol. iii, p, 1141. 
86959—21^ 
