174 THE SIOUAN INDIANS (KTn.AVN.ir, 



was ill fairly common use among some of tlie Siouan tribes, tlioiigli tlie 

 animal was "confined principally to the natioii.s inliabiting tlie great 

 plains of tlie Coliimbiu,'" and dogs were still u.sed for liiirden and 

 draft." Grinnell learned from an aged Indian that liorses came into 

 the hands of the neighboring I'iegan (Algonquian) about 1804-180B.' 

 Long's naturalists found the horse, ass, and mule in use among the 

 Kansa and other tribes.' and described the mode of cajituie of wild 

 horses by the Osage;'' yet when, two-thirds of a centurj^ after Carver, 

 Catlin {18;52-18.>9) and Prince Maximilian (1S;53-31) visited tlie Siouan 

 territory, they found the horse established and in common use in the 

 chase and in war." It is significant that the Dakota word for horse 

 (suk-taij'-ka or .siuj-ka'-wakaij) is composed of the word for dog 

 (.sut)'-ka), with an affix indicating greatness, sacredness, or mystery, 

 so that the horse is literally '-great mysterious dog,'' or "ancient sacred 

 dog," and that several terms for harness and other appurtenances cor- 

 respond with those vised for the gear of the dog when used as a draft 

 animal." This terminology corroborates the direct evidence that the 

 dog was domesticated by the Siouan aborigines long before the advent 

 of the horse. 



Among the Siouan tribes, as among other Indians, amusements 

 absorbed a considerable part of the time and energy of the old and 

 young of both sexes. Among the young, the gambols, races, and 

 other sports were chiefly or wholly diversional, and commonly mim- 

 icked the avocations of the adults. The girls idayed at the building 

 and care of houses and were absorbed in dolls, while the boys played 

 at archery, foot racing, and mimic hunting, which soon grew into 

 the actual chase of small birds and animals. Some of the sports of the 

 elders were unorganized diversions, leaping, racing, wrestling, and 

 other spontaneous expressions of exuberance. Certain diversions were 

 controlled by more persistent motive, as when the idle warrior occupied 

 his leisure in meaningless ornamentation of his garment or tipi, or 

 spent hours of leisure in esthetic modification of his weapon or cere- 

 monial badge, and to this purjjoseless activity, which engendered 

 design with its own progress, the incip ient g raphic art of the tribes 

 was largely due. The more important and characteristic sjiorts were 

 organized and interwoven with social organization and belief so as 

 commonly to take the form of elaborate ceremonial, in which dancing, 

 feasting, fasting, symbolic painting, song, and sacrifice played impor- 

 tant parts, and these organized sports were largely fiducial. To many 



' Cones, Expedition of Lewis and Clark, vol. Ill, p. 839. 



'Ibid., vol. I, p. 140. 



:"Tlii; Story of the Indian," 1895, p. 237. 



' J.inies' "Aciount," op. cit., vol. i, pp. 126, 148; vol. ii, p. 12 et al. 



'Tl.id , vol. iM, p. 107. 



""Lottirs .TTid Notes," op. cit., vol. i, pp. 142 (wheri^ the manner of lassoing wild horses is men- 

 tionwl) p. 251 <t al. ; "Travels," op. oit., p. 149 et al. (The Crow were said to have between 9.000 and 

 10.000 head. p. 174.) 



'Keating in Long's Exi)edition, op. cit., vol. ii, appendix, p. 152. Eiggs' "D-akota-English Diction- 

 ary," Cout.N. A. Eth., vol. VII, 1890. 



