moonet) 



CATLIX AMONG THE KIOWA 



2G9 



. . . Wuii-pan-to-mee (The White Weasel) [GunpiiTidamii', Medicine-tied-to-tijn- 

 pole], a girl, auil Tuuk-aht-oh-ye (The Thunderer), a boy, who are brother and sister, 

 are two Kioways who were pnrrhased from the Osages, to be taken to their tribe by 

 the dragoons. The girl was taken the whole distauee with ns, on horsebaek, to the 

 Pawnee village, and there delivered to her friends, as I have before 

 mentioned ; and the tine little boy was killed at the fur trader's house, 

 on the banks of the Verdigris, near Fort Gibson, the day after I 

 painted his portrait, and only a few days before he was to have 

 started with us on the mareh. He was a beautiful boy of nine or ten 

 years of age, and was killed by a ram, which struek him in the abdo- 

 men, and knocking him against a fenee, killed him instantly. Kots- 

 a-to-ah (The Smoked .Shield) is another of the extraordinary men of 

 this tribe, near 7 feet in stature, and distinguished not onlj as one 

 of the greatest warriors, but the swiftest on foot in the nation. This 

 man, it is said, runs down a buffalo on foot, and slays it with his knife 

 or his lanee as he runs by its side! (Catlin, S). 



Twoof those mentioned by Catlin — Dobitsau and Bohon- 

 konkya — were signers of the first Kiowa treaty, in 1837, and 

 are still well remembered, as is also the girl,Ganp;i'ridania'. 

 The other names are too badly mangled to be identified, 

 and the memory of the swift runner seems to have utterly 

 perished. . 



WINTER 1834-35 



FlQ. 69— Winter 

 18M-33- Bull- 

 tail killed. 



Pd-tonWiotal-deSai,^^ Winter that Bull-tail was killed." 

 He was killed by the Mexicans. The figure above the winter sign has 

 a blood spot upon the body to represent the wound, while the erect 

 cue from the head indicates his name. 

 The Kiowa had made their winter camp on the Washita, when a war 

 party set out against the TonheiJ-fa hl-i (Mexicans of 

 the waterless country), or Chihuahuans. Having 

 started late, they camped all winter at a mountain 

 toward the southern edge of the Staked plain, known 

 as Deiifiyii-hhl K'op, or "Black-ice mountain." One 

 morning in the early spring, while several men were 

 out looking for their ponies, they were suddenly sur- 

 rounded by the Mexicans and all killed, including 

 Pa-ton, who was shot through the body. Their com- 

 rades saw the fight from a distance, but, being out- 

 numbered and therefore afraid to come near to lielp 

 them, they got away as soon as they could. 



SUMMER 1835 



Fia. 70 -Summer Bowpii K ddo, "Cat-tail rush sun dance." This was 

 1835-cat tail rush j-]jg jjj.^j^ g^jj jj^D^g i,e](l by tlic Kiowa after the recovery 



sun dance. 



of the taime from the Osages, already narrated, and is 

 thus distinguished because it was held at a place where a great manj' 

 cat-tail rushes (Equisefum arveiifie) were growing on the south bank of 

 North Canadian river, at the Red hills, about 30 miles above the 



