Chap. V. INDIAN IDEA OF A FUTURE LIFE. 273 
able to get within shot ; he at last disappeared in a cavern 
among the rocks. As I was examining the entrance of 
this hole I observed a second opening filled up with loose 
stones. In removing these I found in the interior, wrapt 
in a piece of mouldering cloth, a quantity of human bones 
■ — part of a skeleton. The skull was in good preservation, 
and the jaws retained a set of fine white teeth, which, 
however, easily dropped out. Near these remains I found 
a leather bag, full of red paint, the tanned hide of a stag, 
a leather strap, which had evidently been a bridle, and a 
lump of buffalo-dung. These bones had, no doubt, 
belonged to the corpse of some Indian, and were here not 
in their original place of interment. The former grave 
may have been disturbed, and the friends or members 
of the tribe have probably collected these remains, and 
placed them here. The bones were much older than the 
cloth in which they were wrapt, and evidently the latter 
had never contained any of the flesh of the body. It con- 
sisted of a piece of the canvas which the caravans use for 
waggon-coverings. The offerings lying near the bones 
showed the notions which the friends of the deceased 
entertained of a future life. The dead man, they imagined, 
will require in another world a leather garment, red paint, 
to daub himself with, a bridle for his horse, and buffalo- 
dung to make a fire. The absence of all weapons was 
remarkable. 
On our journey the next day, a Kiowa, riding over the 
plain, came up to us, his wife and son remaining at a dis- 
tance, until, seeing there was nothing to fear, he fetched 
them also. The man and woman had a clever and good- 
natured physiognomy: they both looked with great inte- 
rest and evident pleasure on Mrs. M., who, with her 
husband, rode before me ; they then came up to me, 
T 
