Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 71 



pis. 52 and 53, fig. 82), was used by the Ponca in aboriginal times. 

 Dorsey (1884 a, pp. 262-263), however, describes one of the signs — 

 that used for anger or embarrassment: "When he saw that his mother- 

 in-law was seated there, he turned around very quickly, threw his 

 blanket over his head, and went into another part of the house." 



A gesture of affection which may have been introduced by the 

 Dakota is also described by the Rev. J. O. Dorsey (ibid., pp. 269-270), 

 who writes: 



When the chief, Standing Grizzly Bear, met Peter Primeau, . . . and SahleSa 

 at Niobrara in January, 1881, he embraced them, and seemed to be very deeply 

 affected. La Flfeche and Two Crows did not know about this custom, which 

 may have been borrowed by the Ponkas from the Dakotas. 



The Ponca claim to have made certain petroglyphs which are 

 found in Nebraska and South Dakota. According to PLC and JLR, 

 these served as trail markers, historical monuments, and places of 

 prayer. PLC mentions these petroglyphs jn his "History" (p. 17). 

 JLR mentioned that certain men had "art visions," and as a result 

 of these dreams made the rock pictures. Natural fissures in the 

 rocks were utilized by the artists to complete their designs. Gen- 

 erally the main part of the design was made by pecking away at 

 the boulders, which are often glacial erratics, with a hard river pebble, 

 so that a shallow groove is produced. 



WBB had an "art vision" in this tradition when camping near a 

 sacred Pawnee spring, and made a drawing there: 



I wanted to draw something, but I didn't know what to draw. All night 

 I dreamt, all night long. I dreamt I went there and drew something. I went 

 over next morning and drew what I had dreamt. I put my right foot next to the 

 spring and drew. I drew the air. [Footnote in text: Black Eagle's symbol 

 for air was a cross with lines radiating out bisecting each angle.] I saw it and 

 I drew it. That spring was xube [sacred]. [Whitman, 1939, p. 190.] 



The discovery of this well-defined Ponca tradition regarding 

 their production of some of the petroglyphs in the Central Plains 

 is rather interesting, as archeologists have long suspected a connection 

 between these rock carvings and the expansion of Siouan-speaking 

 groups into the Prairie region. 



JLR stated that one of the chiefs of the second rank was designated 

 as the tribal historian, and kept a "winter count" or calendrical record 

 of the tribal history on a tanned bison hide. Each year a single im- 

 portant or unusual event was chosen and a pictograph of this event 

 was painted upon the hide. This was apparently similar to the winter 

 counts of the Dakota, Kiowa, Mandan, and Blackfoot. PLC con- 

 firmed this fact, and remembered hearing that one of the years re- 

 corded on the Ponca count was that of the great meteoric shower 

 (1833-34). This year, known as the "winter the stars fell," appears 

 on all Plains Indian winter counts known to me. PLC also mentioned 



