The Sioux stated that after this sacrifice everything prospered, sickness ceased, game became abundant and all went well with the tribe.[52]
The burial customs of the Dakotas were, in several respects, distinctive. The dead were placed upon an open framework or scaffolding, which, when the tribes were encamped upon the prairies, was raised a sufficient height above the ground to be out of the reach of wolves. Ultimately the bones were taken to the tribal burial places. It is not improbable that the Mound Builders had similar usages.[53]
The Sacs and Foxes who dwelt on the lands near the southern borders of a part of the Dakota territories had different customs. Judge Williams told me that, when he was residing amongst them, it was their practice, when burying a man, to fix two upright posts. The body was placed in a sitting position on the surface of the ground with the back resting against one of the posts, and the feet touching the other. It was then covered over with earth.
The methods followed by the Dakotas and Chippewas in curing illness by the use of steam appear to be of very ancient origin, and evidently are the same as those that were described by Clavigero as being practised by the Aztecs in the towns of Mexico. They are also adopted by the Shoshones in the deserts of Utah. Amongst the Dakotas a low circular wigwam is made about four feet high. The frame is usually covered with buffalo skins in such a manner that no steam can escape. A small opening is left through which the patient can crawl in. In the interior of the wigwam some sand is put upon the ground. Stones which have been heated by fire are then pushed in under the wigwam and placed upon this sand, together with a jar of water. The patient then pours the water upon the stones until the interior is filled with vapour or steam.
When the Jesuit missionaries surveyed the shores of Lake Superior in 1669, they reported that the savages in preparing their meals, used a pail made of birch bark, which contained water. Hot stones were thrown into this until the water was raised to a temperature which was sufficiently high to cook their food. This custom was similar to that which was followed by the Maoris in New Zealand.
Bear Skin. Red Dog. Rocky Bear.
Chiefs of the Ogallalas.
(dakotas.)
It is hazardous to attempt to form any conclusions, based upon analogies, respecting the habits and superstitions of savage races, but with regard to the Maoris and the Dakotas, there are circumstances which require that a passing notice should be given to them.
The New Zealanders, like the Dakotas, placed the bodies of the dead upon platforms or high scaffoldings. After a certain time the bones were scraped and gathered together, and taken to the burying place.
The Maoris also had much faith in dreams, and believed that it was chiefly through them that they received communications from their gods. It was also usual for widows to show their grief, upon the death of their husbands, by cutting themselves with sharp instruments.
The Sandwich Islanders, who are believed to be of the same race as the Maoris, used, in cases of sickness, a steam bath in the same manner as the Dakotas.
In 1878, I met a number of Maoris in the valley of the Waikato, in the northern island of New Zealand. The men and women differed from the Malay type, and resembled, in many respects, the North American Indians. I am of opinion, that at a remote period, there must have been a communication between the aboriginal natives of the Sandwich Islands, and the Indians dwelling upon the western coasts of North America.