192 TilE SIOUAN INDIANS [etm. axn. 15 



and Clark, tlieir famous chief Blackbird beiii}; one of those carried oflf 

 by the ei>ideinic. Subseciuently they increased iu numbers; in 1800 

 their poimhition was about 1,200. They are now on reservations, mostly 

 owning land in severalty, and are citizens of the United States and of 

 the state of Nebraska. 



Although the name Ponka did 7i<)t appear in history liefore 1700 it 

 must have been used for many generations e;irlier, since it is an archaic 

 designation connected with the social organization of several tribes and 

 the secret societies of the Osage and Kansa. as well as the Ponka. In 

 170<t the I'onka were indicated on De I'lsle's map, though they were 

 not then segregated territorially from the Omaha. They, too, suffered 

 terribly from the smallpox epidemic, and when met by Lewis and Clark 

 in lS04r numbered only about 200. Tiicy increased rapidly, reaching 

 about 600 in 1829 and some 800 in 18-12; in 1871, when they were first 

 visited by Dorsej', they numbered 747. Up to this time the Ponka and 

 Dakota were amicable; but a dispute grew out of the cession of lauds, 

 and the Teton nuide annual raids on the Ponka until the enforced 

 removal of the tribe to Indian Territory took place in 1877. Through 

 this warftire, more than a quarter of the Ponka lost their lives. The 

 displacement of tliis tribe from lands owned by them in fee simple 

 attracted attention, and a commission was appointed by President 

 Hayes in 1880 to inquire into the matter; the commission, consisting 

 of Generals Crook and Miles and j\Iessrs William Stiekney and Walter 

 Allen, visited the Ponka settlements in Indian Territory and on the 

 Niobrara and effected a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of the 

 tribe, through which the greater portion (some 000) remained in Indian 

 Territory, while some 22.") kept their reservation in Nebraska. 



When the (/,'egiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors 

 of the Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the 

 Jlississippi to the mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated 

 from the group, ascending the river which bears their name. They 

 were distinguished by ]\larquette in 1073 as the "Ouchage"' and 

 ''Autrechaha," and by Penicaut iu 1710 as the ''Huzzau," "Ous," and 

 "Wawha." According to Croghan, they were, in 1759, on " White 

 creek, a branch of the Mississippi," with the "Grand Tuc;" but " White 

 creek" (or White water) was an old designation for Osage river, and 

 "Grand Tuc" is, according to ^Fooney, a coriuption of "Grandes Kaux," 

 or Great Osage; and there is accordingly no sullicient reason for sup- 

 posing that they returned to the Mississi])])!. Toward the close of the 

 eighteenth <'entury the Osage and Kansa enconiitered the Comanche 

 and perliai>s other Shoshonean peoples, and their course was turned 

 southward; and in 1817, according to Brown, the Great Osage and 

 Little Osage were chiefly on Osage and Arkansas rivers, in four vil- 

 lages. In 1829 Porter described their country as beginning 25 uiiles 

 west of the ]Missouri line and running to the Mexican line of that date, 

 being 50 miles wide; and he gave their number as 5.000. According to 



