people are next to the Cherokees, Choctaws, and others in the Indian
Territory, the most civilized of our tribes.

According to Judge Joseph, these people call themselves _Wee-ka-nahs_.

These are commonly known to the whites as _Piros_. The
manner of burial by these Indians, both ancient and modern,
as far as I can ascertain from information obtained from the
most intelligent of the tribe, is that the body of the dead
is and has been always buried in the ground in a horizontal
position with the flat bottom of the grave. The grave is
generally dug out of the ground in the usual and ordinary
manner, being about 6 feet deep, 7 feet long, and about 2
feet wide. It is generally finished after receiving its
occupant by being leveled with the hard ground around it,
never leaving, as is customary with the whites, a mound to
mark the spot. This tribe of Pueblo Indians never cremated
their dead, as they do not know, even by tradition, that it
was ever done or attempted. There are no utensils or
implements placed in the grave, but there are a great many
Indian ornaments, such as beads of all colors, sea-shells,
hawk-bells, round looking-glasses, and a profusion of
ribbons of all imaginable colors; then they paint the body
with red vermilion and white chalk, giving it a most
fantastic as well as ludicrous appearance. They also place a
variety of food in the grave as a wise provision for its
long journey to the happy hunting-ground beyond the clouds.

The funeral ceremonies of this tribe are very peculiar.
First, after death, the body is laid out on a fancy buffalo