30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 195 



The Mormons apparently got on famously with the Ponca, for their 

 stay is recalled in the fondest manner in the tribal traditions. With 

 the arrival of spring, however, the Mormons decided to move on to 

 join their bretheren in the west. The Ponca chief Wegasdpi or 'Whip' 

 (pi. 9), indicated the best route for the group to follow on the journey 

 (Fry, 1922). 



In 1855 a large-scale conflict took place between the Ponca and their 

 old enemies, the Pawnee. Both tribes were on their tribal hunts, and 

 the encounter was purely accidental. The Ponca were divided into 

 two groups based on village affiliation, the "Gray blanket" group 

 forming one and the Hubdq or 'Fish smellers' the other. The Hub^q 

 band was the first to sight the Pawnee, and promptly gave chase. 

 Arriving at the Pawnee hunting camp the Ponca surromided it and, 

 raising a great war whoop, charged. To their amazement, however, 

 they found that the Pawnee had somehow managed to steal away 

 without being seen. The "Fish smellers" therefore contented them- 

 selves with looting the deserted camp^ appropriating for their own 

 use the packs of dried meat, moccasins, leggings, and rawhide lariats 

 left behind by the stealthy Caddoans. Then, careful to post guards 

 over their horse herds, the Hubdp village group continued their bison 

 hunting. 



Meanwhile the "Gray blanket" village group encountered the fleeing 

 Pawnee, and after a hot rmming fight, killed them to a man. Feeling 

 against the Pawnee was high at this time because the year before a 

 haughty Pawnee cliief had forced his Ponca guest, a man who was 

 seeking the return of some stolen horses, to eat two large pots of 

 beans served in urine. This flouting of the customary laws of Indian 

 hospitality infuriated the Ponca more than the fact that the Pawnee 

 chief had demanded a gift of gunpowder in exchange for the stolen 

 animals. Therefore, on the occasion of the slaughter of the Pawnee 

 hunters, Cliief Smoke-maker's newborn son was carried to the battle- 

 field by an old woman and caused to put his feet on two of the Pawnee 

 corpses, whereupon he was given the honorific title "Trod-on-two" 

 (cf . J. O. Dorsey, 1890, pp. 377-383) . 



THE PONCA "TKAIL OF TEAES" 



The tribal bison hunt of 1855 was to be the last successful one con- 

 ducted by the Ponca. From this time forward, although the tribe 

 attempted to go out semiannually in the traditional manner, their 

 attempts to secure provender in this manner were invariably frus- 

 trated by prowling Teton war parties. Cut off from the buffalo plains 

 and fearful of leaving their villages even to farm outlying fields, the 

 Ponca were often on the point of starvation. To add to their woes, 

 White settlers had for some time been percolating into the Ponca 



