Amongst the Indian races occupying the Northern American continent, the Dakotas and the Pawnees are the only tribes who are known to have had the custom of sacrificing human beings to their gods. It is of importance to remark that these two races dwelt in neighbouring lands, and had customs which point to analogies with the Toltecs and Aztecs, in Southern Mexico, and the Mound Builders in Ohio. With the Dakotas human sacrifices were the greatest of the propitiations to their angry gods. It was known that Faribault had dwelt with a tribe of the Sioux upon an occasion when one of these sacrifices occurred, and I asked him to give me a detailed account of the proceedings that then took place, for cases of that serious nature rarely happen, although some centuries earlier, when tribal wars were frequent and perilous, it may be conjectured that they were numerous. Faribault said that, at the time when this human sacrifice occurred, he was living with a band of Sioux belonging to the Sissiton tribe, and they were encamped near the west shores of Lake Pepin. “They had come to the conclusion that, for some reason which they did not comprehend, a curse was upon them. Everything seemed to go wrong. Game was scarce and hard to kill, and there was much distress and sickness. Fastings and the usual sacrifices seemed to be of no avail, and nothing removed the evil influences which surrounded them. Finally an Indian, not a chief, but a man who was an orator and a prophet, had it made known to him by a dream what propitiation was required. This man had three daughters. The youngest of them was twelve years old; she was a beautiful child and her father’s favourite. He dreamt that, to appease the Great Spirit, it was necessary to sacrifice this child. In the morning before sunrise, he awoke the girl and told her to go out of the tent, wash herself and then put on her best dress and all her ornaments. He then called the tribe together and told them his dream. When they had heard what he declared they removed the tents to an adjacent camping ground and remained there until he joined them. He was then left alone with his daughter. He told her that in his dream he had seen the Great Spirit who had commanded that she should be sacrificed. His daughter accordingly stood up, and facing the sun, began to sing her death song, which was a kind of hymn. At noon, when the sun had risen to its highest point in the sky, he killed her.” 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]