In the autumn of 1892 a commission, which had already concluded agreements with several other tribes, visited the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache to negotiate with them for the distribution of individual allotments and the sale of the remainder of their reservation. As the terms of the Medicine Lodge treaty, under which they hold their present reservation, do not expire until August 25, 1898, the Indians were opposed to any change in the existing conditions, but by bringing strong pressure to bear upon them, an agreement was finally reached by which the reservation was to be thrown open immediately upon the ratification of the contract by Congress. On learning the true nature of the instrument, the Indians denounced the interpreter and demanded that their names be stricken from the paper. This being refused, they repudiated in council the action of the chiefs who had signed, and elected other representatives to go to Washington to protest against the whole proceeding. The delegates chosen were Ä´piatañ, already mentioned, Apache John (Goñk'oñ, "Stays-in-tipi") and Piänä´vonĭt, "Big-looking-glass," for the Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche, respectively, with Captain Scott, U. S. A., and Andres Martinez (Ä´ndali), an influential Mexican captive among the Kiowa, as interpreter. The delegation arrived in March, 1894, and made such representation of the matter that no action was taken upon the agreement, and it is still unratified.
Realizing that a change is inevitable in the near future, the Indians are going to work, and with the aid of the money received for their grass lands invested in houses, cattle, and improved breed of horses, the opening of small farms, and the general educational work of the schools, there is a fair prospect that at the expiration of their present treaty in 1898 they will be able to meet the new conditions (see 52d Cong., 2d sess., Senate ex. doc. 17—Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache Agreement; 53d Cong., 2d sess., misc. doc. 102—Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache memorial).
Following are the names of the agents who have been in charge of the Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche since they were first brought upon the reservation in December, 1868. Of the earlier ones, Haworth (Senpo-gúadal, "Red-beard") is held in best remembrance:
The principal events in the history of the Kiowa may be summarized as follows:
The clan system does not exist among the Kiowa, and there is no evidence that they have ever had it. This may be a surprise to those disciples of Morgan who have assumed that because the system is found among the eastern tribes and certain tribes of the southwest and extreme northwest it is therefore universal and a necessary factor in tribal development. It is by no means universal, and it is doubtful if it exists among the Athapascan tribes of British America, the tribes of the Columbia region, Oregon, or California, or any of the recognized Shoshonean stock with the exception of the Hopi. The Cheyenne and Sioux of the plains seem to know as little of it as do the Kiowa. Clark, in his "Indian Sign Language," says: "I cannot help feeling that Mr Morgan's careful study of the form of government of the Iroquois league colored his writings in regard to all other Indians. Certain it is that no trace now exists of such organization among many of the plains tribes." In another place he states that among the majority of the plains tribes, and perhaps the western Indians generally, judging from their laws of inheritance and marriage customs, the system never did exist (Clark, 5). Gatschet, in his great work on the Klamath language, declares that the Klamath Indians of Oregon are absolutely ignorant of the clan system, while Hale, in the "Iroquois Book of Rites," takes the ground that the system is simply an artificial invention, adopted for convenience and spreading from various local centers. In support of the idea that it is artificial rather than natural he points out the fact that it is not found among the Polynesian tribes, who are on about the same plane of development as our Indians (Hale, 1). In the United States the clan system seems to be found more particularly among the agricultural tribes.
Before they were confined to the reservation the Kiowa were grouped into two general local divisions, known, respectively, as T'ó-k`íñähyup, "cold men" (i.e., men of the cold, or northern, country), and Gwáhalégo, from the Comanche name Kwáhadi or Kwáhari. These terms were practically equivalent to "northern" and "southern," the former ranging chiefly along Arkansas river and the Kansas frontier, while the latter, as the name indicates, associated more with the Kwáhadi Comanche of the region of the Staked plain. As they were merely temporary local designations and not proper band or gentile names, they have now ceased to be of any practical importance.
The Kiowa have six recognized divisions or subtribes, including the Apache, who form a component part of the Kiowa tribal circle. The extinct K'úato formerly made a seventh, but their position in the circle is now forgotten. These divisions are not clans or gentes (social) based on marriage regulations, but subtribes (political), each division having had originally its own chief, subordinate to the recognized head chief of the tribe, with certain peculiarities of dialect and sometimes its special "medicine" or religious ceremonial. They may have been in the beginning distinct cognate tribes, with the exception of the Apache, which confederated at a later period for mutual assistance. The Comanche, although now allied with the Kiowa, have no part in their tribal organization or ceremonies.
The names of the bands and their order in the camp circle on the occasion of all tribal gatherings are as follows:
1. K`at'a, "Biters," i. e., Arikara. This is the largest and most important division, occupying the first place in the camp circle, immediately south of the door or entrance. To it belonged Dohásän, the great chief who ruled the Kiowa for more than thirty years. To his family was assigned the hereditary duty of furnishing the buffalo for each annual sun dance. At present the K`at'a may be said to constitute the aristocracy of the tribe. The name is said not to indicate an admixture of Ree or Arikara blood, but simply a more intimate trading association with that tribe in early days. As this association was comparatively modern, the word may be a substitute for another name discarded, in accordance with a Kiowa custom, in consequence of the death of some noted individual of the same name. They are sometimes called Gâ´i-K`at'a, "Kiowa K`at'a," to distinguish them from the Arikara proper.
2. Ko gúi, "Elk." This band took the lead in war ceremonials. A`dáte, whose camp was surprised and destroyed by the Osage in 1833, was its chief. Set-t'aiñte and the first Big-bow also belonged to this band.
3. Gâ´-igwû, "Kiowa proper." This may have been the original nucleus of the Kiowa tribe, as the name would seem to imply. Although not numerous, they are held in much respect, are the keepers of the taíme, and have charge of the K`ado Dó, or priestly tipi, at the sun-dance ceremony. The western side of the circle properly belongs to them, but in consequence of their small number individuals of other bands sometimes camp with them.
4. Kiñep, "Big Shields." To them belonged the gadómbitsóñhi image or idol, now lost, which was exposed in front of the taíme image at the annual sun dance.
5. Semät, "Thieves," i. e., Apache. Although a distinct tribe, they have formed an integral part of the Kiowa tribal circle from the earliest traditionary period.
6. Koñtä´lyui, "Black Boys," or Síndiyúi, "Sindi's children." No reason is assigned for either of these names, which are about equally common, Sindi is the great mythic hero of the Kiowa. They are a small band, and occupy the last place in the circle.
7. K'úato "Pulling Up." These were exterminated by the Dakota about 1780, as already related. They spoke a peculiar dialect of Kiowa. It is not now known what position they occupied in the tribal circle.
Clark mentions four of these divisions, under the names of Elk (Kogúi), Shield (Kiñep), Cut-Off (K`at'a), and Black (Koñtälyui), and adds, "some claim five, the Apache Kiowa band" (Clark, 20).
The Kiowa have an elaborate military organization, now fast becoming obsolete, known as Yä´pähe, "Warriors." A similar organization is found among most of the prairie tribes, and is commonly known to the whites as the Dog-soldier society, from an imperfect rendering of the name of one of the principal bands. The Kiowa organization consists of six orders, each having its own dance, songs, insignia, and duties. The members were first enrolled as boys among the "Rabbits," and were afterward promoted, according to merit or the necessities of war, in regular progression, to higher ranks. Only the bravest few, however, ever attained the highest order, that of the Kâ-itséñko. Almost every able-bodied man was enrolled. The orders, beginning with the lowest, are as follows:
1. Polä´ñyup or Tsä´ñyui, "Rabbits." Boys above the age of eight or ten years, who were drilled in their future duties as warriors by certain old men. The step of their dance is intended to imitate the jumping of a rabbit.
2. Ädaltóyui or Téñbeyu´i, "Young (wild) Sheep."
3. Tseñtä´nmo, "Horse Head-dresses." (?)
4. Toñkóñko, "Black Legs."
5. T'äñpéko, "Skunkberry People" or Tséñ-â'dalka-i, "Crazy Horses."
6. Kâ´-itsénko, "Real or Principal Dogs (?)." These were the picked men of the warriors and were limited to ten in number. According to the myth, their founder saw in a vision a body of warriors dressed and painted after the manner of the order, accompanied by a dog, which sang the song of the Kâ´-itséñko and commanded him, "You are a dog; make a noise like a dog and sing a dog song." Their peculiar insignia and obligations will be described in another place (see the calendar, summer 1846.)
Clark gives the names of the Kiowa orders as follows, omitting the Poläñyup: Raven Soldiers or Black Leggings (Toñkoñko); Sheep (Ädaltóyui); Feather Head (Tseñtä´nmo); Horse (Kâ-itséñko); War-club (T'äñpéko). He adds, "The Kiowa Apache have only three bands, viz: 1st, Big Horse; 2d, Raven; 3d, Swift Fox" (Clark, 6).
At home the Yä`pähe acted as camp police and leaders in the tribal ceremonies; abroad they were the warriors and conductors of the hunt. Battey gives an illustration of the system as he once saw it in practical operation:
Being determined that none of their thoughtless young men should go raiding in Texas and thereby bring trouble upon the tribe, the Kiowas, immediately after the whole tribe got together on Pecon creek, organized a military system, under the control of the war chiefs, which was immediately put into operation. By this a strong guard of their soldiers were continually watching day and night while in camp to prevent any such enterprise from being undertaken. In moving from place to place these soldiers marched on each side of the main body, while a front guard went before and a rear guard behind, thus preventing any from straggling.
Their buffalo hunts were conducted in the same military order. The soldiers, going out first, surrounded a tract of country in which were a large herd of buffalo, and no one might chase a buffalo past this ring guard on pain of having his horse shot by the soldiers. Within the ring hundreds of men on horseback were chasing and shooting the huge creatures with revolvers or bows and arrows until each had killed as many as his female attendants could skin and take care of (Battey, 14).
In connection with their military and social organization the Kiowa and Apache have a system of heraldry, which finds tangible expression in the painting and ornamentation of their shields and tipis. There were formerly about fifty shield patterns used in the two tribes, and all the warriors carrying shields of the same pattern constituted a close brotherhood, with similar war cries, body paint, and ceremonial taboos and regulations. Every prominent family also had its heraldic tipi, which occupied its fixed place in the tribal camp circle. Special taboos and rules belonged to the tipi as to the shield, and the right of hereditary descent was as nicely regulated as property ownership among the whites. This system of heraldry will form the subject of a future monograph.
Their system of personal names is also interesting. All the names have meaning and are as much a part of the owner as his hand or his foot. Children are usually named soon after birth by one of the grandparents or other relative not the parent; the name is commonly suggested by some passing incident, but may be hereditary, or intended to commemorate the warlike deed of some ancestor. In this way a girl may bear a war name bestowed by her grandfather to preserve the recollection of his own achievement. There are no ordinal names as among the eastern Sioux, no clan names as among the Shawnee, and no names which indicate the band of the individual. Young men as they grow up usually assume dream names, in obedience to visions, and these are sometimes superseded in later life by names acquired on the warpath, the hunt, or in council. Frequently an aged warrior, who feels that his day is near its close, formally gives his name to some young man who seems to him to merit the honor; the older man then assumes a new name, or more frequently lives out his remaining years without a name, being referred to and addressed simply as "old man." Sometimes the old warrior, having outlived the need of a name and not regarding any younger man as worthy to bear it, deliberately "throws it away" and is henceforth nameless. Should he die without having bestowed his name upon a successor, the name dies with him and can not be revived. The name of the dead is never spoken in the presence of the relatives, and upon the death of any member of a family all the others take new names—a custom noted by Raleigh's colonists on Roanoke island more than three centuries ago. Moreover, all words suggesting the name of the dead person are dropped from the language for a term of years, and other words, conveying the same idea, are substituted. The same custom exists among the Comanche and perhaps among other tribes.
Marriage among the Kiowa, as among the plains tribes generally, is a simple affair, with none of the elaborate ceremonials found among the Hopi and other sedentary Indians. About all that is necessary is that the maiden of the young man's choice shall be willing, and, this having been ascertained by the lover, he sends some friend as a mediator to her parents to make an offer of ponies or other property to compensate them for the loss of their daughter. If both sides come to an agreement, the match is made, and the young couple, with the assistance of their friends, set up housekeeping on their own account. Compulsion is no more brought to bear upon the girl than in civilized communities; the brother of the girl has as much to do with the decision of the case as her parents, and continues to claim a sort of guardianship over her even after her marriage. The marriageable age is about fourteen for girls and sixteen for boys. In general the husband goes to live among his wife's people instead of taking her to his own camp. The father seems to exercise more control over his children than among tribes having the clan system and mother right. There appears to be no fixed rule of inheritance, but shield, tipi, and band name usually descend in the male line. The husband avoids the mother-in-law, but not to the same extent as among other plains tribes. Polygamy is allowed, but is not frequent, only a few of the Kiowa now having two wives, and none more than that number. In the old times it was more common, in consequence of the surplus of women resulting from the killing off of the men in their constant wars. The father of T'ebodal is famous for having had ten wives; Quanah, the present head chief of the Comanche, has six. It was common to marry sisters of the same family, and according to tribal custom, which had analogy among the ancient Hebrews, the man who married the eldest daughter had first claim upon her sisters.
Divorce is easy and without ceremony, but not so common as might be supposed, there being many couples that have lived faithfully together for nearly half a century. Adultery is punished by taking or destroying the property of the guilty man. The woman is simply "thrown away" by her husband, although in theory her life is forfeited. In former times he might kill her or cut off her nose, as was done also among the neighboring tribes, but this latter custom is now only a memory.
The tribal government was formerly committed to the care of a head chief and the chiefs of the several bands, together with the war chiefs, who had control in military affairs. Women had no voice in the government. From the evidences of tradition and the statements of old men, the chiefs in former times, before tribal customs were demoralized by the advent of the conquering race, must have exercised almost despotic powers and were feared as well as respected by their people. Their last great chief was Dohásän, who died in 1866, since which time no one has had the unquestioned allegiance of the whole tribe. The present officially recognized head chief is Lone-wolf, the adopted son of the hostile leader of the same name in the last outbreak. The elder Lone-wolf formally bestowed his own name upon the younger man in 1879, thus publicly recognizing him as his successor. Camp and ceremonial regulations were enforced and their violation punished by the Yä'´pähe, acting under direction of the war chiefs. Personal grievances were avenged by the injured party or by his nearest relatives, without interference by the tribe.
In character the Kiowa are below the standard. Having been intimately associated with them for some years, the author would be better pleased to make a different showing, but truth compels the statement. Tribal traits are strongly marked among Indians. The Sioux are direct and manly, the Cheyenne high-spirited and keenly sensitive, the Arapaho generous and accommodating, the Comanche practical and businesslike, but the Kiowa, with some honorable exceptions, are deficient in all these qualities. They have the savage virtue of bravery, as they have abundantly proven, but as a people they have less of honor, gratitude, and general reliability than perhaps any other tribe of the plains. The large infusion of captive blood, chiefly Mexican, must undoubtedly have influenced the tribal character, but whether for good or evil the student of heredity must determine.
The report of Captain Alvord, already quoted at length, affords a good insight into Kiowa character. Gregg in 1844 described them as "one of the most savage tribes that infest the western prairies" (Gregg, 7). Captain (afterward General) John Pope ten years later called them deceitful and unreliable and "absolutely destitute of most of the chivalrous characteristics which distinguish the Comanche brave." General Pope in 1870 denounced them as being altogether the worst Indians the government had to deal with, having been for twenty-five years past "the most faithless, cruel, and unreliable of all the Indians of the plains." About the same time General Sheridan expressed his lasting regret that he did not hang Set-t'aiñte and Lone-wolf and punish the whole tribe when he first met them. The Quaker Battey, a good friend of theirs, describes them as "the most fierce and desperately bloodthirsty tribe of the Indian Territory"—a people who had hitherto resisted all attempts to bring them into friendly relations with the government or to a knowledge of civilization, still continuing to commit depredations upon the white settlements, stealing horses and mules, murdering men and women and carrying their children into captivity. He says it would probably be difficult to find in the whole tribe a man whose hands had not been imbrued in blood. Clark states that in personal appearance, intelligence, and tenacity of purpose he considers them inferior to the Comanche (Pacific, 1; War, 5; Battey, 16; Clark, 8).
It is always difficult to estimate the population of a roving tribe, and almost invariably first reports are greatly exaggerated. This is particularly true of the Kiowa, whose restless disposition and inveterate habit of raiding made them equally at home anywhere along a frontier of a thousand miles. Excluding some extravagant early estimates, the statements of the most competent observers, and the official reports since they have been put upon the reservation, all indicate that the combined population of the confederated Kiowa and Apache was never much more than 1,600, or 1,800 at the greatest, of whom the Apache numbered nearly one-fourth. No really accurate count was ever made until after their final subjugation in 1875, and it is worth noting that their numbers, which had been reported at 2,774 and 2,302 in the preceding two years, at once fell to 1,414, and remained nearly stationary at that figure until the epidemic of 1892. Battey's estimate in 1873 (in which he probably means to include the Apache) of 1,600 to 1,650 is probably very nearly correct. In 1892 the Kiowa numbered 1,014 and the Apache 241, a total of 1,255, being a decrease from 1,476 in the previous year in consequence of the epidemic of measles. In November, 1896, they numbered: Kiowa 1,065, Apache 208, a total of 1,273. The associated Comanche at the same time numbered 1,545. In each of these tribes there is a large captive element of which, no separate account is taken, but investigation would probably show that at least one-fourth of the whole number have more or less of captive blood. The captives are chiefly Mexicans and Mexican Indians, with Indians of other tribes, and several whites taken from Texas when children, including one old man who still remembers having gone to school in Germany and having crossed the ocean with his parents (see Pope in Pacific, 2).
Some of the estimates are based on the number of tipis or warriors, an uncertain ratio, which varies greatly in different tribes. With the Kiowa it may be assumed to equal 2 warriors and 6 or 7 souls to a tipi. Below are given the various estimates and enumerations, beginning with the earliest, that of Lewis and Clark in 1805. The estimates of 1807, 1810, 1841—1845, and perhaps of 1850 probably include the Apache.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY— SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXVI
PHOTO BY HILLERS, 1894.
ANDRES MARTINEZ ("ÄN'DALI").
In religion the Kiowa are polytheists and animists, deifying all the powers of nature and praying to each in turn, according to the occasion. Their native system has no Great Spirit, no heaven, no hell, although they are now familiar with these ideas from contact with the whites; their other world is a shadowy counterpart of this. There is an indistinct idea of transmigration, owls and other night birds being supposed to be animated by the souls of the dead, with a general belief in ghosts, witches, and various sorts of good and bad "medicine." Dreams and visions are supernatural revelations, to be trusted and obeyed implicitly.
A curious instance of the persistence of the Indian beliefs in spite of educational influences is afforded by the case of the late Kiowa interpreter, a full-blood Indian, who had been reared and educated in the east, graduated in theology, and was ordained to the ministry, married a white woman, and returned as a missionary to his people. The Indians accused him of deceiving them as to the terms of the treaty, and told him that he "could not live," and he died shortly afterward in the belief that he had been bewitched by the medicine-men as a punishment for his part in the negotiations. The fact is a matter of official record, as well as of contemporary newspaper publication.
The greatest of the Kiowa gods is the Sun; by him they swear, to him they make sacrifice of their own flesh, and in his honor they held the great annual k'ado or sun dance. Next to the sun the buffalo and the señi or peyote plant claim reverence, and these too may be reduced to the same analysis, as the buffalo bull in his strength and majesty is regarded as the animal symbol of the sun, while the peyote, with its circular disk and its bright center, surrounded by white spots or rays, is its vegetal representative. The â'dalbeáhya also derives its origin from the sun. Unlike the agricultural tribes, they pay but little attention to the rain gods and seem to have no reverence for the snake. Each shield order prays to some special deity, and every man has also his own personal "medicine," somewhat like the guardian angel or patron saint of the Catholic system. There are also supernatural heroes, of whom the Sun-boy and Sindi are the greatest, with ogres, dwarfs, water people, monsters, and all the other features of the orthodox fairy book.
Their most sacred objects of religious veneration are the Â'dalbeáhya, the Taíme, the Gadómbitsoñhi, and the señi or peyote. Their great tribal religious ceremony is the k'ado or. sun dance. Their tribal religion is that which centers around the â'dalbeáhya and the taíme. The worship of the peyote, although now general, excepting among the oldest men, is comparatively modern with the Kiowa, having been adopted from the more southern tribes. These two systems are compatible and auxiliary to each other. In 1890 the new religion of the ghost dance was introduced among the Kiowa. It is essentially different from the older Indian systems and antagonistic to them, being based on the doctrine of one God, although it preaches a return to the old Indian life.
The Â'dalbeáhya (the word has some connection with âdal, "hair," and 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).
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.
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).
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 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.