Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 17 



The Poncas were in a big (Hu-tho-gah)° camp and where they were were people 

 of light complexion and these people abused the Poncas and they wanted to 

 get away from them. The chiefs gathered in their tent and prayed and they 

 wanted someone to talk to God, and there was a stranger came in, a chief they 

 didn't know, who sat in the door.* They wanted this man to go and talk to God. 

 There was a mountain nearby and they told him to go up there and talk to God. 

 He went up there and stayed four days and four nights and on the fourth night 

 God talked to him in his sleep." "You go back and tell them to cross this and 

 do not look back when you are crossing. Don't take anything, only your dogs." 



He woke up and started home, he was so weak that he just barely made the 

 camp. They wet his lips with water and fed him little by little until he was 

 able to talk. He told all he had heard and they moved. They crossed this water 

 and they reached the end, there was all kinds of fruits and they were in a 

 wonderful land. 



They came on each side of the Ohio (Oh-hah-they) River and when they got to 

 the Mississippi River they were on both sides of the river camping and one of 

 the little chiefs' from the side sent a word that he wanted war, but the head 

 chief refused and this was repeated four times and the head chief said, "Tomor- 

 row morning we shall have war." Seven '' of the chiefs in their tents heard a 

 voice from heaven telling them, "Wake up, wake up. Put cold water on the 

 children's eyes so they can open their eyes. There is a man coming. He is light 

 complected and sweating and looking down.' He is going to eat from the 

 ground.* As you go west (It-tah-xa-tah) there is plenty to eat and try every- 

 thing, as you go, there are animals, in the water there is something to eat, there 

 are birds, there are fruit trees with ripe berries." 



They came and lived in Pipestone, Minnesota. While they were living there 

 they found the pipe stone after a hard rain in a deep buffalo trail. They saw 

 the red stone and the head chief was called and he told them to dig it and get 

 it out as God has given us a pipe. The pipe was made there and the stem was 

 made in Ponca, Nebraska. There is a creek they called Ash Creek across the 

 river from Ponca. When they were in Pipestone they started marking their 

 trail on the big boulders. This was done by the Medicine Men. It was a 

 two-toned picture, part of the picture is already on the wall and it is finished 

 and only a few Poncas can see it, make out what it is.^" We will come to some 

 more of these pictures later. Pa-dah-gah, he was the chief that kept the Sacred 

 Pipe, he was the head chief and handed down to sons and grandsons for 

 thousands of years until by some error, it fell into white mans hands." 



^ The parentheses here, and throughout the History, are PLC's. He Indicates, using his 

 own syllabary, that "Hu-tho-gah" is the native term for a camp circle. 



* It is a common custom among Plains Indians for a stranger to sit near the door, 

 which is considered a place of little honor. In sitting here he indicates humbleness. 



^ "Four" is the most sacred number among tlie Ponca, and among Plains tribes in general. 



« There were two classes of chiefs among the Ponca. The chiefs of the second rank, 

 or "little" chiefs, were thought not to possess the judgment or wisdom of the "big" chiefs. 

 This Is probably the reason that a little chief Is represented as the one trying to Instigate 

 a war. 



■^ "Seven" Is also a sacred number among the Ponca, and the Plains tribes in general. 

 It seems to rank below "four" In importance, however. 



8 This description probably reflects White religious teachings. Pictures of the Cruci- 

 fixion are favorite wall decorations in Ponca homes. 



8 Eating from the ground Is a sign of extreme humbleness among the Ponca, according 

 to PLC. 



i^This statement refers to the utilization of natural fissures in the boulders to save 

 effort in carving the petroglyphs. 



" This should read ". . . and (the sacred pipe was) handed down . . . ." The state- 

 ment ". . . fell into White man's hands . . ." refers to the misappropriation of a Ponca 

 clan pipe by an anthropologist in the 1930's. PLC thought that this was the tribal pipe 

 when he wrote his history. 



