Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-07-12

trees made such an arrangement possible.
The bodies are wrapped in brightly
colored quilts evidently of white manu-
facture. Some Of the bodies placed in
securely have pitched out OF their ghost
ly nests and bones and skulls are strewn
over the ground. evidence that at II
time the clup of trees harbored even
more of the grim specters.
Frequently bodies were placed in some
small cave und a ledge. A number of
years ago, the body OF a young squaw
was found in such a cairn by road build
ers south of Columbus. Beaded mecca
sins. buckskin leggings and other articles
of dress were still intact. Near the body
was a small pair of scissors, a thimble, a
hair brush and the wood parts of a small
hand mirror. The place of sepulchre was
about 10 miles from the Old Crow agency
on Rosebud creek of the saltwater, O
district which the Indians, with the ex-
ception OF a few with decided land, left
shortly after the Grow cession of 1882.
From the character of her treasures, the
Indian woman had evidently learned
some of the habits of adornment Of her
white sisters.
The Indian women, too, looked for
ward to following the same pursuits and
diversions in the next world as in this.
only under more fortunate circumstances.
One Of the Baptist missionaries on the
Grow reservation tells of an old Indian
woman on her deathbed with her coffin
according to custom already waiting in
the same room, h begged that she
might be taught q new way of tieing
quilts in which the other women were
being instructed so that she could prac-
tice the new art in her tepee beyond
the grave.
On the Crow reservation, the Indians
now follow the white custom Of burying
the dead, due largely TO the insistence
of the government. At first boxes were
provided to place the dead in. The In
dams adopted the idea but left the boxes
on top of the ground and some of these
with their skeleton occupants may still
be seen in the indian burying grounds.
But the Indians now conform 10 the
more civilized method of interment.
The primitive Indian was much afraid
of death and everything associated with
it. When death came, the body was i'm
mediately removed to It's aerial resting
place. Often the person was washed and
laid out for the obsequies before the
actual coming Of death. 1t was especially
of the ghost of the dead that the Indian
was fearful, SO he removed the body
through the side Of the tepee or through
a window, SO that the aperture by which
the body left the old abode could be
sealed up and thus prevent the ghost
from following back to its former dwell
ing place. 1t was thought, too, that the
first one who followed the body out of
the house would be the next to die. SO
that removing the body through some
aperture other tina the door, permitted
all to evade such a fate.
Some of the frame houses of the Indi-
ans on the Grow reservation may be seen
with boards nailed across the windows
to keep out the ghosts but many of them
are so haunte in spite of the precau-
tions, that they are abandoned. Another
device among the superstitious is to get
a white family to live in a house for a
year. AS the ghost isn't any more likely
to relish the company of white people
than a live Indian, 1t abandons its visits
to its old home and then the former in
habitants can return.
Many of the weird chants of the In
dams are said to be used to scare ava
ghosts. AS these, as well as evil spirits.
abound chiefly at night, Just as those
that used to bother white people were
wont TO do, night silences on the reser-
yation are often broken by some home
ward bound Indian, mo~notonously inton-
ing the spasmodic sounds Of his "Hi-i-i,
hi-a-a, ha-a-a,' to keep up his courage.
The Indians grieve sincerely for their
dead in spite of their stole endurance
on occasion. They have a great deal OF
uiAtAblOll " tdNl Obllcl tnQ toDGIldliJ
for their children over whom parents ex-
ercise little control. The death of a ia
vorite child is felt as keenly as by any
white person.
Beside their inward grief the Indians
have made outward manifestations Of
sorrow which like that of their white
brothers may or may not be sincere.
AT the time of a death, their weeping
and wailing might often be heard for
miles and the reality of the sorrow was
thought to be In proportion to the VOL
ume of the noise made. Slashing of their
faces and arms with knives and the cut
ting off of the tips of the fingers were
manifestations of grief frequently fol-
lowed and some OF the older Indians
may be found with the ends of nearly
all their fingers hacked of in successive
events of grief. Sometimes the long
braids Of hair were cut off as signs of
mourning. Often an Indian would 90 to
the mountains or some secluded place to
mourn his loss alone, staying several
weeks.
Delay Church Dedication