When the
attack is commenced, the body of the fighter is painted, generally
black, and is almost naked. After the action, each party returns his
_totem_ to the commander of the party, who carefully wraps them all up,
and delivers them to the man who has taken the first prisoner or scalp;
and he is entitled to the honor of leading the party home in triumph.
The war budget is then hung in front of the door of the person who
carried it on the march against the enemy, where it remains suspended
thirty or forty days, and some one of the party often sings and dances
round it.
One mode of Indian burial seems to have prevailed, not only among the
Indians of the lakes and of the Ohio valley, but over all the western
country. Some lay the dead body on the surface of the ground, make a
crib or pen over it, and cover it with bark. Others lay the body in a
grave, covering it first with bark, and then with earth. Others make a
coffin out of the cloven section of trees, in the form of plank, and
suspend it from the top of a tree. Nothing can be more affecting than to
see a young mother hanging the coffin that contains the remains of her
beloved child to the pendent branches of the flowering maple, and
singing her lament over her love and hope, as it waves in the breeze.
CHAPTER IX.
Boone becomes a favorite among the Indians--Anecdotes relating to his
captivity--Their mode of tormenting and burning prisoners--Their
fortitude under the infliction of torture--Concerted attack on
Boonesborough--Boone escapes.
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