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Of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C. [Delivered at the annual meeting of the Nebraska State Historical Society, January 10-11, 1911.) LIFE AMONG THE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE PLAINS It has been announced that I am to
speak of my life with the Indian tribes of the plains. That
is a very large subject and could not be exhausted in an
evening's talk. I shall not attempt to go into details, but
try merely to suggest a few things of Indian life that may
help to give you an impression that an Indian community is
not a mere aggregation of individuals, but is an
organization, and that Indian life runs along channels as
definite as those of civilized life. |
tribes of the southern plains, more particularly with the Kiowa. After them I was, on the plains, chiefly with the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, Sioux, Caddo, and Wichita. I have been with Navaho, Hopi, Piute, Pueblos, one or two tribes in Mexico and several remnant tribes; but of all I know best the Kiowa, having lived with them as a member of an Indian family for several years of my first western experience, and having visited them since every year, staying with them a large part of each year. The Kiowa originally came from the north, somewhere near the head of the Missouri river, but within the historic period they have ranged along the plains from the Black Hills in Dakota southward. They are great riders and make long distances in traveling. I have known of one band of them starting from Kansas to go up into Montana for a couple of years, while another band went south into Mexico; and while there made a raid on the city of Durango. So their range must have been something like two thousand miles north and south. As a general rule they kept on the plains and did not go into timbered country. To go into detail of Indian life, as I have seen it, would take a long time. I might give you one or two days of the winter camp, and one or two days of the summer camp. It was customary, years ago, for the roaming tribes to stay out on the open priairie (sic) throughout the summer season. They scattered about, but generally camped near some convenient spring in the neighborhood of grass and timber. There parties from other tribes would come and visit them, sometimes hundreds together, and they would have a dance. The Kiowa now live in southwestern Oklahoma. Anadarko, their agency, has now about six thousand people. When I first knew it, it had about fifty whites--agency employees, two or three traders, and a few missionaries--all the rest were Indians; but the Indians stayed there only a part of the time as a rule. Along late |
in the fall they would come down, one camp after another, all within a week or so, setting up their tipis close to Anadarko, in the timber along the bottom lands on the south side of the Washita river. Some of you have read General Custer's work, "My Life On The Plains", and will remember that he tells about the battles which he fought with the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and other tribes in this part of the country. In the winter camp the tipis were set up and strung out from five to eight miles along the river. Sometimes around the tipi they would build a windbreak, made of interwoven brush. If the timber was pretty close they did not need to make a windbreak. I first joined them in the winter camp and remember distinctly my first night there. The headman was presiding at the supper and dishing out soup, and he asked me if I did not think it was good; but I was wondering how it was possible for any one to eat it. The soup was made of jerked beef, cut into small pieces and cooked in salted water. With the soup they had bread, made by mixing flour with water and frying it in a pan over a hole in the ground. In the Indian sign language the sign for bread is this--(indicating the smoothing of the cake with the hands). They call coffee "black soup". Our family had two tipis, each set up with twenty poles and with three beds around the circle inside. The old man had been one of the war chiefs in his best days, which gave him a reputation outside of his own tribe. He was known as one of their best story-tellers and master of ceremonies; and he was also a "beef chief" or distributor of the beef rations. He was the grandfather, and after we became acquainted he called me his son. He had three daughters and a son, all married, who with the husbands, wives and children made a family of sixteen, besides myself. The Indians were constantly visiting from one camp to another, so that we were not all together all the time; but we usually had one or two visitors to make up. |
In the center of the tipi there was a hole in the ground for the fire, where the cooking was done, and the three beds were facing it. The bed consisted of a platform about a foot above the ground, covered with a mat of peeled willow rods laid lengthwise, and looped up at one end in hammock fashion. You may have seen some of these Indian bed platforms in museum collections. The bed is covered with buffalo skins and there is a pillow at one end. If you ever have a chance to see one of these beds and examine it carefully, you will find that each of the willow rods is fastened to the other in a very unique way, the narrow top end of one rod alternating with the thicker bottom end of the next rod, so as to preserve an even balance. (Here the speaker gave a diagram, and described this bed platform, and the particular construction of it.) After dark we have supper, and then, when they are through telling stories and shaking the rattle, we go to bed. In the morning one of the women gets up and, in winter, takes her bucket and ax and goes down to the river for water. If it is not too cold she dips it up; if the river is frozen, she has to break the ice. While she is about that her sister has brought in some wood and made the fire. They do not pile the wood on as we do, but push the sticks endways into the fire. So arranged they give out a uniform heat. The tipi is very comfortable in winter, more so than most of the poorly built frontier houses. We had three women in our family besides the old grandmother. While one went after the water and the other after the wood, the third prepared the breakfast. They make bread hot for every meal, baking it in the pan, with tallow for grease. The regular ration issue every two weeks consisted of beef, flour, coffee and sugar. A few days after the rations are issued the meat which is eaten with it gives out, and then there is only the flour and coffee. They use the black coffee, which is always made fresh. |
Sometimes they have sugar, but never cream. The Indian woman is as good a coffee maker as you will find anywhere. When breakfast is ready they spread out a piece of canvas or something of the kind in front of the bed platforms and set out on it the dishes and cups. They have these things from the traders now. They formerly used bowls and spoons. The food is divided and handed around by the woman who is the head of the household. After the meal is over a cloth is passed around for a napkin. When they had nothing else, I have seen them use dry grass tied up into a knot. After breakfast they arrange the work for the day. The women look after the children and do the sewing. Their clothing is made of cheap calico or of buckskin, the latter being sewn with sinew taken from the backbone of the larger animals. An awl is used for a needle. Beadwork is done in the same way, the beads being strung on a sinew thread as a shoemaker handles his wax ends. While the women get to work, each man saddles his favorite pony and goes out to herd the range ponies. The Indian man's time is largely taken up with his pony. They are a worthless set of horses, usually, as very few of them are fit for heavy work, but they answer for riding purposes. They keep one pony tied near the camp to use in rounding up the others. It is hard for them to give up their horses. The man in whose family I lived had about forty. As they have no corrals, the ponies graze wherever they can find grass The children go out and play. When there is snow on the ground they slide downhill. Sometimes they have little darts to slide along on the ice. The young men practice arrow throwing. Three or four get together with arrows about four feet long--not the kind that they use for shooting, but an ornamented kind for throwing. One of them throws the arrow as far as he can, and then the |
others try how near to where the first arrow is sticking in the ground they can lodge their own. About the middle of the day they have dinner, which is about the same as breakfast. In the afternoon, if not too cold, the women take their work outside the tipi. After sewing perhaps an hour or so, they think it is about time to play, and so they start up the awl game. They play this game mostly in the winter. Upon the grass they spread a blanket, which has certain lines marked all around the edge, and a large flat stone at its center. There are four differently marked sticks, each one of which has a special name. They throw down all four sticks at once upon the stone and count so many tallies according to the markings on the sticks as they turn up. Each woman has an awl, and as she counts a tally she moves the awl up so many lines along the blanket. It sometimes happens that she scores a tally which brings her to the central line, when she is said to "fall into the river" and has to begin all over again. In this way they play until the game is finished, sometimes until nearly sunset, when it is time to think about supper. They usually have supper, when there is anything to eat, rather late and after dark. It is about that time that the Indian day really begins. When supper is nearly ready the old grandfather, sitting inside the tipi, which is open at the top, announces by raising his voice so as to be heard outside, that he invites certain of the old men to come and smoke with him. The announcement is carried all through the camp. Then the old men who have been invited get out their pipes and start for the first man's tipi, so that by the time supper is ready there are three or four old men of the tribe gathered together for the evening, all of them full of reminiscences and stories. The father of the family--not the old man, but the father of some of the children--usually takes that time to |
give the children a little moral instruction. It is not generally known that the Indian father ever teaches his children about their duties; but he does, and it is usually done in that way and at that time, without addressing himself to any child in particular, and without any conversation in particular. Sitting there with his head down, without looking around, he begins a sort of recitation, telling the boys what they must soon be doing, and as men what might be expected of them. At another time the mother will tell the girls something to the same effect--what is expected of them now that they are growing old enough to know about these things. Supper is a little more formal than the other meals, especially when there are visitors. During the mealtime not very much is said; but after it is over the old man who has invited his guests gets out his pipe and tobacco pouch, and they get out their tobacco and light their pipes. The ordinary Indian pipe is of red stone. It has a long stem, and there is a projection below the bowl, so as to rest it upon the ground, because when the Indian smokes he is sitting cross-legged upon the ground; therefore the pipe is just the right length for this purpose. He lights his pipe, and then raises it in turn to each of the cardinal points. On one occasion I remember one of the old men in our camp holding up the pipe to the sky, and saying, "Behabe, Sinti!" (Smoke, Sinti!), addressing a mystic trickster of the Kiowa tribe, of whom they tell many funny stories and say that at the end of his life on earth he ascended into the sky and became a star, so they offer their pipe to him in smoking at night. Immediately after saying this he raised his pipe to the sky again, and said, "Behabe, Jesus!" (Smoke, Jesus!). When the pipe is lighted it is passed around, and each man takes a whiff or two and hands it on to the next; and so it goes around the circle. After it has gone a round or two they begin to tell of the |
old war times, just as grand army men tell stories of their war days. There are myths and fables, stories concerning warriors who have been noted for their bravery, and humorous stories which are told, usually by the old men, to amuse children. (Mr. Mooney here related one of these stories, similar to the fairy story of "Jack and the Beanstalk", and described a "hand game", similar to the game of "Button, button, who's got the button?") Stories are told by the old men and games played by the children until late in the night; and then, one after another, they retire. Those who remain are assigned their places for the night, the others going back to their own tipis, each one saying for goodby, simply, "I'm going out"; and so closes one of the winter nights. (Mr. Mooney now exhibited a number of views of Indian life and pictures of famous Indians, after which the meeting adjourned.) Among Indians particular attention is
given to everything relating to the birth of a child. Even
in cutting the wood and shaping the pieces for the cradle,
the sticks are placed in the cradle as they grew upward in
the living tree, in order that the child may grow in the
same way. While the father is making the cradle, the mother
is busy preparing the little moccasins that the child will
need. About the only sanitary precaution taken by the mother
is the wearing of a tight belt about the body. When the
child is born there is usually a woman nurse in attendance,
a relative of the family of some professional ability. The
newborn child is washed, usually in the running stream, and
then is put into the cradle. It is not kept in the cradle
through |
out the day, but only while the mother is going from one camp to another. When the baby is about a year old its ears are pierced. In the summer season it often happens that a large party of visitors from some neighboring tribe will come down to dance for several weeks. Let us suppose that about five hundred Cheyenne are coming to visit with the Kiowa. The first intimation will be, as I have seen it, that a wagon drives up near to our camp and a strange man and woman get out, set up a little tent, and then sit down and await developments. Our women go into the tipi and prepare to receive them. After some time our man goes out to welcome the strangers and bring them up to our place for dinner. They cannot speak Kiowa; but in the sign language they tell us that a large party of their own tribe are on the way and close at hand, to visit the Kiowa and dance in their various camps. About the middle of the afternoon there is a great noise in the distance, out on the prairie. We look out and see several hundred Indians coming, the women and children in wagons, and the men, all in full buckskin, riding ahead, shouting and firing guns. When they get in, the wagons are unloaded, the tipis are set up, and then the visiting and the dancing begin, to continue for several weeks, from one camp to another. The ceremony of piercing the children's ears takes place at one of these dances. A priest of the visiting tribe does the work. The baby, dressed in a buckskin suit, is held up in the arms of its mother, and the old man pierces both of its ears with an awl. At that time, or very soon afterward, the grandmother of the child, or some other older relative, gives the child its name, The name of a girl is not very apt to change, but the name of a boy changes as he grows up, according to circumstances. The old man who pierces the ears receives as a fee a horse, a blanket or some other valuable gift of that kind. After the ears are bored the |
father of the child asks the old man's prayers for the child, that it may have long life, health and success. He does this by laying both his hands upon the old man's head, who in turn puts his hands upon the head of the child, praying that it may grow up well formed and healthy and have long life. The little girl has playmates as soon as she is old enough to run around with her older sisters and cousins. They are fond of swimming and in summer the boys and girls are in the water almost half the time. The little girls play house, and, with their dolls and toys, go visiting from one camp, or one tipi, to another. When the little girl goes visiting she ties all her dolls upon a stick to show them to her girl playmates. She has her pets too, usually a pony and a small dog, each of which has a name. One name that I remember for a little dun-colored pet pony was Sai-guadal-i, which means "Red Winter Baby". A pet dog in our family was called Adal-kai-ma, which means "Crazy Woman". The name of the child might be given from some incident connected with its birth. Thus one little girl in our family was named Aisima, which means "Tipi Track Woman". She was so called because she was born one night when her parents had camped on a former camp site, and had set up their tipi in the old tracks. The name of another little girl in our family was Imguana, which means "They are dancing". That is what might be called a medicine name, and has reference to a dream in which her grandfather had a vision of spirits in a dance. As the girl grows older, about eight or ten years, she begins to help her mother in looking after the affairs of the household and learns to sew and do different kinds of beadwork. All beadwork and blanket weaving are done without any pattern, the woman carrying the patterns in her mind. As the buffalo tribes of the plains were roving about most of the time, they could not keep breakable |
articles, and so did not make pottery. They had buckskin sewing and painted rawhide or panfleche work, such as valises and food bags. While learning to do all her mother's work, the little girl had also time to play. I have already spoken of the women's awl game. I have here some of their gaming outfits which may be seen after the meeting is over. Besides the awl game, the women have a football game of which they are very fond. The object in this game is not to send the ball as far as possible, but to keep it up in the air as long as possible by kicking it with the toe. Football and the awl game are the two most common games among the Indian girls, aside from playing with dolls and pets. At times the girls go down to the creek bottom and cut the bark of a particular tree that grows there, a very small bushy tree with glassy leaves and gummy sap. They make chewing gum by beating up this bark and washing away the woody fiber in the creek. Indian girls are as fond as other girls of chewing gum. By the time the girl gets to be about twelve years old she is considered a young woman, and her mother is constantly talking to her about the duties of women, particularly in married life. She is supposed by that time to have learned all the household duties and the buckskin sewing; but there are other special arts of an expert nature which she learns later. There is a puberty ceremony when the young woman comes to the proper age. This ceremony is often very arduous, especially with some tribes in southern California. With them a fire is built and a pit is dug and heated with hot stones from the fire. A bed of grass is laid on the bottom of the pit, and the young girls are stretched upon it and compelled to lie there almost without getting out for as long a time as a week. During this time they are not allowed to look at any one, and to prevent this a cover is placed over their eyes. All this time certain old women |
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