any great depth, and a little bark from a tree is made to answer the purpose of a coffin.  The body is usually carried to the grave by old women, who howl at intervals, during the ceremony, most piteously.  Before closing the grave, one of the Indians present at the funeral will wave a stick or war-club, called “puc-ca waw-gun,” saying in an audible voice, “I have killed many men in war, and I give their spirits to my dead friend who lies here, to serve him as slaves in the other world:”  after which the grave is filled up with earth, and in a day or two a rude cabin or shed is made over it of rough boards or bark.  If the deceased was a brave, a post is planted at the head of the grave, on which, in a rude manner, the number of scalps and prisoners he has taken in war, is represented by red paint.  Upon the death of an adult, his property is usually distributed among his relatives, and his widow returns to her own family or nearest kinfolks.  The widow is the principal mourner for the deceased and her grief seems to be sincere.  Her countenance becomes dejected—­she seldom smiles—­clothes herself in rags, and with disheveled hair and spots of black paint on her cheeks, wanders about in a pensive mood, seldom shedding tears, except when alone in the woods.  They generally cease mourning at the suggestion of some friend, wash, paint themselves red and put on their best clothes and ornaments.  Some of the Sauks and Foxes entertain the opinion that the spirit of the deceased hovers about the village or lodge, for a few days, and then takes its flight to the land of repose.  On its way, they suppose it passes over an extensive prairie, beyond which the woods appear like a blue cloud.  Between this woodland and the prairie, there is a deep and rapid stream of water, across which there is a pole, kept in continual motion by the force of the current.  This stream, the spirit must cross on the pole, and if it has belonged to a good person, it will get over safe and find all its good relations that have gone before it.  In this woodland, game of all kinds is abundant, and there the spirits of the good live in everlasting happiness.  If on the contrary, the spirit has belonged to a bad or wicked person in this world, it will fall off the pole into the stream, and the current will sweep it down to the land of evil spirits, where it will forever remain in poverty and misery.  There is nothing very peculiar in the religious opinions of the Sauks and Foxes, to distinguish them from the aborigines of this country, generally.  They believe in one Great and Good Spirit, who controls and governs all things, and in supernatural agents who are permitted to interfere in their concerns.  They are of opinion that there is also a bad spirit, subordinate, however, to the great Manito, who is permitted to annoy and perplex the Indians, by means of bad medicines, by poisonous reptiles, and by killing their horses and sinking their canoes.  All their misfortunes are attributed to