scalp) is the eucharistic body of their supernatural hero teacher, the
Sun-boy, and has been known among them almost from the beginning of
their existence as a people. According to the myth, which has close
parallels in other tribes, a girl was one day playing with some
companions when she discovered a porcupine in the branches of a tree.
She climbed up to capture it, but as she climbed the tree grew, carrying
her with it, until it pierced the arch of the sky into the upper world;
here the porcupine took on his proper form as the Son of the Sun; they
were married and had a son. Her husband had warned her that, in her
excursions in search of berries and roots, she must never go near the
plant called _äzón_ (pomme blanche, _Psoralea esculenta_) if its top had
been bitten off by a buffalo. Like Eve, or Pandora, she longed to test
the prohibition, so one day while digging food plants she took hold of a
pomme blanche which a buffalo had already cropped and pulled it up by
the root, leaving a hole through which she saw far below the earth,
which she had forgotten since the day that she had climbed the tree
after the porcupine. Old memories awakened, and full of an intense
longing for her former home she took her child and fastening a rope
above the hole began letting herself down to the earth. Her husband,
returning from the hunt, discovered her absence and the method of her
escape, and throwing a stone after her through the hole, before she had
reached the end of the rope, struck her upon the head and she fell to
the ground dead. The child was uninjured, and after staying some time
beside the body of his mother he was found and cared for by Spider
Woman, who became a second mother to him. One day in playing he threw
upward a gaming wheel, which came down upon his head and cut through his
body without killing him, so that instead of one boy there were now twin
brothers. After many adventures, in the course of which they rid the
world of several destructive monsters, one of the brothers walked into a
lake and disappeared forever under its waters, after which the other
transformed himself into this "medicine," and gave himself in that shape
to the Kiowa, who still preserve it as the pledge and guardian of their
national existence. This _â´dalbeáhya_, or, as it is sometimes called,
the _tä´lyí-dá-i_, "boy-medicine," is in ten portions, in the keeping of
as many priests. Its chief priest is T'ébodal, the oldest man of the
tribe, with whom the author once had the opportunity of seeing the pouch
in which it is carried, for no man, unless possibly the priest himself,
has ever been permitted to open it and look upon the contents. It is
kept in a small pouch fringed with numerous scalps, in a special tipi
appointed for its residence; it is brought out for use in connection
with a sweat-house ceremony as individuals may desire to sacrifice to
it, and not, like the _taíme_, at tribal gatherings. It is briefly
mentioned by Clark in his work on the sign language (_Clark, 7_).
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ENTHOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXVII
THE PORCUPINE IN THE TREE, AND FLIGHT OF THE SUN WOMAN (FROM THE NATIVE
DRAWING.)]
The _Gadómbítsoñhi_, "Old-woman-under-the-ground," belonged to the Kiñep
band of the Kiowa. It was a small image, less than a foot high,
representing a woman with flowing hair. It was exposed in front of the
_taíme_ at the great sun-dance ceremony, and by some unexplained
jugglery the priest in charge of it caused it to rise out of the ground,
dance in the sight of the people, and then again sink into the earth. A
few years ago it was stolen by a crazy Indian from the priest who
guarded it and has never since been recovered, although there are
stories in the tribe of hunters belated in the mountains, or beside
unfrequented streams, who have caught glimpses of a wailing dwarf with
disheveled hair who vanished as soon as discovered, and is believed to
have been the lost _gadómbítsoñhi_.
The _Señi_, "prickly fruit," the peyote or mescal plant, is a small
species of cactus of the genus _Lophophora_ (Coulter), which grows in
the stony hill country along the Mexican border. On account of its
medical properties and its wonderful effect upon the imagination, it is
regarded by the Indians as the vegetal incarnation of a deity, and a
whole system of myth and ritual has grown up in connection with its use.
The rite originated among the more southern tribes, and has come through
the Mescalero and Comanche to the Kiowa within about fifty years. The
ceremony was first brought to public notice by the author and may be the
subject of a more extended monograph at some future time.
Another ritual, pertaining more particularly to women, was dedicated to
the Star Girls, or Pleiades (_Dä´-mä´tán_). Its last priestess died a
few years ago.
The great, central figure of the _k`adó_, or sun dance, ceremony is the
_taíme_. This is a small image, less than 2 feet in length, representing
a human figure dressed in a robe of white feathers, with a headdress
consisting of a single upright feather and pendants of ermine skin, with
numerous strands of blue beads around its neck, and painted upon the
face, breast, and back with designs symbolic of the sun and moon. The
image itself is of dark-green stone, in form rudely resembling a human
head and bust, probably shaped by art like the stone fetishes of the
Pueblo tribes. It is preserved in a rawhide box in charge of the
hereditary keeper, and is never under any circumstances exposed to view
except at the annual sun dance, when it is fastened to a short upright
stick planted within the medicine lodge, near the western side. It was
last exposed in 1888 (see the calendar). The ancient _taíme_ image was
of buckskin, with a stalk of Indian tobacco for a headdress. This
buckskin image was left in the medicine lodge, with all the other
adornments and sacrificial offerings, at the close of each ceremony. The
present _taíme_ is one of three, two of which came originally from the
Crows, through an Arapaho who married into the Kiowa tribe, while the
third came by capture from the Blackfeet.
The tobacco upon the head of the ancient _taíme_ is another evidence
of the northern origin of the Kiowa, as the Kutenai, Blackfoot, and
other tribes living near and across the Canadian border are noted for
their cultivation of tobacco, and have a special tobacco dance and
ceremonies. The more remote tribes along the northwest coast are
equally celebrated for their carving in stone, the material used being
commonly a black slate, and the original stone _taímes_ may have come
from that region.
According to the legend, which is told with the exactness of an
historical tradition, an Arapaho, who was without horses or other
wealth, attended with his tribe the sun dance of the Crows and danced
long and earnestly before the "medicine," in hope that it would pity him
and make him prosperous. The chief priest of the Crows rewarded him by
giving him the _taíme_ image, notwithstanding the protests of the Crows,
who were angry at seeing such favor shown to a stranger. Fortune now
smiled upon the Arapaho; he stole many horses and won new blessings for
himself by tying numerous ponies to the medicine lodge as a sacrifice to
the _taíme_, until at last his herd was of the largest. Being now grown
wealthy, when next his own people visited the Crows he collected his
horses and started back with them, but the jealous Crows followed
secretly, untied the _taíme_ bag from the pole in front of his tipi and
stole it, as Rachel stole her father's gods. On discovering his loss the
Arapaho made duplicates, which he took back with him to his own people.
He afterward married a Kiowa woman and went to live with her tribe,
bringing with him the _taíme_, which thus became the medicine of the
Kiowa. Since that time the _taíme_ has been handed down in his
family, the keeper being consequently always of part Arapaho blood.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXVIII
PEYOTE PLANT AND BUTTON]
The present guardian is a woman, Émaä, who succeeded to the office on
the death of Taíméte, "_Taíme_-man," in 1894; she is the ninth
successive guardian, the Arapaho being the first. The fifth keeper,
Ánsogíani, "Long Foot," or Ánso'te, held it forty years--from before the
Osage massacre until his death in the winter of 1870-71. Assuming that
the combined terms of the first four guardians equaled in time the
combined terms of the last four--i. e., about sixty or sixty-five years,
or from about 1830 to 1894--we would have 1770 as the approximate date
when the Kiowa obtained the present _taíme_ image. As previously stated,
they already had the ceremony and an equivalent image of buckskin. Of
the two _taíme_ images, both of which were of the same shape and
material, one, the "man," was small, only a few inches in length, while
the other, the "woman," was much larger. It is believed among the Kiowa
that the Crows still have the originals which they stole from the
Arapaho.
Long afterward, after the Kiowa had confederated with the Comanche, the
latter had a fight with the Blackfeet, in which they killed a warrior
and captured his medicine. The Comanche captor, so the story goes, kept
the medicine one night in his tipi, but it kept up a strange noise,
which so frightened him that the next day he gave it to a Kiowa, who
pulled off a long "tooth" attached to it, and thenceforth it was silent.
Learning afterward that it was a part of the _taíme_ medicine, he gave
it to the _taíme_ keeper, who put it with the other images. It is said
to have been nearly similar in appearance to the smaller image.
The complete _taíme_ medicine thus consisted of three decorated stone
images, a large one or "woman," a smaller one called a "man," and a
third one closely resembling the second. They were kept in a rawhide
case known as the _taíme-bíĭmkâ´i_, shaped somewhat like a kidney (see
figure, summer 1835), and painted with _taíme_ symbols, the large image
being in one end of the case and the two smaller ones at the other; some
say that the third image was kept in a separate box by a relative of the
_taíme_ priest. The smaller images, like the ark of the covenant, were
sometimes carried to war, the box being slung from the shoulders of the
man who carried it, and consequently were finally captured by the Ute.
The large image, the "woman" _taíme_, was never taken from the main home
camp.
The _taíme_ has been twice captured by enemies, first by the Osage in
1833, and again by the Ute in 1868. In the first instance the Osage
surprised the Kiowa camp and captured all the images with the bag,
killing the wife of the _taíme_ priest as she was trying to loosen it
from its fastenings, but returned it two years later, after peace had
been made between the two tribes (see the calendar, 1833 and 1835). In
the other case the Kiowa had taken the two smaller images, as a
palladium of victory, upon a war expedition, when they were met by a war
party of Ute, who defeated them, killed the bearer of the medicine, and
carried off the images, which have never since been recovered. The
larger image is still with the tribe (see the calendar, 1868; also plate
LXIX).
TRIBAL MEDICINES OF OTHER INDIANS
Nearly every important tribe, excepting perhaps those aboriginal
skeptics, the Comanche, has or did have a tribal "medicine" equivalent
to the _taíme_, around which centers the tribal mythology and ceremonial
with which the prosperity and fate of the tribe is bound up. With the
Cheyenne this is a bundle of sacred arrows, now in the keeping of one of
the southern bands near Cantonment, Oklahoma. With the Arapaho it
consists of a pipe, a turtle, and an ear of corn, all of stone, wrapped
in skins, and kept by the hereditary priest with the northern branch of
the tribe in Wyoming. Among the Omaha it was a large shell, now
preserved in the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, Massachusetts. With the
Creeks it is a set of graven metal tablets, possibly relics of De Soto's
disastrous expedition through the gulf states, religiously guarded by
the priest of the Wind clan of the nation in Indian Territory.
THE SUN DANCE
The great tribal ceremony of the Kiowa was the _k`adó_, or sun dance,
which was commonly celebrated annually when the down appeared on the
cottonwoods, i. e., about the middle of June. In their calendar system
the summers are counted by _k`adós_, the winters being designated as
"cold seasons." On this occasion the whole tribe encamped in a circle,
each band in its appropriate place, with the _k`adó_ or medicine lodge
in the center. Within the medicine lodge the _taíme_ was exposed during
the continuance of the ceremony, which lasted four days, although the
preliminary buffalo hunt and other necessary arrangements occupied much
more time. Space forbids a detailed account of the ceremony, which was
common to most of the prairie tribes, and has been described with more
or less accuracy by various writers. The Kiowa sun dance resembled that
of the Dakota, Cheyenne, and other tribes in its general features--the
search for the buffalo, the arrangement of the camp circle, the
procession of the women to cut down the tree for the center pole of the
medicine lodge, the sham battle for possession of the pole, the building
of the medicine lodge, and the four days' dance without eating,
drinking, or sleeping. It differed radically, however, in the entire
absence of those voluntary self tortures which have made the sun dance
among other tribes a synonym for savage horrors. With the Kiowa even the
accidental shedding of blood on such an occasion was considered an evil
omen, and was the signal for abandoning the dance; voluntary laceration
by way of sacrifice was practiced at other times, but not at the
_k'ado_. Among the Kiowa the center pole must always be cut down by a
captive woman. On account of the dread in which the _taíme_ is held, by
reason of the many taboos connected with it, they have also a captive,
taken from Mexico when a boy and given to the _taíme_ for this special
purpose, to unwrap it and set it in place at the ceremonial exposure, so
that should any regulation be inadvertently violated, the punishment
would fall upon the captive and not upon the tribe. It is hardly
necessary to state that this Mexican captive has as perfect faith in the
_taíme_ as the priestly keeper himself.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXIX
THE TAIME]
In the Sett'an calendar the summer is always designated by a rude figure
of the medicine lodge. On the Anko calendar the distinction is made by
the decorated center-pole of the lodge. Medicine-lodge creek, where the
famous treaty was negotiated, derives its name from several medicine
lodges formerly standing on its banks near the southern Kansas line,
this being a favorite spot for the sun dance with both the Kiowa and
Cheyenne. The following description of the medicine lodge is from
Battey's account of the Kiowa sun dance witnessed by him in 1873, to
which account the reader is referred (_Battey, 15_):
The medicine house is situated nearly in the center of the
encampment, is circular in form, and about 60 feet in diameter,
having its entrance toward the east. It is built by erecting a
forked post, 20 feet high, perhaps, for a central support; around
this, and at nearly equal distances, are 17 other forked posts,
forming the circumference of the building. These are from 12 to 15
feet in height, and all of cottonwood. Small cottonwood trees are
tied on the outside of these, in a horizontal position, with ropes
of rawhide, having limbs and leaves on them. Outside of these small
cottonwood trees are placed in an upright position, thus forming a
wall of green trees and leaves several feet in thickness, in the
midst of which many hundred spectators afterwards found a cool
retreat, where they could observe what was going on without making
themselves conspicuous. Long cottonwood poles extend from each of
the posts in the circumference to the central post, and then limbs
of the same are laid across these, forming a shady roof one-third
of the way to the center.
The central post is ornamented near the ground with the robes of
buffalo calves, their heads up, as if in the act of climbing it.
Each of the branches above the fork is ornamented in a similar
manner, with the addition of shawls, calico, scarfs, etc., and
covered at the top with black muslin. Attached to the fork is a
bundle of cottonwood and willow limbs, firmly bound together and
covered with a buffalo robe, with head and horns, so as to form a
rude image of a buffalo, to which were hung strips of new calico,
muslin, strouding, both blue and scarlet, feathers, shawls, etc.,
of various lengths and qualities. The longer and more showy
articles were placed near the ends. This image was so placed as to
face the east. The lodges of the encampment are arranged in circles
around the medicine house, having their entrances toward it, the
nearest circle being some 10 rods distant....
The ground inside the inclosure had been carefully cleared of
grass, sticks, and roots, and covered several inches deep with
clean white sand. A screen had been constructed on the side
opposite the entrance by sticking small cottonwoods and cedars deep
into the ground, so as to preserve them fresh as long as possible.
A space was left, 2 or 3 feet wide, between it and the inclosing
wall, in which the dancers prepared themselves for the dance, and
in front of which was the medicine. This consisted of an image
lying on the ground, but so concealed from view in the screen as to
render its form indistinguishable; above it was a large fan made
of eagle quills, with the quill part lengthened out nearly a foot
by inserting a stick into it and securing it there. These were held
in a spread form by means of a willow rod or wire bent in a
circular form; above this was a mass of feathers, concealing an
image, on each side of which were several shields highly decorated
with feathers and paint. Various other paraphernalia of heathen
worship were suspended in the screen, among these shields or over
them, impossible for me to describe so as to be comprehended. A
mound had also been thrown up around the central post of the
building, 2 feet high and perhaps 5 feet in diameter.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXX
ARAPAHO SUN-DANCE LODGE, 1893]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXXI
PHOTO BY JACKSON, 1872
PACER (PESO), FORMER HEAD-CHIEF OF THE KIOWA APACHE]
THE NADIISHA-DENA OR KIOWA APACHE
TRIBAL SYNONYMY
_Apaches_--Agent Thomas Fitzpatrick, Ind. Report, 52, 1850. This has
been their official popular name for the last fifty years.
_Apaches of Arkansas river_--Agent J. W. Whitfield, Report, 255, 1855.
_Apaches of the Plains_--Pope, 1854, in Pacific Railroad Survey, 17,
1855.
_Kiowa Apaches_--Clark, Indian Sign Language, 33, 1885.
_Ésikwíta_--Properly the name of the Mescalero Apache, but in various
forms--Essequeta, etc--has sometimes been incorrectly applied to the
Kiowa Apache.
_Gáta`ka_--Mooney, Misc. Ind. MS. So called by the Pawnee.
_Ca´takâ_--Lewis, Report, 1805, in Mess. from the President
communicating discoveries by Lewis and Clark, etc, 38, 1806.
_Cataha_--Lewis, Travels, 15, 1809 (misprint).
_Cattako_--Lewis and Clark, Discoveries, 23, 1806.
_Cuttako_--American State Papers, IV, 710, 1832.
_Gataea_ (for Gataca)--La Salle, 1682, in Margry, Découvertes, II, 168,
1877.
_Gataka_--Harris, Coll. Voy. and Travels, I, map, 685, 1705.
_Gattacka_--La Salle, 1682, in Margry, Découvertes, II. 201, 1877.
_Gû´ta`k_--La Flesche, Omaha and Ponca name, probably derived from the
Pawnee.
_Ka-ta-ka_--Kioway, Kataka, and Towakaro treaty; ratified 1838.
_Kattekas_--French, Hist. Colls. of Louisiana, new series, I, 153, note,
1869.
_Quataquois_--La Harpe, 1719, in Margry, Découvertes, VI, 289.
_Quataquon_--Beaurain, 1719, ibid.
_Tha`ká-hinĕ´na_} Mooney, Misc. Ind. MS. Arapaho names, derived from_
_Tha`ká-itän_ } _Gáta`ka_ and _hinĕ´na_, "people," or _itâ´n_,
"tribe."
_Gĭnä's_--Mooney, Misc. Ind. MS. Wichita name.
_Kántsi_--Mooney, Misc. Ind. MS. Caddo collective name for the Apache
tribes, signifying "liars;" hence Cancy, etc.
_K`á-pätop_--A generic Kiowa name for several tribes cognate with the
Apache, including Apache proper, Mescalero, Lipan, and Kiowa Apache. It
signifies "knife-whetters," or "whetstone people." The name became
obsolete about six years ago in consequence of the death of a Kiowa
chief named _K`á-pä'te_.
_Kĭsínăhĭs_--Mooney, Misc. Ind. MS. Kichai name.
_Mûtsiănă-täníu_--Cheyenne name, signifying "whetstone people."
_Nadíisha-déna_--The name used by themselves, signifying "our people" or
"people of our kind;" singular, _Ná-isha_. _Déna_, "people," is the word
which, in the various dialectal forms of _dina_, _tĭné_, _dĭ'nĕ_,
_tûne_, _nde_, etc, enters into so many tribal names of the Athapascan
stock.
_Prairie Apache_--Whitfield in Rept. Comr. of Ind. Aff., 297, 1854.
_Sádalsómte-k`íägo_--Another Kiowa name for the Kiowa Apache, signifying
"weasel people."
_Semät_--The name by which the Kiowa call them, signifying "thieves;"
the name which designates this tribe alone, superseded a few years ago
the more general term _K á-pä´top_.
_Tagúi_--The old Kiowa name for the Apache tribes generally, superseded
for a time by _K á-pä´top_, but now again in use. Cf _T'a`ká-i_, "white
man."
_Tâ´gugála_--Hodge, Pueblo MS. Notes, 1895. The Jemez name for the
Apache tribes, including the Kiowa Apache.
_Tágukerésh_--Hodge, Pueblo MS. Notes, 1895. The Pecos name for the
Apache tribes, including the Kiowa Apache.
_Tashĭn_--Mooney, Misc. Ind. MS. Comanche generic name for the Apache
tribes.
TRIBAL SIGN
Right index finger rubbed briskly up and down along the back of left
index finger. This is the generic sign for all tribes of Apache
connection, including Apache proper, Navaho, Mescalero, Lipan, and Kiowa
Apache. It is commonly interpreted to mean "knife whetters" or
"whetstone people," and this is also the meaning of the generic term for
Apache in most of the plains languages. It is possible, however, that
this is a misconception of the original purpose of the sign, which may
have had reference to a peculiar musical instrument found in various
forms among the Pueblo and other Indians of the southwest. Clark says:
I have heard two distinct conceptions for this gesture, the
Cheyenne claiming that the sign came from a peculiar musical
instrument made from an elk horn, which produced weird-like sounds
by rubbing it backward and forward with a stick, and the second (I
do not remember what tribe gave me the conception) from a specially
good whetstone which the Apaches made and used (_Clark, 9_).
In a personal letter to the author Grinnell states, on Cheyenne
authority, that the sign "is not _whetting a knife_, which would be
performed by one open flat hand on back of other flat hand, and not
_poor_, which would be passing right forefinger down over back of left
forefinger held vertically. The sign is said by the Cheyenne to refer to
a musical instrument used in old times by the Apache. This instrument
was played by passing the forefinger back and forth over the flat
surface of the instrument, from which surface a tongue protruded, which,
when struck, vibrated and made the sound, somewhat after the manner of
the Jew's-harp."
ORIGIN AND HISTORY
The Kiowa Apache are a small tribe of Athapascan stock, numbering now
about two hundred and twenty-five, associated with the Kiowa from the
earliest traditional period and forming a component part of the Kiowa
tribal circle, although reserving their distinct language; they call
themselves _Nadíisha-dena_, "our people." In the early French records of
the seventeenth century, in Lewis and Clark's narrative, and in their
first treaty, in 1837, they are called by various forms of the name
_Gáta`ka_, the name by which they are known to the Pawnee, although this
does not necessarily imply that the word is of Pawnee origin. They are
possibly the Kaskaia or "Bad-hearts" of Long in 1820. The Kiowa call
them by the contemptuous title of _Semät_, "thieves," a recent
substitute for the older generic term _Tagúi_, applied also to other
tribes of the same stock. They are now commonly known as Kiowa Apache,
under a mistaken impression, arising from the fact of their Athapascan
affinity, that they are a detached band of the Apache nation of Arizona.
On the contrary, they have never had any political connection with the
Apache proper and were probably unaware of their existence until about
one hundred years ago. A few Mescalero Apache from New Mexico are now
living with them, and individuals of the two tribes frequently exchange
visits, but this friendly intimacy is a matter of only sixty or eighty
years' standing, resulting from the peace between the Kiowa and
Comanche, as already recorded.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXXII
PHOTOS BY JACKSON, 1872
DAHA, A KIOWA APACHE SUBCHIEF]
[Illustration: Photo by Hayden Survey, 1872
FIG. 58--Gray-eagle, a Kiowa Apache subchief]
They have not migrated from the southwest into the plains country, but
have come with the Kiowa from the extreme north, where they lay the
scene of their oldest traditions, including their great medicine story.
Their association with the Kiowa antedates the first removal of the
latter from the mountains, as both tribes say they have no memory of a
time when they were not together. It is probable that the Kiowa Apache,
like the cognate Sarsi, have come down along the eastern base of the
Rocky mountains from the great Athapascan hive of the Mackenzie river
region instead of along the chain of the Sierras, the line followed by
the kindred Tototin, Wailaki, Navaho, and Apache proper, and that,
finding themselves too weak to stand alone, they took refuge with the
Kiowa, as the Sarsi have done with the Blackfeet.