of consequence and had large herds of ponies, many were
killed, sometimes amounting to 200 or 300 head in number.

The Comanches illustrate the importance of providing a good
pony for the convoy of the deceased to the happy-grounds by
the following story, which is current among both Comanches
and Wichitas:

"A few years since, an old Comanche died who had no
relatives and who was quite poor. Some of the tribe
concluded that almost any kind of a pony would serve to
transport him to the next world. They therefore killed at
his grave an old, ill-conditioned, lop-eared horse. But a
few weeks after the burial of this friendless one, lo and
behold he returned, riding this same old worn-out horse,
weary and hungry. He first appeared at the Wichita camps,
where he was well known, and asked for something to eat, but
his strange appearance, with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks,
filled with consternation all who saw him, and they fled
from his presence. Finally one bolder than the rest placed a
piece of meat on the end of a lodge-pole and extended it to
him. He soon appeared at his own camp, creating, if
possible, even more dismay than among the Wichitas, and this
resulted in both Wichitas and Comanches leaving their
villages and moving _en masse_ to a place on Rush Creek, not
far distant from the present site of Fort Sill.

"When the troubled spirit from the sunsetting world was
questioned why he thus appeared among the inhabitants of
earth, he made reply that when he came to the gates of