which has been compared to the, "keening" of the Celtic mourner.

The old-time burial of the Plains Indians was upon a scaffold
of poles, or a platform among the boughs of a tree--their only
means of placing the body out of reach of wild beasts, as they had
no implements with which to dig a suitable grave. It was prepared
by dressing in the finest clothes, together with some personal
possessions and ornaments, wrapped in several robes, and
finally in a secure covering of raw-hide. As a special mark of
respect, the body of a young woman or a warrior was sometimes laid
out in state in a new teepee, with the usual household articles and
even with a dish of food left beside it, not that they supposed the
spirit could use the implements or eat the food but merely as a
last tribute. Then the whole people would break camp and depart to
a distance, leaving the dead alone in an honorable solitude.

There was no prescribed ceremony of burial, though the body
was carried out with more or less solemnity by selected young men,
and sometimes noted warriors were the pall-bearers of a man
of distinction. It was usual to choose a prominent hill with a
commanding outlook for the last resting-place of our dead. If a
man were slain in battle, it was an old custom to place his body
against a tree or rock in a sitting position, always facing the
enemy, to indicate his undaunted defiance and bravery, even in
death.

I recall a touching custom among us, which was designed to
keep the memory of the departed near and warm in the bereaved
household. A lock of hair of the beloved dead was wrapped in
pretty clothing, such as it was supposed that he or she