Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/289

Rh It is thus that the Indians dispose of their dead, till the flesh is dried off the bones, when these are interred either in the earth or in caves, with funeral rites, dances, and songs. Thus, a coffin beneath an autumnal tree, in the light of the pale evening sun, was the first token which I perceived of this poor, decaying people.

Soon after we saw Indian huts on the banks of the river. They are called by themselves “tepees” (dwellings), and by the English, “lodges;” they resemble a tent in form, and are covered with buffalo-hides, which are wrapped round long stakes, planted in the ground in a circle, and united at the top, where the smoke passes out through an opening, something like our Laplander's huts, only on a larger scale. There is a low opening in the form of a door to each hut, and over which a piece of buffalo-hide can be let down at pleasure. I saw, through the open doors, the fire burning on the floor in many of the huts; it had a pleasant, kindly appearance. Little savage children were leaping about the shore. It was the most beautiful moon-light evening.

17th.—Sunshiny, but cold. We have Indian territory through the whole of our course on the right; it is the territory of Minnesota, and we now see Indians encamped on the banks in larger or smaller numbers. The men, standing or walking, wrapped in their red or yellow-grey blankets; the women, busied at the fires either within or without the tents, or carrying their children on their backs in the yellow blankets in which they themselves are wrapped. All are bare-headed, with their black locks hanging down, like horses' tails, or sometimes plaited. A great number of children, boys especially, leap about shouting on the shores. We proceeded very slowly, and stuck fast on the shallows continually, as we wound among the islands. In the meantime, little canoes of Indians glided quickly, and as it were, shyly hither and thither along the shores and the islands, the people