Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))Mooney, James
History
Calendar history of the Kiowa Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 129-444))
Mooney, James
Kiowa Indians; Kiowa language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
1884--308.
1885--319.
1886--332.
1887--Same.
1888--348.
1889--349; "a very careful census."
1890--326.
1891--325.
1892--241 (decrease from epidemic).
1893--224.
1894--Same, taken from preceding.
1895--226.
1896--208.
THE ANNUAL CALENDARS, 1833--1892
WINTER 1832-33
[Illustration: FIG. 61--Sét-t'án or Little-bear]
_Â'dal-hâ´ñgya Ähágyä-de Sai_, "Winter that they captured the money." The
first event recorded occurred about New Near, in the winter of 1832-33,
being an encounter with a small party of Americans, resulting in the
death of Gúi-kóñgya, "Black-wolf," and the capture of a large quantity
of silver coin. The winter is indicated according to the regular system
by a black bar below the principal figure, which is that of a man with
the picture of a black wolf over his head and joined to it by a line.
The breechcloth shows the figure to be that of a man, the black wolf
connected by a line expresses his name, while the red spot with blood
gushing from it between the shoulders shows that he was shot through the
body. Beside it is a very good picture of a silver dollar to indicate
the money captured. This last does not appear on the Dohásän calendar,
although the capture gives name to the winter.
[Illustration: Fig. 62--Winter 1832-33--Money captured]
According to the Kiowa story, a war party led by Tóñp'ódal-kyä`tó,
"Lame-old-man," met a small train in charge of a few Americans close to
South Canadian river (_Gúădal P'a_, "Red river"), a short distance below
the entrance of a southern creek, which they call _T'ä´ñpeä´ P'a_,
"Skunkberry-bush river," about opposite the present town of Lathrop, in
the panhandle of Texas. They call Americans _Hâñpóko_, "Trappers," for
the reason that the first Americans known to the tribe were trappers.
Texans are considered as of a different nation, and are distinguished as
_Tehä´neko_ from the Spanish _Tejano_. In this instance the Americans
were traveling eastward, and as the place was remote from any regular
trail the Indians were at a loss to know why the whites were there. The
Kiowa attacked the train, killed several of the party, and captured the
money, with the loss to themselves of but one man, Gúi-kóñgya. They
found a few coins upon the ground, but this being the first money they
had ever seen, they did not know its proper use, and so beat the coins
into disks to be fastened to straps worn attached to the scalp lock, and
hanging down behind (hence the name for money, _â´dal-hâñ´gya_,
literally "hair metal"). After leaving the place they met some Comanche,
who already knew the use of money, and on hearing the story told them
the value of the silver pieces, upon which the Kiowa returned and
searched until they succeeded in finding a large quantity. From this it
appears that whatever trade the Kiowa had previously carried on with the
Spanish settlements had been by barter in kind, as was usual along the
Indian frontier in the early days. This was some time before the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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