Kâ´itséñko to carry the arrow. As the regulations governing it were
adhered to very strictly, it can readily be understood that on the
occasion of an election the office usually sought the man. As the Kiowa
or other tribes, however, had no desire to sacrifice their bravest men
needlessly, the ceremonial arrow or its equivalent was carried only when
the expedition meant war to the bitter end against the enemy. In the
absence of this emblem of his rank the owner took his place as an
ordinary warrior. He might even lend it to a warrior who wished to
distinguish himself in a war party while the owner remained at home; but
should he do this when any serious expedition was in preparation, he was
considered to be a coward and was degraded from his rank. The leaders of
the Tóñkóñko, "Black legs," another warrior order, carried a lance
somewhat resembling a shepherd's crook and called a _pabón_, which had
nearly the same purpose as the arrow of the Kâ´itséñko. The noted chief
Set-ängya, who was killed at Fort Sill in 1871, was the leader of the
Kâ´itséñko at that time, and deliberately invited death in accordance
with the obligation of his office.
The Kâ´itséñko initiations took place only on the occasion of a sun
dance and were not of frequent occurrence, so that the event was always
a matter of considerable importance. The membership was always kept up
to the requisite number of ten. The prominent feature of the ceremony
was the investiture of the new members with the _ópäm-yaípo_, or collar
sash of the order; hence the verb _äópä_, "to initiate into the
Kâ´itséñko," which is derived from the verb _äópäñ_, "to tie with a rope
around the neck." This ceremony evidently explains the picture from the
Dakota calendar (figure 96) which Mallery translates "they made bands of
strips of blankets in the winter," and goes on to say: "These bands were
of mixed colors and reached from the shoulders to the heels. They also
made rattles of deer-hoofs by tying them to sticks with bead-covered
strings. The man has a sash over his shoulders and a rattle in his
hand." The rattle was also a part of the ceremonial equipment of the
Dog-soldiers, and as the Dakota calendar does not distinguish between
seasons, the ceremony may as easily have taken place in the summer, the
ordinary season for Indian celebrations on the plains.
[Illustration: FIG. 96--Dog-Soldier initiated(?) (from the Dakota
calendars).]
Of the ten _ópäm-yaípo_, the principal one, called the _yaípo-kóñkya_,
"black rope," was made of elk-skin colored black and was worn by the
leader, the most noted of whom in recent memory was Set-ängya. Three
were made of red cloth and were called _yaípo-gúădal_, "red ropes,"
while the remaining six were made of elk-skin dyed red and were called
simply _ópäm-yaípo_. Any of the Kâ´itséñko was at liberty, if he did not
choose to go on a particular expedition, to lend his sash to another for
the occasion; but if cowardice was suspected to be his motive for this
action he was degraded from his rank and the sash taken from him and
given to a braver man. Usually each one had a younger partner (_tsä_),
whom he allowed to wear his sash while in camp or even on less important
expeditions, but when any great war party was on foot, he must wear it
and go himself or run the risk of being considered a coward. When a
wearer became too old to go to war, he formally resigned his sash to
some younger man whom he deemed worthy to wear it, the recipient
acknowledging the honor with presents of blankets or other property.
Sometimes the sash was publicly taken from a warrior grown too old to
wear it in battle, but this was not necessarily regarded as a
degradation when there was no implication of cowardice.
WINTER 1846-47
_Sénpága Etá`ga-de Sai_, "Winter when they shot the mustache." The
figure represents a man shot in the mustache or upper lip by an arrow.
The long hair and the breech-cloth shows that he was an Indian, and the
beard or mustache is exaggerated to accentuate the idea. Mustaches are
not infrequent among the older men of the Kiowa, and Set-ängya had
almost a full beard.
While the Kiowa were encamped for the winter on Elk creek, a tributary
of the North fork of Red river, within the limits of the present
reservation, a band of Pawnee coming on foot stole a number of their
horses. The Kiowa pursued them northward and overtook them on the
Washita and recovered the horses after a fight in which one Pawnee was
killed. In this action Set-ängya engaged a Pawnee and was about to stab
him with his lance when, his foot slipped on the snow, causing him to
fall, and the Pawnee sent an arrow through Set-ängya's upper lip.
SUMMER 1847
_Mâ´nka-gúădal Ehótal-de Pai_, "Summer that Red-sleeve was killed." The
figure shows the Indian leader with his war-bonnet and red sleeve. The
medicine lodge is absent, showing that there was no sun dance that year.
[Illustration: FIG. 97--Winter 1846-47--Mustache shooting.]
Mânka-gúădal is the Kiowa name of the Comanche chief Red-sleeve
(Îkämosa?), who was killed in an attack against a party of Santa Fé
traders in Kansas, where the Santa Fé trail crossed Pawnee fork of the
Arkansas, below the present Fort Larned, which was not built until 1859.
Pawnee fork, properly called by the Kiowa _Aíkoñ P'a_, "Dark-timber
river," is sometimes called by them from this circumstance
_Mâ´nka-gúădal-de P'a_, "Red-sleeve's river." According to the story
told by the Kiowa, they and the Comanche were out in search of the
Pawnee when they met at this point a large party of white men with
wagons--evidently Santa Fé traders. Red-sleeve wanted to attack them,
but Set-ängya, the Kiowa leader, refused, saying that the whites were
their friends. Red-sleeve then taunted the Kiowa as cowards, put on his
war-bonnet, and, calling his Comanche, attacked the traders. The Kiowa,
wishing to avoid trouble, drew off. About the first fire a bullet went
through the leg of Red-sleeve and into the spine of his horse, so that
the animal fell, pinning his wounded rider to the ground. He called on
Set-ängya to help him, but the Kiowa chief refused on account of the
taunt of cowardice, and the white men came up to Red-sleeve and shot
him.
[Illustration: FIG. 98--Summer 1847--Red-sleeve killed.]
As the government had but little communication with the tribes of the
southern plains until some years after the Mexican war, there is no
direct notice of this occurrence in the official reports, but a letter
by agent Fitzpatrick in the report of the Indian Commissioner for 1848,
the year after the attack upon the train, bears out the statement of
the Kiowa that they were anxious to keep peace with the whites, even at
the risk of quarreling with the Comanche and losing some very profitable
business opportunities. Speaking of depredations upon parties traveling
on the emigrant roads and the Santa Fé trail, he says:
Before leaving there [Bent's fort] last February I had an interview
with some of the Kiaway chiefs, and who have heretofore been allies
of the Comanches. They expressed themselves as sorry for having
anything to do with the war against us, and promised to quit their
country and all intercourse with the Comanches and join the
Cheyennes on the Arkansas, who are the friends of the whites. This
course I approved, and since my departure from that country last
spring learned that nearly all the Kiaways have moved to the
country of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes and are living in perfect
amity with the surrounding tribes.
He also states that there seem to have been fewer attacks made upon
travelers along the Santa Fé road recently, which he can account for
only on the supposition that "the Indians having, in 1846 and 1847,
secured so much booty by their daring outrages upon travelers, are now
and have been the past summer luxuriating in and enjoying the spoils"
(_Report, 77_).
[Illustration: FIG. 99--Winter 1847-48--Winter camp.]
WINTER 1847-48
They camped all winter on _T'aiñ P'a_, "White river," an extreme upper
branch of the South Canadian (perhaps identical with Major Long's
creek). The figure represents the winter camp with the brush windbreak
around it.
[Illustration: FIG. 100--Summer 1848--Initiation sun dance.]
SUMMER 1848
_Ópäñ K`ádó_, "Kâ´itséñko initiation sun dance." This dance was held on
Arkansas river near Bent's fort, in Colorado, and was distinguished by
the initiation of several Kâ´itséñko (see summer 1846). The figure
represents an initiate with his (red) body paint and _ópämyaípo_.
[Illustration: FIG. 101--Winter 1848-49-Antelope drive.]
WINTER 1848-49
The Kiowa were camped on Arkansas river near Bent's fort and made
"antelope medicine" (_ät'á´kagúa_) for a great antelope drive. Compare
the figures from the Dakota calendars of Mallery (figure 102).
The antelope drive was made only in seasons of scarcity, when the supply
of buffalo meat was insufficient, and only in the winter, at which
season the antelope are accustomed to go in herds, while in the spring
and summer they scatter. Such a drive was an event so rare that one
informant over 60 years of age had seen but one in his lifetime.
When it has been decided to have an antelope drive, the "antelope
medicine-man" builds a special tipi and remains in it all night, singing
his medicine songs until daylight. In the morning he starts out in the
probable direction of the antelope, carrying in each hand a rod about
two feet long decorated at each end with eagle feathers and in the
center with a wheel from which depend the feathers of other carnivorous
birds, his face is painted white, a buffalo robe is thrown over his
shoulder, and a whistle hangs from his neck. He is accompanied by the
whole tribe, mounted and on foot--men, women, and children. On arriving
at the place selected for the hunt, he sits upon the ground, facing the
direction in which the antelope are supposed to be; in most other Indian
ceremonies the priest faces the east. Beside him sit some of the
principal men, while behind stand several women. The two men chosen to
sit next him on each side must be men known as successful in the hunt
and on the warpath. He plants the two decorated sticks in the ground in
front of him, lights his pipe, and begins to smoke; after smoking a
little while he hands the rods to the men sitting next him, crossing his
right hand over his left as he does so, and giving their hands a
peculiar pressure four times. These two men then rise, put their hands
upon his head--a gesture of prayer or invocation--step across each into
the place of the other so as to again reverse the position of the rods,
and then, after the same four hand pressures, again plant the rods in
front of the priest.
[Illustration: FIG. 102--Antelope drives (from the Dakota calendars)]
Two other men, noted war chiefs, then take their places beside the
priest, while the first two sit next them. Grasping the upright sticks
at the top, the priest now sings the first antelope song, blowing upon
the whistle at intervals, while all the surrounding men and women join
in the song, and the four men sitting beside him beat time on the
ground. Four different songs are sung in this manner, the sticks being
grasped lower down at each song, until at the last song the priest pulls
them out from the ground, and, holding them by their lower ends,
pushes them out alternately in front of himself, while the whole
company--mostly women now, as the men have gone on ahead--swell the
chorus, waving their arms with a sweeping motion, as if grasping at the
antelope. Then the two war chiefs place their hands upon his head as
before, and he gives them the sticks, with four other hand pressures.
Taking the rods, the two chiefs run forward on foot at full speed on
diverging lines until they meet two horsemen, to whom they deliver the
rods, and then return to the place where the priest is sitting with the
women and children. In the meantime the hunters have ridden far out in a
semicircle, so as to inclose a large area of country. The two hunters
who have taken the rods now also ride far out on diverging lines, then
turn, cross each other's paths, and return to the priest. The four songs
"draw the minds" of the antelope to the priests, and the crossing of the
paths typifies the surrounding of the game by the lines of hunters.
The horsemen now begin to close in toward the center, driving before
them the antelope and any other animals that may be within the
semicircle; as they approach, the women close in from, the opposite
side, and as the circle contracts, with the frightened animals running
about within it, they seize them with their hands or with reatas. It is
said that once, in such a drive, a woman caught a coyote by throwing her
arms about its neck. No shooting is allowed within the circle, but any
antelope that break through are pursued and shot outside (for other
methods, see winter 1860-61).
[Illustration: FIG. 103--Summer 1849--Cholera sun dance.]
SUMMER, 1849
_Mayíagyă´ K`ádó_, "Cramp (i. e., cholera) sun dance." The figure beside
the medicine lodge represents a man with his limbs drawn up by the pangs
of cholera, which the Kiowa name "the cramp," from its characteristic
feature. Compare the corresponding figure (104) from the Dakota calendar
for the same disease.
This was during the great cholera epidemic that swept the country in the
spring and summer of 1849, which was carried to the plains by the
California and Oregon emigrants and by some of the tribes then in
process of removal from the east. The Kiowa remember this as the most
terrible experience within their history, far exceeding in fatality the
smallpox of nine years before. It was a disease before entirely unknown
to them, and was particularly dreaded on account of its dreadful
suddenness, men who had been in perfect health in the morning being dead
a few hours later. The disease appeared immediately after the sun dance,
which was held on Mule creek (_Ädóä P'a_, "Tipi wind-break river"),
between Medicine-lodge creek and the Salt fork of the Arkansas, and,
like the previous smallpox, it was brought by visiting Osage who
attended the dance. During the performance a man became inspired or
"crazy," as in the ghost dance, and prophesied that something terrible
was about to happen after the _taíme_ had been returned to its box.
Hardly was the dance over and the _taíme_ put away when a man was
attacked by this strange disease and died in a few hours; then another
became sick and died as suddenly, and another, until in a few days the
epidemic spread through the tribe, killing great numbers, including an
unusual proportion of medicine-men. The Kiowa say that half their number
perished during its prevalence; this is probably an exaggeration, but
whole families and camps were exterminated and their tipis were left
standing empty and deserted. Many in their despair committed suicide,
but the survivors saved themselves by scattering in different directions
until the disease had spent its fury.
The tribes of the lake region and those which had been recently removed
to Indian Territory generally escaped the disease, but among the wild
tribes of the plains, from the Dakota to the Comanche, the ravages of
the cholera during this season were as awful as among the white
population of the eastern states. The western Dakota, who suffered
severely, believed that the disease had been deliberately introduced by
the whites for their more speedy extermination (_Report, 78_). The agent
for the Pawnee states that up to June of 1849 twelve hundred and
thirty-four persons, or nearly one-fourth of the tribe, had already
died, and the disease was still making fearful ravages among them, while
the survivors were in such dread of the terrible scourge that no
persuasion could induce them to bury the dead, and within a short
distance of the agency it was not unusual to find the unburied corpses
partially devoured by wolves (_Report, 79_).
[Illustration: FIG. 104--Cholera (from the Dakota calendars).]
In the spring of 1850 an attempt was made to assemble the tribes of the
southern plains for the purpose of making treaties with them to insure
the safety of the emigrant roads. The Comanche, however, declined to
attend on account of the cholera, which they said their medicine-men had
predicted would be communicated to them again by the whites unless they
kept at a proper distance until the grass had died in the fall, when the
cholera would die out with it, and they would no longer be afraid to
meet their white friends (_Report, 80_). This caused a postponement of
the negotiations, which resulted later in the treaties of Fort Laramie
in 1851 and Fort Atkinson in 1853.
WINTER 1849-5O
The Kiowa killed several of the Pawnee and were received by their
friends with a dance on returning to camp. The figure over the winter
mark (figure 105) represents a Pawnee, as shown by the peculiar shaving
of the head, with two long scalp-locks or "horns." In this connection
Dunbar says:
The name Pawnee is most probably derived from _páriki_, a horn, and
seems to hare been once used by the Pawnees themselves to designate
their peculiar scalp lock. From the fact that this was the most
noticeable feature in their costume the name came naturally to be
the denominative term of the tribe (_Clark, 18._ See also summers
1841 and 1851, and winter 1852-53).
The half circle above represents the circle of dancers opening in the
direction from which the warriors are returning, and the cross in the
center represents a fire made of a pile of buffalo chips around which
they danced.
The Kiowa were camped in two divisions near the Salt fork of Arkansas
river when a war party of Pawnee stole the horses of the first camp,
whose warriors at once started in pursuit. In the meantime another party
of Pawnee stole a number of horses from the Kiowa at the other camp, who
also sent their warriors in pursuit of the thieves. The first Kiowa
party overtook the Pawnee warriors, dismounted, and attacked them,
killing one. While this was transpiring the other band of the Pawnee
came up in the rear and stole the horses from which the riders had
dismounted to fight. The second Kiowa party, coming up behind the
Pawnee, at once attacked them, killed four, and recovered nearly all the
horses.
As the victorious Kiowa warriors approached their home camp after this
double pursuit and encounter, they imitated the cry of a wolf, to let
their friends know that they had killed some of the Pawnee--designated
as "Wolf-people" in the Kiowa language and in the sign language of the
plains--and their friends at once formed the circle and began the dance
to receive them, as indicated in the figure. The dance performed on this
occasion is a peculiar one, with a particularly pleasing song
accompaniment.
The scalp dance is called _´daldá-`gúăn_, literally "hair-kill dance."
Should one of the war party have been killed, all the others go into
mourning (_dóát_) and do not rejoice or paint themselves as they return,
even though bringing back a scalp. In this case they hold no dance, but
sacrifice the scalp to the sun by "throwing it away" on some hillside.
If, on the contrary, they have taken one or more scalps without the loss
of one of their own party, they return to camp in full war dress,
including their war-bonnets, and with faces painted black, to show that
they have killed an enemy. They enter the camp running, to imitate a
charge, firing their guns and discharging arrows, to show how they had
met and struck the foe; if they approached in silence, they might be
mistaken for enemies. Their friends run out to meet them, shouting
"_Ĭmkágyä´gya!_" ("They are coming in triumph!"), and at once commence
preparations for the dance. The entry is generally made in the morning,
or perhaps just after noon, in order to give plenty of time to prepare
for the dance; should they reach the camp late in the evening, the
entry is postponed until the next morning. The warriors take the women
up behind them on their horses and ride around the circle singing, while
the scalps, stretched over hoops and painted red on the inside, are
carried at the ends of poles about 6 feet long by other women in the
dance; at night a fire is built in the center of the circle. As the
interpreter said, in his quaint English, "Everybody very happy time like
picnic." No men excepting those of the returned war party engage in the
dance, but all the women take part. The dance may continue every
afternoon and night for a month, after which the scalp is usually
"thrown away" in some unfrequented spot by fastening it to the branch of
a tree, or to the end of a pole planted on the hillside, with a prayer
offering it to the sun. This act of sacrifice was called _pä´ñgun_, a
word signifying "to give by throwing away."
An instance of the employment of buffalo chips among the Crows in
ceremonial dances of a warlike character is noted by an officer
concerned in the Dakota campaign of 1876. Several officers and men had
left camp for a short hunting trip--
They were sighted by the Crow scouts at some distance below and
mistaken for Sioux, whereupon the latter made a tragical rush for
our camp to give the alarm. As they appeared in view across the
valley running in single file at a lively speed, occasionally
deviating from a direct line to describe a small circle indicating
that they had seen an enemy, quite an excitement was aroused in the
camp. The soldiers gathered in throngs, while the Crows formed in
line, shoulder to shoulder, behind a pile of buffalo chips placed
for the purpose and stood there swaying their bodies and singing
while the scouts approached. As the leader of the scouts came up he
paused to kick over the pile of buffalo chips, which was equivalent
to a solemn pledge to tell the truth, then sat down surrounded by
his fellow Crows, and after resting a minute or two, told what he
had seen (_Montana, 1._)
[Illustration: FIG. 105--Winter 1849-50--Dance over slain Pawnee.]
SUMMER 185O
_Ä´`gótä K`ádó_, "Chinaberry sun dance," so called because held near a
thicket of these trees on Beaver creek (_P'o P'a_) or upper North
Canadian river, a short distance above the junction of Wolf creek at
Fort Supply, Oklahoma. In the figure the tree above the medicine lodge
represents the chinaberry tree with its leaves and berries. No other
event is recorded in connection with this summer.
[Illustration: FIG. 106--Summer 1850--Chinaberry sun dance.]
WINTER 185O-51
_Tañgíapá Ehótal-de Sai_, "Winter that Tañgíapa was killed." The bust
above the winter mark represents the man killed, whose name, signifying
a male deer, is indicated by the connected figure of a male (horned)
deer.
[Illustration: FIG. 107--Winter 1850-51--Buck-deer killed.]
He had led a small war party into Tamaulipas or the adjacent region
beyond the Rio Grande. They overtook a party of Mexicans, and Tañgíapa,
who was mounted, was pursuing a Mexican on foot and was just about to
stab him with a lance when the Mexican turned and shot him through the
body, and was himself immediately killed by the Kiowa warrior. Tañgíapa
was carried into the mountains, where he died the same evening. No other
Indian was killed.
SUMMER 1851
_Paiñ K`ádó_, "Dusty sun dance." It was held on the north bank of the
North Canadian, just below the junction of Wolf creek, near where the
last sun dance had taken place. It is so called on account of a strong
wind that prevailed during the ceremony, which kept the air filled with
dust.
When the dance was over and the Kiowa had left the spot and gone
northward toward the Arkansas, a band of the Pawnee came to the place
and stole from the center pole of the medicine lodge the offerings which
had been hung upon it as a sacrifice, including a number of blankets and
a flag which had been given by the Kiowa to the Osage when the two
tribes had made peace in 1834. The figure over the medicine lodge
represents a Pawnee--indicated by the peculiar scalplock, as already
described--holding a flag in his hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 108--Summer 1851--Dusty sun dance; flag stolen.]