Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 111 



much like the Round dance described below (pp. 114-11 5). No animal 

 mime was involved. The dance is no longer performed by the Ponca. 

 It is still seen, but rarely, among the Yanktonai and Teton Dakota. 



A dance called the Mikasi or 'Coyote dance' was also remembered 

 by PLC. He stated that only men participated and that Give-away 

 songs were sung in connection with it (i.e., songs in which the dancers 

 give away gifts, as in the Wd-wq) . It became obsolete about 1900. I 

 strongly suspect that this dance is the Gegiha parallel of the Tokdla, 

 the Tokdla having been merely a fashionable form of the dance which 

 was adopted from the Dakota. Its choreogi-aphy was identical with 

 that of the preceding dance. 



Both Riggs (1893, p. xxxii) and Dorsey (1884 a, p. 352) describe 

 a warriors' dancing society called the "Make-no-flight." Dorsey 

 (ibid.) writes: "... dancers hold gourd rattles, and each one carries 

 many arrows on his back as well as in his arms. The members vow 

 not to flee from a foe. They blacken themselves all over with 

 charcoal." This is apparently the same dance which Skinner (1915 

 c, pp. 785-786) mentions as the "Not-afraid-to-die." He describes 

 the society's dance: "... All [the dancers] stood in a row and danced 

 up and down, remaining 'stationary.'" 



I could learn nothing of this dance from my informants. The 

 names of the society and their use of war bonnets with split horns at 

 the sides, mentioned by Skinner (ibid., p. 785) suggest that this dance 

 was a Ponca parallel of the Dakota No-flight and Strong-heart war- 

 riors' dancing societies, which were virtually identical with one 

 another. The choreography suggests the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache 

 Blackfoot dance and the Plains-Ojibwa "One-legged" dance. The 

 members of the Ponca Make-no-flight society, together with "the 

 members of the Heduska group, seem to have been the military elite 

 of the tribe, the "shock troops" in every battle. 



The Mawddani, according to Dorsey (1884 a, pp. 354-355), was 

 a warriors' society made up of "none but aged men and those in the 

 prime of life . . ." This society performed a bravery dance, which 

 functioned as a sort of "military funeral" over the bodies of warriors 

 who had been slain by the enemy. Each body was placed in a sitting 

 posture in the dance lodge, as if alive, with a deer-hoof rattle fastened 

 to one arm. The dance was apparently identical with the Hedu^ka 

 in its choreography. 



Skinner (1915 c, p. 786) describes yet another warriors' dancing 

 society called Iskd-iyuha. This name means 'White-owners' in 

 Dakota, and indicates the origin of the dance. He gives ■Ddduxe as 

 another name of the society. Dorsey (1884 a, p. 355) gives Qaxexe 

 as still another synonym. This society was noted for the richness 

 of its costumes, which were covered with many silver brooches. 



