Just previous to the outbreak the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, with the few of the Delaware tribe living among them, were officially reported to have over sixteen thousand horses and mules. At the close of the troubles they had only six thousand remaining, having lost ten thousand within a little more than a year. They had also a small number of cattle before the outbreak, but no sheep (Report, 93).
This was the first general attempt by the Kiowa to raise stock (except horses). Although at the start the experiment promised well, the herds were soon reduced by neglect, killing for food, etc., and in a few years the last animal was gone. It is said that some of the sheep escaped to the Wichita mountains, where for several years they roamed wild.
Iyúgúa P'a Pähä´dal K'ádó, Sun dance at the fork of Maggot (Sweetwater) creek, or Paí-tälyí-de Tseñko Edásémk`opa-de K`ádó, "Sun dance when Sun-boy's horses were stolen." This dance was held at the junction of Sweetwater creek and the North fork of Red river, on the western line of the reservation. While it was in progress some Mexicans stole all of Sun-boy's horses. After the dance the Kiowa pursued the thieves, but their horses gave oat, and they failed to recover the stolen animals. On both calendars the event is indicated by means of figures representing horse tracks near the medicine lodge.
Dó-héñte, "No-moccasins" ("Tohaint" of Battey) had died in the preceding fall and had been succeeded as taíme priest by Set-dayá-iti, "Many-bears," who made this dance. He was the uncle of Set-dayiá-iti, who was killed by the Ute, and the cousin ("brother") of Taímete, who afterward had charge of the taíme.
This winter is distinguished on the Set-t'an calendar by the killing of the woman A`gábaí, "On-top-of-the-hill," by her husband Íăpa, "Baby," in the Kiowa camp, which at that time was a short distance below Fort Sill. The figure shows the woman above the winter mark, with a character intended for a cliff beside a river (the wavy line) to indicate her name. Although the killing occurred in summer, it was some time after the sun dance, and hence is marked as happening in winter. The woman was sick and promised Íăpa, who was considered a doctor and was then unmarried, that if he would make her well she would marry him; he succeeded in curing her and she married him, but soon after left him, and for this he stabbed her.
The incident is thus noted by Agent Haworth in his official report:
A young man in a mad fit killed his wife. On hearing of it, I called a council of Kiowa chiefs and asked them to take some action about it. I explained to them the penalties the white man's law inflicted for such terrible crimes. After a short consultation they decided they would do with him whatever I said—kill him, if I said so. They said, however, that he was young and foolish and did not know the white man's laws or road, but they would arrest him as soon as he could be found and bring him to me, and I could do with him as I desired. Two of their number, Dangerous-eagle and Big-tree, about nine oclock the same evening brought him to my house, having made the arrest themselves. I sent them on with him to the guard-house, where he was confined for several months, most of the time with ball and chain, working around the garrison in full view of his people. After his arrest they made the request that, in consideration of his ignorance of the white man's laws, his life be spared. I told them he would not be hurt, but the arrest was made without any promises of mercy being exacted or made, no soldiers being required, and done simply on my suggestion or request (Report, 94).
Anko's calendar commemorates the fact that he, with about twenty other Kiowa braves, enlisted as scouts this year at Fort Sill, remaining in the service two or three years. The figure below the winter mark shows a man holding a gun and wearing a peculiar variety of hat then used by the scouts. The first Kiowa scouts were enlisted at the time of the surrender in 1875.
Dä´-mä´tánä´ P'a K`ádó, "Star-girl-tree river sun dance," or Á`gat-hódal K`ádó, "Measles sun dance." This dance took place within the present Greer county, Oklahoma, on Salt fork of Red river, called by the Kiowa the "Star-girl-tree river," from a noted tree which originated from a sapling used in a medicine sacrifice to the "Star girls" or Pleiades. On this occasion the troops accompanied the Kiowa on their buffalo hunt and afterward escorted them to the place selected for the dance.
This summer is noted for an epidemic of measles, which is said to have killed more children in the tribe than the measles epidemic of 1892. It is represented on both calendars by a human figure covered with red spots, above the medicine lodge. Strangely enough there is no notice of this epidemic in the report of the agent for this year, which may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that he was himself prostrated by sickness which occasioned his retirement in the following spring. From the report of the agent for the Cheyenne and Arapaho, however, we learn that the epidemic broke out among the latter tribes in April, and in spite of the best efforts of the physician, killed two hundred and nineteen children, so that almost every family was in mourning. In happy contrast to the more recent experience of the Kiowa, the government school was temporarily turned into a hospital, with the teachers for nurses, so that although seventy-four children were sick at the same time, not one died (Report, 95).
K`op-taíde-do-tsédal-de Sai, "Signal-mountain winter." During this winter a part of the tribe camped near Mount Scott, while the remainder camped west of Fort Sill, at the foot of Signal mountain, called by the Kiowa "the mountain with a house built upon it," referring to a stone lookout station built during the last Indian outbreak. The figure on the Set-t´an calendar is sufficiently suggestive of a house upon a mountain.
Anko records the fact that he hunted buffalo this winter on Elk creek (on upper Red river), called by the Kiowa Dónä´-i P'a, "Pecan river." The rounded figure below the winter mark is intended to represent a pecan nut.
This winter is noted for an epidemic of fever, which is mentioned in the report for 1878. In the fall of 1877, under Agent Haworth, as an inducement to the Indians to abandon their roaming habit, the government built houses for ten prominent chiefs of the three tribes, including Stumbling-bear, Gaápiatañ (Heidsick), Guñsádalte (Cat), and Sun-boy, of the Kiowa, and White-man and Taha, of the Apache. These were the first Indian houses ever built upon the reservation, excepting two erected by the military. At first the new owners continued to live in the tipis, which they preferred from long usage, but by the further gift of beds and chairs they were induced to go into the houses. An attempt to get the Indians to cut the logs and do a part of the work themselves under instruction seems to have been a failure. The houses were reasonably good frame structures of three rooms, having doors, glass windows, and substantial double fireplaces and chimneys of stone; they cost $600 each (Report, 96). In 1886 there were nine Kiowa families living in houses (Report, 97), but a few years later most of these dwellings were vacant or occupied by white renters, the Indian owners being again in the tipis.
Adăldä K`ádó, "Repeated sun dance." This is the second recorded instance of this kind, the first having occurred in 1842. On the Set-t´an calendar it is indicated by the figure of two adjoining medicine lodges, and in the Anko calendar by a double-forked medicine pole. The two dances were held on the North fork of Red river. Part of the Kiowa had gone to the plains on the western part of the reservation to hunt buffalo, while the others remained at home. Each party, unknown to the other, promised to make a sun dance, in consequence of which one dance was held at the regular period, after which the leaves were renewed and another dance was held for another four days. On this occasion also the buffalo hunters, who made one sun dance, were escorted by a detachment of troops as a protection and as a precaution against their committing depredations (Report, 98).
The event noted for this winter on both calendars is the killing of Ä´to-t'aíñ, "White-cowbird," the man to whom Set-t'aiñte had given his medicine lance five years before, thus resigning his chieftanship to him (see summer 1874). On the Set-t'an calendar it is indicated by a human figure painted red and with the red headdress, both characteristic of Set-t'aiñte, above the winter mark, and with the medicine lance or zébat in front. On the Anko calendar it is indicated by the figure of the arrow-lance below the winter mark. By a curious coincidence Set-t'aiñte himself committed suicide in a Texas prison about the same time.
Ä´to-t'aíñ was the brother of the chief Sun-boy, and on account of his relationship and the dignity conferred upon him by Set-t'aiñte, if not for his personal merits, was a prominent man in the tribe. On account of having this lance he was also known as Zébä-dó-k`ía, "Man-who-has-the-arrows," i. e., "Arrowman." He was killed by Texans while with a party who had gone, by permission of the agent and accompanied by an escort of troops, to hunt buffalo on upper Red river in what is now Greer county, Oklahoma; the Texans shot him through the body and both arms, scalped him, and cut off a finger upon which was a ring. The hunt occurred in the winter season, but the buffalo were now so nearly exterminated that it was practically a failure and the Indians suffered much in consequence. The killing with its sequel is thus noted in the official report:
Captain Nolan, commanding the company of troops who were escorting the Indians while on the hunt, had, in view of the scarcity of buffalo, allowed parties, each accompanied by a squad of soldiers, to go off from the main camp to points where it was said straggling droves of buffalo could be found. While a Kiowa man was one day a short distance from the camp of one of these parties and alone he was run onto by a company of Texas state troops, shot down, killed, and scalped. A few moments after this grand military feat was performed the little Indian camp was discovered, and they were just in the act of covering themselves with additional glory by charging it and butchering the squaws and pappooses when the squad of colored troops presented themselves, mounted on the bare backs of their horses, having had no time to saddle them, and the warlike band disappeared. Upon the return of the Indians to the agency a request was made that the Texans who murdered the Kiowa should be arrested and punished by the authorities, expressing at the same time no intention of avenging his death themselves. It seems that after waiting some time and concluding that nothing could or would be done by the authorities, a party of young Kiowas, headed by the brother of the murdered man, quietly left their different camps, dashed hurriedly across the line into Texas, killed and scalped a white man they met in the road, and returned as secretly to their camps, apparently feeling that they had avenged the death of their brother and friend by this taking of one scalp.
A party of troops was sent after this avenging party immediately on learning of this last killing, but so quietly had they proceeded that no trace of them could be found or any definite information procured on which to base measures for their punishment. The white man killed was named Earle, and the agent expresses his belief that if proper satisfaction had been made in the first place by punishing the murderers of the Kiowa or making presents to his family according to the Indian custom, the avenging party would not have entered Texas on their deadly mission (Report, 99).
Tséñ-píä K`ádó, "Horse-eating sun dance." It is indicated on the Set-t'an calendar by the figure of a horse's head above the medicine lodge. This dance was held on Elm fork of Red river, and was so called because the buffalo had now become so scarce that the Kiowa, who had gone on their regular hunt the preceding winter, had found so few that they were obliged to kill and eat their ponies during the summer to save themselves from starving. This may be recorded as the date of the disappearance of the buffalo from the Kiowa country. Thenceforth the appearance of even a single animal was a rare event. The official report says:
In the month of June last a portion of each band was permitted to go to the western part of the reservation to subsist themselves awhile on buffalo, deer, etc, as the supplies for the year had been so nearly expended it was not seen how they could all be fed until those for the next year were received. But again they failed to find game sufficient to feed themselves, and the Kiowa, who while out were engaged in their annual medicine dance, suffered some with hunger. I think their failures in finding buffalo the past year, and their consequent suffering while out, will have a good effect in causing them to abandon their idea of subsisting in this way and to look to their crops and stock for a support. It is a fact worthy of note that the reports of the agents show the value of the robes and furs sold by the Indians now belonging to the Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita agency for the year 1876 amounted to $70,400; for 1877, $64,500; for 1878, $26,375; while in 1879 only $5,068 was received, showing that buffalo hunting is not a thing of profit as it once was; and, besides, the most serious drawback to the Indians is the lack of the buffalo meat which at one time helped to subsist them, and which, added to the insufficient rations furnished by the government, kept them partly comfortable. As that supply is cut off, the Indian must go to work and help himself or remain hungry on the rations furnished (Report, 100).
The Anko calendar records the fact that while the Kiowa were driving away their issue of beef cattle some mischievous boys, shooting at the cattle with their arrows, accidentally shot another boy in the shoulder, but not fatally. In giving this explanation it was evident that Anko did not want to mention the boy's name, probably because he was now dead.
Tä´kágyä Sai, "Eye-triumph winter." The name and story furnish a curious illustration of Indian belief. Káäsä´nte, "Little-robe" (or Little-hide), with two or three others, had gone to the North fork of Red river to look for antelope. According to another story they went to look for their old enemies, the Navaho, who, it seems, although now removed to their former reservation in western New Mexico, still occasionally penetrated thus far. Among them was a man named Pódodal (a variety of bird), who claimed to understand the language of owls, a bird believed by the Kiowa to be an embodied spirit. While resting one night in camp this man warned Little-robe not to go to bed, but to round up the ponies and keep watch over them, for an owl had told him that the Navaho would try to steal them that night. During the night Pódodal fired at something in the darkness, and on looking in the morning they found the trail of a man, and blood drops, which they followed for a long distance, but at last gave up the pursuit. That night the owl again came and told Pódodal that the wounded Navaho was lying dead beyond the point where they had turned back, and that he (the owl) would go and fetch him.
On rising in the morning Pódodal saw some strange-looking object lying on the ground in the lodge, and on examining it it proved to be the eye of a dead Navaho. On the advice of Pódodal they then abandoned the hunt and returned to the Kiowa camp, on a small branch of Apache creek (Sémät P'a), an upper branch of Cache creek. They carried with them the eye, hung at the end of a pole after the manner of a scalp, and danced over it as over a scalp on arriving at the camp on the small stream, since called Tä´-kágyä P'a, "Eye-triumph creek" from this circumstance.
It should be added that there were some skeptics who laughed at the whole story and declared that the eye was that of an antelope which Pódodal had secretly shot.
On the Set-t'an calendar the event is indicated by a figure intended to represent a scalp at the end of a pole, carried by a man wearing a striped robe to indicate his name, Little-robe. On the Anko calendar there is a representation of a scalp on a pole under the winter mark.
This summer there was no sun dance, perhaps on account of failure to find buffalo, and instead of the medicine lodge the summer is indicated on the Set-t'an calendar by the figure of a leafy tree above a square figure, which is explained as meaning that the author of the calendar stayed at home, the lines being intended to show a space inclosed in a fence after the manner of a white man's farm. A similar device is several times used for the same purpose in later years. Under date of September 1, 1881—a year later—the agent says:
Last year I was encouraged in the belief that the Indians under my charge were rather disposed to lay aside these ideas and ceremonies, from the fact that very little was heard of their medicine men during the year, and the Kiowas failed to hold their annual "medicine dance." The latter part of this year, however, from some cause, their medicine men have been unusually active, as I learn has been the case at other agencies, and the Kiowas have recently returned from the western part of their reservation, where they held their annual dance (Report, 101).
The Anko calendar records the death of a chief named Päbóte, "American-horse." He was a man of unusual height and size, hence his name, which signifies literally an animal taller than the average. He was buried in a coffin by the whites at the agency nearly opposite Fred's store. On the calendar the square figure below the picture of the man, and connected with it by a line, is intended to represent the coffin.
On first explaining the calendar, in 1892, Anko evaded the mention of this man's name, in accordance with the Kiowa custom which forbids naming the dead, but three years later consented to do so. The same objection was frequently encountered, but finally overcome in regard to other names on the calendars.
For this winter the Set-t'an calendar has a house over the winter mark, but he could not remember whose house it was intended to represent. In Captain Scott's notes it is said to be Paul Set-k'opte's new house, but Set-k'opte did not return from the east until 1882. It is probably intended to represent a new house built for another, Paul Zoñtam, who returned from the east in 1881 as an ordained Episcopal minister.
The Anko calendar records the visit of a large party of Pueblo Indians from New Mexico, indicated by a human figure below the winter mark with the hair bunched up in Pueblo fashion. There were about a hundred of them and they stopped at various camps of the Kiowa and Apache, remaining some time. This was the last time the Pueblos ever visited these tribes. In the following fall Big-bow returned their visit.
K`ádó Sä' lä´ti, "Hot-sun dance," or Dóguătal Sáomhäpä-de K adó "Sun dance when blood came up from the young man." It was called the "hot sun dance" from the fact that it was held late in August, instead of in June as usual, the delay being due probably to the difficulty of finding a buffalo for the purpose; after a long search a solitary bull was found. The dance was held on North fork of Red river, a short distance beyond the end of the mountains.
The close upright lines between the forks of the medicine pole on the Anko calendar he explains to indicate the heat, probably from the Indian gesture sign for fire, made by holding the hand with thumb and fingers together pointing upward, and separating them with a quick motion, the concept being the upward motion of the sparks and smoke.
The suggestive figure on the Set-t'an calendar records an incident which gives another name to this sun dance, a young man, the adopted son of Poor-buffalo, having been attacked by hemorrhage. He was called Măsá`te, "Six," from the fact that he had six toes on each foot; his brother, Bóhé, still living, is said to have six fingers on each hand, Such instances of malformation are at least as rare among Indians as among whites.
Ĭmdádóá-de Saiá, "Winter when they played the dó-á medicine game." This winter is noted for a great dó-á game played under the auspices of two rival leaders, each of whom claimed to have the most powerful "medicine" for the game. The game was played in the winter camp on the Washita, near the mouth of Hog creek, the Kiowa leader being Pa-tepte, "Buffalo-bull-coming-out," alias Dátekâñ, now dead (see summer 1882), while his opponent was the Apache chief and medicine-man Dävéko. The Kiowa leader was recognized distinctively as having "medicine" for this game, and it was said that he could do wonderful things with the "button," making it pass invisibly from one hand to another while he held his hands outstretched and far apart, and even to throw it up into the air and cause it to remain there suspended invisibly until he was ready to put out his hand again and catch it; in other words, he was probably an expert sleight-of-hand performer. His Apache rival, Dävéko, is known as a medicine-man as well as a chief, and is held in considerable dread, as it is believed that he can kill by shooting invisible darts from a distance into the body of an enemy. On this occasion he had boasted that his medicine was superior for the dó-á game, which did not prove to be the case, however, and as the Kiowa medicine-man won the victory for his party, large stakes were wagered on the result and were won by the Kiowa. It is said that this was a part of Pa-tepte's effort to revive the old customs and amusements on a large scale. The game was witnessed by a large concourse, all dressed and painted for the occasion. The picture on the Set-t'an calendar is very suggestive.
The name dó-á signifies the "tipi game," from do, tipi or house, and a, a game, because, unlike most of their games, it is played inside the tipi, being essentially a game for the long nights when the whole tribe is assembled in the winter camp. A similar game is found among nearly all our wild tribes; it is played by both sexes, but never together. In its general features it resembles our game of "hunt the button," the players forming a circle around the fire in the tipi, one-half of them playing against the others, sitting facing them on the opposite side of the fire. The leader of one party then takes the k`íäbo or button, a short piece of stick wrapped around the middle with a strip of fur and small enough to be concealed in the hand. Putting his closed hands together, he raises his arms above his head, clasps them across his chest or puts them behind his back, endeavoring to pass the k`íäbo from one hand to another, or from his own hand to that of his next partner, without being perceived by any of the opposite party, all the while keeping time to the movements of his hands with one of the peculiar dó-á songs, in which the members of his party join.
When the opposing player thinks he has detected in which hand the other has concealed the stick, he indicates it with a peculiar jerk of his thumb and index finger in that direction, with a loud Tsoq! (Comanche for "That!"); if he has guessed correctly, he scores a certain number of points, the account being kept by means of a bundle of green-painted tally sticks. He then takes the k`íäbo and begins a similar set of movements in time to another song, in which his partners join; so the game goes on far into the night, until the contest is decided and the stakes won by one side or the other. It is a most animated and interesting game, of which they are very fond, and frequently at night in the winter camp the song chorus may be heard from several games in progress simultaneously, the high-pitched voices of the women in one tipi making a pleasing contrast to the deeper tones of the men in another.
The Anko calendar notes the building of a medicine tipi by Dátekâñ, for the purpose of bringing back the buffalo (see summer 1882). The tipi is shown below the winter mark.
This summer Dohásän, whose hereditary duty it was to supply the buffalo for the sun dance, failed to find even one, and in consequence there was no dance. For this summer the Anko calendar notes the death of Pätso`gáte, "Looking-alike," a daughter of Stumbling-bear, noted for her beauty. In accordance with the tribal custom in regard to speaking of the dead, Anko for a long time refused to mention her name. The incident is indicated by the figure of a woman where the medicine pole is usually pictured.
The Set-t'an calendar notes the excitement caused by the efforts of Dátekâñ, or Pa-tepte, to bring back the buffalo, also noted by Anko in the preceding winter season. The figure represents the medicine-man seated in his sacred lodge, wearing his ceremonial red blanket trimmed with eagle feathers, and with a buffalo beside him.
The buffalo had now disappeared, and with it the old Indian life, the sacred sun dance, and all else that they most cherished threatened also to pass away. According to Kiowa mythology, the buffalo originally lived in a cave underground, from which they had been released by their great hero Sinti and scattered over the prairies for the benefit of his children, the Indians. Somewhat similar beliefs are entertained by other tribes. As the buffalo had disappeared with the coming of the white man, who, by reason of his superior knowledge, was rapidly dispossessing the Indian, the native tribes almost universally believed, not that the buffalo had been exterminated—a calamity too terrible for their comprehension—but that it had been shut up again underground by their enemy, the white man, in order more easily to accomplish their subjection. It was believed that by prayer and sacred ceremonial the buffalo might again be released to furnish food and life for the Indian, and in every tribe there sprang up medicine-men who undertook to effect the restoration.
Among the Kiowa this task was adventured by a young man named Dátekâñ, "Keeps-his-name-always," who announced early in 1882 that he had had a vision in which he received a mission to bring back the buffalo. Accordingly, he began to make medicine and assumed the name of Pá-tépté, "Buffalo-bull-coming-out," in token of his new powers. He was already noted in other directions as a medicine-man, and had been the winner in the great dó-á contest mentioned in the calendar of the preceding winter. It is possible that his success on that occasion encouraged him to this attempt, as he began his buffalo medicine immediately afterward. He erected a medicine tipi, in front of which he set up a pole with a buffalo skin upon it, and prepared for himself a medicine shirt ornamented with blue beads, over which he threw a red blanket trimmed with eagle feathers. Thus attired, and carrying a sacred pipe in his hand, he began his mystic ceremonies within the tipi, and from time to time announced the results to the people, most of whom believed all he said and manifested their faith by gifts of blankets, money, and other property; they were further commanded to obey him implicitly, on pain of failure of the medicine in case of disobedience. His pretensions were opposed by the younger men among the returned prisoners from the east, who used all their influence against him, but with little effect. After nearly a year of medicine-making, being unsuccessful, he announced that some one had violated some of the innumerable regulations, and that in consequence his medicine was broken for the time and they must wait five years longer, when he would begin again. Before that time had elapsed, however, he died, but his claims and prophecies were revived and amplified five years later by Pá-iñgya (see summer 1888).
For this winter the Set-t'an calendar records the death of a woman named Bot-édalte, "Big-stomach," indicated by the figure of a woman with an abnormal abdomen above the winter mark.
The Anko calendar notes that the Indian police camped this winter on Dónä´i P'a, "Pecan creek" (Elk creek of North fork of Red river), indicated, as in 1877—78, by the figure of a pecan nut below the winter mark. The Texas cattle trail crossed at that point and the police were stationed there to keep the cattle off the reservation. Quanah, chief of the Comanche, was there also in the interest of the cattlemen, and it was through his persuasion that the allied tribes finally agreed to lease their grass lands.
Anko notes also that the Indians now "began to talk about grass leases," but that as yet there was no grass money paid. It is indicated on the calendar by three circles for dollars below the winter mark, with a +, intended for a picture of the Indian gesture sign for "cut off" or "stop," made by bringing the extended right hand downward in front of the other, as if cutting a rope with a knife-stroke.
On this subject the agent says, under date of August 17, 1883:
The grass question seems to be the most difficult thing I have to contend with. I find it impossible to keep trespassing cattle entirely off the reservation, and we are now crowded on all sides. It seems to do very little good to put them off, for it is found that cattle that have just been driven off will come back on the reservation as soon as the police force advances. Our Indians are not disposed to rent the grass, yet if it is used it seems they should be paid for it.... The grass should be utilized in some way that will benefit the Indians, and if it is not possible to supply them with herds sufficient to consume it, it does seem as if the grass should be rented and the Indians receive the money for it (Report, 103).
The final result was the establishment of the system of grass leases.
´dalk`atói K`ádó, "Nez Percé sun dance," so called on account of a visit from the Nez Percés, called by the Kiowa the "people with hair cut off across the forehead." The figure above the medicine pole on the Anko calendar is intended to represent a man in the act of cutting off his front hair. The Set-t'an calendar has beside the medicine lodge the figure of a man wearing the peculiar striped blanket of the Nez Percés. This sun dance is sometimes known as Máp'ódal K`ádó, "Split-nose sun dance," because held on the Washita on pasture lands inclosed by a cattle man known to the Indians by that name.
On account of difficulties with the whites, the Nez Percés of Chief Joseph's band had left their homes in eastern Oregon in the summer of 1877, and after a retreat of a thousand miles were intercepted in Montana by General Miles, when within a few miles of the British border, and compelled to surrender. They were brought as prisoners to Fort Leavenworth, and thence removed, in July, 1878, to a reservation assigned to them in Indian Territory. The climate and surroundings proving entirely unsuited to them, they were returned to reservations in Washington and Idaho in 1885, their numbers in the meantime having been reduced from about four hundred and fifty to three hundred and one, about one-third of their whole number having died. It was while domiciled in Indian Territory that they visited the Kiowa and other tribes, dancing with the Kiowa and Apache at the head of Sémät P'a, "Apache creek" (upper Cache creek), and attending the Kiowa sun dance, which was held on the north side of the Washita, about ten miles above Rainy-mountain creek, near where now is Cloud Chief. This was the first time the Kiowa had ever seen the Nez Percés, although they had a dim traditional memory of them in their old northern home.
In the spring of this year the keeper of the taíme medicine, Set-dayá-ite, "Many-bears," died, and the image was taken by Taímete, "Taíme-man," who continued to hold it until his death in 1894.
For this winter the Set-t'an calendar has the picture of a house with smoking chimney beside a tipi. It appears to be a canvas house, such, as those Indians in a transition state sometimes use. Set-t'an explains it to mean that Big-tree was given a stove by the government and put it into a large tipi which he occupied; but Scott's informant, who is corroborated by Anko and others, explains it as meaning that Gákinãăte, "Ten," the brother of Lone-wolf, built a house this fall on the south side of the Washita, about opposite Cobb creek. Stumbling-bear says that he himself had received a stove as far back as 1875, two years before the government built his house.
The Anko calendar records the taking of a large number of children to the Chilocco Indian school, near Arkansas City, Kansas. The heavy drafts made during the term to furnish children for Chilocco and other schools very considerably reduced the number of pupils in attendance at the reservation schools; according to the agent's statement, seventy were thus taken at one time (Report, 103). The figure below the winter mark is intended to represent two wagons filled with children.
Anko notes also that a party of Dakota came down to dance with the Kiowa, indicated by the feather dance-wand at the side of the winter mark.
There was no sun dance this summer, and the Set-t'an calendar has only the figure of a tree to indicate summer, with a figure below intended to represent an inclosed field, implying that the owner stayed at home. Concerning this the agent says, under date of August 28:
The Kiowas have danced less this year than usual, and they seem to have given up their annual medicine dance, for as yet they have said nothing about it. The holding of this dance has always been a great occasion and considered one of their most important ceremonies, for they have believed it absolutely necessary to secure their health and success in all their undertakings, either at war or in the chase. They have generally gone out on the plains from 40 to 60 miles from the agency and been absent from five to six weeks. On several occasions since the buffalo disappeared, they have suffered very much with hunger while out, and I hope we have heard the last of the dance (Report, 104).
The calendar of Anko for this summer notes the hauling of government freight by the Kiowa, including himself, indicated by a figure of a wagon where the medicine pole would otherwise be. This was in agreement with a plan inaugurated several years before, by which those Indians who had suitable teams and wagons—the latter furnished by the government—were permitted to haul supplies for the agency and were paid for their labor as an inducement to get them to adopt the white man's industries. As there was no railroad near at that time, most of the freight had to be hauled overland from Caldwell, Kansas, a distance of 150 miles. For such labor during this year the Indians received nearly $8,000, and performed the work cheerfully and in a satisfactory manner (Report, 105).
The Set-t'an calendar has a house above the winter mark, which is interpreted to mean that the Kiowa camped all winter on the Washita near Set-k`opte's house, just above the agency. This was the fact, but another informant suggests that the original intention was to record the event that the Kiowa about this time began to build houses for themselves. On this subject the agent says at this time:
These Indans retain much of their roving disposition, and except during the cropping season do not camp long in one place, but do not go far from their fields. Few of the Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches have houses, and most of them live in tents. This will probably be the last of their savage customs to be abandoned (Report, 106).
In 1886 it is officially stated that only nine Kiowa families were living in houses, all the rest being in tipis (Report, 107).
The Anko calendar records the stealing of another man's wife by Tón-ak`á, "Notched-tail," i. e. "Water-turtle," a noted medicine-man, for which the woman was whipped and a number of Tón-ak`á's horses were killed by the injured husband. The turtle below the winter mark indicates the event.
Píhó K`ádó Sän, "Little Peninsula sun dance," so called because it was held in a peninsula formed by a bend of the Washita about twenty miles above the agency; the same place where another dance, the Píhó K`ádó, had been held in 1839. The figure on the Set-t'an calendar shows the medicine lodge within the bend (see summer 1839). The figure on the Anko calendar is intended to represent the medicine pole with the buffalo head fastened below the forks.
On this occasion Dohásän had to go to the Staked plain to find a buffalo for the purpose. This dance was the first held by Taímete, the successor of Set-dayá-ite. On this point the agent has to say:
I mentioned in my last report the fact that the annual medicine dance of the Kiowa would not be held that year, and I expressed the hope that they had abandoned it; but their old medicine man has since died, and his successor, unfortunately a young man of little ability or character, ordered that another be held this year. The Comanche have no such ceremonial as an annual dance, and the other tribes of the reservation have no medicine dance, but the Caddoes frequently meet together and dance for enjoyment, as white people do (Report, 108).
The Anko calendar notes that the Comanche received their first grass money this summer, shown by the circles for dollars below the medicine pole, but with nothing to indicate the tribe. The Kiowa did not make leases until a year later. For some reason, perhaps on account of a change of agents which occurred about this time, there is no notice of this payment in the official report.
For this winter both calendars record a prairie fire which destroyed all the tipis and much of the other property of T'ébodal's and Â'dal-pepte's camps, northwest of Mount Scott, while most of the tribe had gone to the agency for rations. The Set-t'an calendar indicates the event by means of the picture of a tipi, streaked with red for the fire, above the winter mark. The Anko calendar has below the winter mark a peculiar symbol, which he explains to mean the rising flames.
There was no dance this summer, owing to the failure to find a buffalo for the purpose, consequently everybody remained at home—indicated on the Set-t'an calendar by the figure of a leafy tree, for summer, above an inclosure, intended to represent a field.
As there was no dance, the Anko calendar for this summer lacks the medicine pole, while by means of a star and several circles he records the fact that he enlisted in the agency police force, and also that there was another payment of grass money by the cattlemen, this time to the Kiowa, being the first they had received.
For this winter both calendars note the suicide of Peyi, "Son-of-the-sand," nephew of the great chief Sun-boy. Having taken a horse without the owner's permission, he was reproved for it, which so hurt his feelings that, saying, "I have no father, mother, or brother, and no one cares for me," he went out and shot himself with a revolver. Indians are very sensitive to reproof or ridicule, and suicides among them from this cause are more frequent than is generally supposed.