INTRODUCTION. 13 
were placed all war trappings except the shield, which was never 
buried, but was either turned over to some friend who might know its 
medicine, or was placed by the grave, or more generally, in a tree re- 
mote from the village. By the side of the body might be placed leg- 
gings by some relative or friend who asked the deceased to keep them 
for him. During this time the body had remained in the house, and 
was visited by all the relatives and friends of the family, who came 
to mourn over it. After two or three. days’ mourning the body was 
carried to the grave, the parents and near relatives remaining at home. 
Before placing the body in the grave a prayer was addressed to the 
earth by the one in charge of the ceremony: ‘“‘Now you have been made 
to contain all things, to produce all things, and for us to travel over. 
Also we have been told to take care of everything which has come from 
your bosom, and we have been told that in your body everything should 
be buried. I now come to bury this man.” The body was placed full 
length in the grave, with its head to the east, that when the spirit 
should rise it might without delay take the road which leads upward 
towards Spirit-Land. The body was then covered up. At each end 
of the grave was erected a forked upright about four feet in height, the 
forks being connected by a cross-bar. Against this cross-bar, with their 
lower ends resting against the sides of the grave, were uprights, thus 
entirely encircling the grave. The one in charge of the funeral rites 
then returned to the parents of the deceased and told them that he had 
finished, whereupon they might offer to take him into their family as 
son or brother, as the case might be. 
Formerly it was the custom for one or more horses, especially the 
best horse of the deceased, if he had had many, to be slain by the side 
of his grave, or a horse, or many horses were given to his brother or 
to the one who assisted in the funeral rites. It is not known that slaves 
were ever killed at the time of the burial of a chief or prominent indi- 
vidual. It is told, however, that a well-known Wichita once lost his 
life in a fight with the Tonkawa, and that he was the owner of four 
Tonkawa slaves. One of these was put to death on the return of the 
war-party. 
Death while in battle was held preferable to any other form of death 
among the Wichita. At least they preferred to die in full health and in 
some open place. Thus, a man injured in fighting would be told not 
to go into the timber to die, but to go out on the prairie, where the 
wolves would eat him. Should two individuals be about to die while in 
battle, they were told not to separate further than a crow could jump. 
