150 CALENDAR HISTORY OF THE KIOWA [eth.ann.17 



We-te-pd-hd' -to— hewia, Report, 1805, in Mess, from the President Communicating 

 Discoveries by Lewis and Clark, etc, 36, 1806. (Incorrectly giren as distinct 

 from the Kiowa, but allied to them.) 



7T'((o;>((/io(a— Mallery, in Fourth Ann. Rep. Bur. Eth., 109, 1886. 



Wettaphalo—MoTse, Report on Indian Affairs, app., 366, 1882. 



Wi'tiipdhdt, Witdp'dtii — Cheyenne forms, deriveil from the Dakota form Witapdhdiu, or 

 vice versa. The Dakota render the name "island liutte." Attempts have been 

 made to translate it from the Cheyenne language as people with "cheeks painte<l 

 red" {wi'tapa, red paint; (», cheekbone), but there is no evidence that this habit 

 was specially characteristic of the Kiowa. It may possibly be derived from the 

 ancient name Te'pdd', ({. v. 



JVi' -ta-pa-ha — Riggs-Dorsey, Dakota-F^nglish Dictionary, 579, 1890. 



TKIBAL SIGN 



To make tlie sign for "Kiowa" in the sign language of the plains 

 tribes, the right hand is held close to the right cheek, with back down, 

 fingers touching and slightly curved, and the hand moved in a rotary 

 motion from the wrist. According to the Kiowa this sign had its origin 

 in an old custom of their warriors, who formerly cut the hair from the 

 right side of the head, on a line with the base of the ear, in order bet- 

 ter to display the ear pendants, while allowing it to grow to full length 

 on the left side, so as to be braided and wrapped with otter skin after 

 the common fiishion of the southern plains tribes. This was in addition 

 to the ordinary small scalp-lock banging down behind. This style of 

 wearing the hair, although now nearly obsolete from long association 

 with tribes of different habit, is still occasionally seen. It is shown in 

 the picture of the chief Big-bow, taken in 1870 (figure 43). 



Dodge thus correctly explains the sign: "KiovTA— The open palm, 

 held bowl-shaped, to right of and beside the face, is passed round and 

 round in a circle. Supposed to indicate the peculiarity of these Indians 

 in cutting the hair of the right side of the head" {Dodge, 2). 



The sign has no connection with the idea of "rattle-brain," "crazy 

 Lead," "crazy knife," "drinking water," or "prairie people rising up," 

 as has been variously stated; neither is the sign ever properly made 

 on the left side. Such misconceptions have arisen trom the careless 

 making of the sign by persons ignorant of its true meaning. The 

 Cheyenne claim that it refers to a former Kiowa custom of painting a 

 .stripe across the upper lip and cheeks. This is probably only an 

 attempt to explain the name Witapatu, q. v., without any basis in fact, 

 for, had such a custom existed, it would have been indicated by draw- 

 ing the finger across the face. Moreover, in a series of forty figures 

 painted for the author by Kiowa Indians to illustrate their ancient 

 styles of war paint, not one is thus depicted. 



LINGUISTIC AFFINITY 



The Ga'igwii' or Kiowa, although originating in the for north, have 

 been known for the last sixty years as one of the principal and most 



