142 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 195 



Gilmore (1919, pp. 80, 82-83, 107, 134) lists meadowrue, blood- 

 root, wild columbine, "love seed" or Cogswellia daucifolia, and "fuzzy- 

 weed" or Artemisia dracinculoides as plants used in this manner. 



Usually such love medicines were secured from an old shaman. 

 Shamans renowned for particularly potent philters amassed con- 

 siderable wealth from their manufacture and sale. Whitman (1939, 

 pp. 190-191) notes that WBB secured such a "squaw medicine" 

 from his mother's brother. At the time he was given the medicine 

 he was warned that if he did not use it correctly (i.e., to secure a 

 wife; not to seduce one woman after another) his misdeeds would 

 "come back on him." This is a common concept among both the 

 Ponca and the Omaha. 



Sexual abstinence was observed before and during ceremonies. 

 G. A. Dorsey (1905, p. 71) writes that participants in the Sun dance 

 abstained from women, fearing a serious accident if they did not 

 do so. Whitman (1939, p. 192) notes that ". . , married men were 

 supposed to stay away from their wives four days before a peyote 

 meeting." 



Like his war honors, a Ponca man's record with women was a 

 prestige factor in Ponca society. Skinner (1915 c, p. 788) teUs of 

 a men's society, the members of which publicly boasted of their 

 conquests in love. He also notes that the Ponca women got together 

 and boasted of their lovers, but there seemed to be no definite society 

 established for this purpose. 



Though chastity in unmarried girls was rare, complete promiscuity 

 was frowned upon. Whitman (1937, p. 48) notes that if a girl denied 

 a suitor and was not circumspect in her conduct thereafter she was 

 liable to be raped. Apparently rape and seduction were common, 

 as Whitman (1937, p. 72) later notes that Ponca girls were sometimes 

 laced up in bison hides at night to protect them. 



Harlots were rare in the tribe, though there were always one or two 

 women in the tribe known as "run arounds." At the present there 

 are two or three "toughies" in the Southern band. Though such 

 women were frowned upon by the tribe, under certain conditions 

 their conduct was excused. Whitman (1937, p. 86) writes: "Among the 

 Ponca, it was said that a woman might become a run-around through 

 a vision. In such a situation her conduct would be condoned." 

 Just how many women availed themselves of this excuse for promis- 

 cuous behavior is not mentioned. 



The familiar institution of the berdache or transvestite was found 

 among the Ponca. As among the Dakota and other neighboring 

 tribes, these men were sometimes taken as wives by warriors. They 

 were reputed to make the best quillwork and beadwork. The con- 

 dition was attributed to at least two causes. J. O. Dorsey (1894, 

 p. 379) writes: "A Ponka child once said to the author, ... 'If boys 



