The treaty of Medicine Lodge has already been discussed at length in another place. According to the statement of the Kiowa they were camped on the creek where they had held their sun dance, when they were summoned to Fort Larned. Set-t'aiñte, Set-ängya, Set-ĭmkía, and the other chiefs, with all their people, at once moved to that point, where they met an officer who, they say, was called _Gánúän_, "General" by the whites, and whom the Indians called _Pasót-kyä'tó_, "Old-man-of-the-thunder," because he wore upon his shoulders the eagle or thunderbird. This was General Winfield S. Hancock, then in command in that section. By his direction they camped on the river near the post, where they were supplied with rations for some days until the purpose of the government was explained to them. They then returned to Medicine-lodge creek and prepared a council house among the trees, ready for the arrival of the commissioners. The medicine lodge and Kiowa camp were on the south (west) side of the creek, while the council house in which the treaty was made was on the opposite (northeast) side, 12 miles above, or about 3 miles above the junction of Elm creek and near the present site of Medicine Lodge, Barber county, Kansas. It is described in the treaty itself as "the council camp on Medicine Lodge creek, 70 miles south of Fort Larned, in the State of Kansas." The low, timbered hill, from which the stream takes its Kiowa name of _Ä'yä'daldä P'a_, "Timber-hill river," is on the east side, opposite the medicine lodge of the last preceding dance, from which the stream derives its present name. It was a favorite dance headquarters, as several other dances had already been held in the same vicinity. The Kiowa say that the white man, Philip McCusker, who interpreted the treaty to the three confederated tribes, spoke only Comanche, and his words were translated into Kiowa by Bä'o ("Cat"), alias Guñsádalte, "Having-horns," who is still living. They sum up the provisions of the treaty by saying that the commissioners promised to give them "a place to go," to give them schools, and to feed them for thirty years, and hoped that they would then know how to take care of themselves. Only a part of the Comanche were represented, most of the Kwáhadi band being then on an expedition against the Navaho. According to contemporary notices, there were present at the treaty over eight hundred and fifty tipis, or about five thousand souls, of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, together with about six hundred whites, including the commissioners and attachés, a large detachment of the Seventh infantry, and miscellaneous camp followers, the various groups and bands being scattered for a distance of several miles along the stream, forming probably the largest Indian gathering that had ever been held on the plains. SUMMER 1868