16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 195 



near the present-day Wynot, Nebr., about 1735. This was the location 

 of the Omaha "Bad Village," and it may have been here that the 

 Ponca made their final break with the Omaha. 



To the various traditional histories cited above we add another be- 

 low, prepared by Peter Le Claire (PLC) several years ago. He gave it 

 to me in 1949. This mteresting document contains, in addition to the 

 oral historical traditions of the tribe, a great deal of material on the 

 customs, morals, and attitudes of the Ponca of his own and earlier 

 generations. Although we will "get ahead of our story" with some of 

 the later historical material included, it is thought best to present 

 PLC's "Ponca History" as a unit at this point as an example of the 

 traditional history of the tribe in its most recent form. 



PLC secured much of his material from a man named Mqzqhadd 

 (Mi-jin-ha-the in PLC's transcription from the ^egiha) or John Bull, 

 a Southern Ponca chief (pi. 16). Mqzqhade diiedi very shortly after 

 imparting this information. PLC, in describing McizqhaSd^ said that 

 he was a "good old man," an expert on tribal history and customs, and 

 that he had participated in the Sun dance. 



PLC has elaborated upon Mqzqhade's material to some extent, in- 

 jecting other stories and traditions with which he is familiar. The 

 latter part of the history, for example, incorporates a great deal from 

 published accoimts of the Ponca Removal. The text in its present form 

 was taken from a typewritten account prepared under PLC's direction 

 in 1947. He had deposited this for safekeeping with a banker in 

 Niobrara, Nebr., fearing that death might prevent his being able to 

 pass it on. The text has been unaltered except for a few corrections 

 made by PLC at a later date and the elimination of typographical 

 errors. It was deemed best to leave native terms in PLC's own form 

 of transcription. 



PONCA HISTORY 



By Petee Le Claibe 



(a Ponca Indian) 



August 26, 1947 



December 25th, 1928. A Xmas doings of the Poncas at the agency dance hall 

 at Ponca City, Oklahoma when I visited Mi-jin-ha-the at his tent in the evening 

 before the dance, this is what he said to me. "There is something that I want 

 to tell you about the old Ponca history. At the present time there are some of 

 them Poncas are older than I am that are living, but I was raised by two of my 

 grandfathers and this is what they told me and I want you to know it, as we are 

 living a different life now. No more long hair, no more old ways. You can 

 write it on a tablet and try to get something out of it by having it published." * 

 He told me this three times and I caught all of it ; he died suddenly, shortly after. 



^ Apparently the older man thought that there would be a greater chance of the informa- 

 tion being preserved if he promised PLC monetary gain. 



