All the relations of the deceased then sit
round it for about twenty-four hours; they tear their clothes; run
knives through the fleshy parts of their arms, but there is no sacrifice
which they can make so great as cutting off their hair.
The men go in mourning by painting themselves black and they do not wash
the paint off until they take the scalp of an enemy, or give a
medicine-dance.
While they sit round the scaffold, one of the nearest relations
commences a doleful crying, when all the others join in, and continue
their wailing for some time. Then for awhile their tears are wiped away.
After smoking for a short time another of the family commences again,
and the others join in. This is continued for a day and night, and then
each one goes to his own wigwam.
The Dahcotahs mourned thus for Beloved Hail. In the evening the cries of
his wife were heard as she called for her husband, while the rocks and
the hills echoed the wail. He will return no more--and who will hunt the
deer for his wife and her young children!
The murderers were never found, and the hostages, after being detained
for eighteen months at Fort Snelling, were released.
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