returned, and this is considered as a refusal.  Many of the more northern nations, as the Dacotas, for example, have a custom, that, when the husband deceases, his widow immediately manifests the deepest mourning, by putting off all her finery, and dresses herself in the coarsest Indian attire, the sackcloth of Indian lamentation.  Meanwhile she makes up a respectable sized bundle of her clothes into the form of a kind of doll-man, which represents her husband.  With this she sleeps.  To this she converses and relates the sorrows of her desolate heart.  It would be indecorous for any warrior, while she is in this predicament, to show her any attentions of gallantry.  She never puts on any habiliments but those of sadness and disfigurement.  The only comfort she is permitted in this desolate state is, that her budgetted husband is permitted, when drams are passing, to be considered as a living one, and she is allowed to cheer her depressed spirits with a double dram, that of her budget-husband and her own.  After a full year of this penance with the budget-husband, she is allowed to exchange it for a living one, if she can find him.

When an Indian party forms for private revenge the object is accomplished in the following manner.  The Indian who seeks revenge, proposes his project to obtain it to some of his more intimate associates, and requests them to accompany him.  When the requisite number is obtained, and the plan arranged it is kept a profound secret from all others, and the proposer of the plan is considered the leader.  The party leaves the village secretly, and in the night.  When they halt for the night, the eldest encamp in front, and the younger in the rear.  The foremen hunt for the party, and perform the duty of spies.  The latter cook, make the fires, mend the moccasins, and perform the other drudgery of the expedition.

Every war party has a small budget, called the war budget, which contains something belonging to each one of the party, generally representing some animal; for example, the skin of a snake, the tail of a buffalo, the skin of a martin, or the feathers of some extraordinary bird.  This budget is considered a sacred deposit, and is carried by some person selected for the purpose, who marches in front, and leads the party against the enemy.  When the party halts, the budget is deposited in front, and no person passes it without authority.  No one, while such an exhibition is pending, is allowed to lay his pack on a log, converse about women or his home.  When they encamp, the heart of whatever beast they have killed on the preceding day is cut into small pieces and burnt.  No person is allowed, while it is burning, to step across the fire, but must go round it, and always in the direction of the sun.