Catlin  gives  a  most  pitiable  description  of  an  old
Ponca  chief,  who  had  been  "  exposed,"  that  is,  aban
doned  by  his  people,  to  die  alone  on  the  prairie.  It
is  the  only  well-authenticated  case  I  have  ever  heard
of,  and  is  so  foreign  to  the  ordinary  conduct  of
Indians,  that  I  think  it  must  have  been  done  on  the
order  of  the  man  left;  possibly  some  sickly,  religious
idea  of  his  old  and  feeble  brain.  All  Indians,  with
whose  customs  I  am  at  all  conversant,  take  their  old
and  sick  with  them  in  all  removals  of  camp.  They
are  carried  on  travois,  or  if  very  old  or  childish,  in  the
wickerwork  baskets  commonly  used  for  children.
