92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 195 



starve. Therefore, an almost dictatorial authority was temporarily 

 invested in a single man for the duration of the hunt. This man, 

 called the Nudq-hqga, which might be translated 'honored captain,' 

 was in complete charge during his term of office. He could inflict 

 severe punishments, even banishment from the tribe, upon persons 

 who defied his rulings and thus imperiled the general welfare. Once 

 the tribe had returned to its permanent villages, however, he became 

 just an "ordinary citizen" again. 



There were two principal classes of chiefs among the Ponca, the 

 "big" chiefs, or chiefs of the first rank, and the "little" chiefs, or 

 chiefs of the second rank. Persons selected for chieftainship in 

 either of these groups were generally renowned warriors and states- 

 men, as well as members of "chiefly" clans. "Big" chiefs were 

 generally older men who had served as "little" chiefs for a number 

 of years and who, almost invariably, were the descendants of previous 

 chiefs of the first rank in the male line. 



The head chief of the tribe was the ranking chief of the "big" 

 chief group. He was always of the Wasdbe clan, the leading clan of 

 the tribe. As custodian of the sacred tribal pipe he possessed re- 

 ligious as well as political authority, a situation strongly remuniscent 

 of the priest-chiefs of the Southeast. He functioned as the chairman 

 at council meetings, and installed all newly created chiefs. 



Chiefs of the first and second ranks guided the tribe in peace and 

 defensive warfare. They were also the religious leaders of the tribe. 

 They convened in a special lodge pitched in the center of the huduga 

 to council and pray for the welfare of the people. According to PLC, 

 LMD, LRL, AMC, David Little-cook, and David Eagle, there were 

 seven chiefs of the first rank and seven of the second. Whitman 

 (1937, p. 17) also gives seven as the number of Ponca chiefs. JLR 

 and EEC, however, firmly denied this and insisted that the number 

 in each group was 12. Fletcher and La Flesche (1911, p. 51) 

 mention eight Ponca chiefs as of 1874, but it is not clear whether they 

 mean tribal or clan chiefs. Each chief carried a pipe and a pipe bag 

 as a symbol of his rank and wore, on ceremonial occasions, an otter- 

 skin cap with a downy eagle plume erect in a socket at the back. 



A third class of chiefs, apparently corresponding somewhat to the 

 "pine tree" chiefs of the Iroquois, was mentioned by JLR. These 

 men were called Itilzpa (literally "grandchildren"). They were suc- 

 cessful warriors who had demonstrated that they were "not just 

 interested in themselves, but in the tribe as a whole." 



Not included in the above scheme were the clan chiefs. Each of 

 the seven Ponca clans had a hereditary chief whose authority ex- 

 tended only to members of his own clan. A chief of the first, second, 

 or third rank, however, might also be a clan chief. 



