MooNEY] KIOWA CRUELTY AND HUMANITY 307 



WIXTER 1S59-GO 



Giakii-ite, "Back-hide," died, and a cross was afterward erected over 

 his bones. Tlie figure of the individual, with the cross above his head, 

 explains itself The gidhd-i or "back hide" (see the Glossary) is a 

 piece of rawhide worn over the shoulders by women to protect the 

 back when carrying wood or other burdens. 



Giakii-ite was a very old man, and died on the Staked plain (P((- 

 S(i'n(iya, "Edge ])rairie"), at a salt pond called Tofi-hUl, "Black water," 

 l^erhaps the Agua Negra, just within the Texas boundary. Having 

 become so old and enfeebled in mind and body as to be a continual 

 source of trouble and anxiety, his unfeeling relatives deliberately aban- 

 doned him. Shortly before this the old man asked Dohasiin. who was 

 of his own family, where they intended to camp next winter. The chief 

 brutally replied, "What is that to you? We shall not 

 take you with us." The poor old man, thinking it a joke, ~p 



laughed and said, " How can you leave me behind ! There 

 are not many chiefs, aud you can't afford to lose one." 

 However, on their next move they left him behind to shift 

 for himself, and as he was too feeble to keep up with the 

 party he died alone. Whether he died a lingering death 

 of starvation or met a quicker fate by the coyotes, is un- 

 known ; but some time afterward a small war party of the 

 Kiowa, i)assing near the spot, fouiul his skeleton, over 

 which kind hands — probably Mexican travelers — had 

 erected a rude cross. 



The winter before his death, while the Kiowa were on 

 the move somewhere in the same neighborhood, Adalpepte 

 and his wife, being some distance behind the others, met 

 the old man mounted upon an animal nearly as feeble as 1859-60— oiak* 

 its rider, vainly endeavoring to catch up with the main xeflied. 

 party. It was bitterly cold aud he had no blanket, Adalpepte, 

 unable to endure the sight, generously took off his own buffalo robe 

 and threw it over the old man's shoulders, saying to him, "Take it; I 

 am young and can stand more." Thus, before we make an estimate of 

 Indian character from this story we must decide how far the generosity 

 of the one act offsets the heartless cruelty of the other. It is but fair 

 to state that Giaka-ite had no immediate relatives who were in con- 

 dition to help him, as his children were dead and his grandson was but 

 a small boy, so that no one felt directly responsible for his welfare- 

 Abandonment of the aged and helpless was not infrequent among the 

 prairie tribes, but was rather a hard necessity of their wandering life 

 than deliberate cruelty, as generally the aged are treated with the 

 greatest respect and consideration. This is particularly the case 

 among tribes who are less nomadic in habit. 



Fig. 126— Winter 



