BULL. 30] 



POWHATAN PRAYER 



303 



Powhatan. The village of the Powhatan 

 tribe, situated on the n. bank of James 

 r. , Va. , at the falls, on ground now form- 

 ing an eastern suburb of the city of Rich- 

 mond. 



Powitch. A western name of the Oregon 

 crab-apple {Pi/rus rindaris), known also 

 aspowitch-tree, from powitnh, the Chinook 

 name of this plant, through the Chinook 

 jargon. _ (a. F. _c. ) 



Powow. A term to which is now assigned 

 the follownna: meanings: 1. A medicine- 

 man. 2. Theconjuringofamedicine-man 

 over a patient. 3. Adance.feast, or noisy 

 celebration preceding a council, expedi- 

 tion, or hunt. 4. A council. 5. A con- 

 ference. Themostrecentusebythe whites 

 is in the sense of a political conference or 

 talk. It is now used both as a noun and 

 as a verb. In Narraganset jjowdw and in 

 Massachuset pauwaa, cognate with the 

 Micmac bu'utn, signifies priest, wizard, 

 magician. As Bartlett (Diet, of Ameri- 

 canisms, 488, 1877) remarks, "the name 

 was also given by the early chronicles to 

 the feasts, dances, and other public do- 

 ings of the red men, preliminary to a 

 grand hunt, a war expedition, or the 

 like, ' ' and was soon adopted by the whites 

 "in political talk, to signify any uproar- 

 ious meeting, etc." In certain parts of 

 the Southern states the terms "powow 

 doctor," and "to powow," meaning to 

 practise -witchcraft, are still in use. 

 Brinton (LenapeLeg., 71, 1885) correctly 

 considers this Algonquian word to be 

 from the same root as Chippewa bawd- 

 na, 'he dreams of him,' and the Cree 

 pdvdmho * he dreams,' the powoiv ob- 

 taining his art from dreams. The Mass- 

 achuset pauwau, 'he uses divination,' 

 would then mean, more primitively, 'he 

 dreams.' (a. f. c.) 



Poxen. Mentioned, in connection with 

 Puaray, apparently as a pueblo of the 

 Tigua (q. v. ) of New Mexico in 1598. — 

 Onate (1598)in DocInM., xvi, 115,1871. 



Poyektauk. A village of the Powhatan 

 confederacy in 1608, on the n. bank of the 

 Rappahannock, in Richmond co., Va. — 

 Smith (1629), Va., i, map, repr. 1819. 



Poygratasuck. See Pogatacut. 



Poyi. The Chaparral-cock or Road- 

 runner clan of Zuiii, New Mexico. It is 

 nearly if not quite extinct. 

 Poye-kwe.— Hodge in Am. Anthrop., ix, 349, 1896 

 (t(t;e=' people'). Poyi-kwe. — Gushing in 13th 

 Rep. B. A. E., 368, 1896 (given as "Grouse or Sage- 

 cock people"). 



Poykemkack. A village of the Powha- 

 tan confederacy in 1608, on the n. bank of 

 the Rappahannock, in Richmond co., 

 Va.— Smith (1629), Va.,i, map, repr. 1819. 



Prairie Band of Potawatomi. The divi- 

 sion of the Potawatomi formerly residing 

 s. of L. Michigan, in Wisconsin, Illinois, 

 and Indiana. They adhered more closely 

 to their old ways than the bands of the 



Wabash, the St Joseph, and Huron. Some 

 authors have supposed them to be the 

 old Mascoutens. The majority of them, 

 numbering 676 in 1908, are now in Kansas, 

 but a large number are still scattered over 

 s. Wisconsin. See Potawatomi. 

 Bluff Indians. —Clarke in Ind. Aff. Rep. 1855, 

 97, 1856. M'shkudan'nik. — Gatschet, Potawatomi 

 MS., B. A. K., 1878 (Potawatomi name). Pota- 

 watamie tribe of Indians of the prairie. — Ti ppecanoe 

 treaty (1832) in U. S. Ind. Treat., 697, 1873. 



Prairie Kickapoo. The Kickapoo for- 

 merly livingin e. Illinois, called the Prairie 

 band to distinguish them from the Ver- 

 milion band on the Wabash. 

 Kickapoos of the prairies. — Am. St. Papers, Ind. 

 Aff., 135, 1832. Prairie Indians.— Shea, Cath. 

 Miss., 395, 1855. 



Prairie la Crosse. A Winnebago village 

 in s. E. Wisconsin to which Black Hawk 

 fled in 1832.— Drake, Bk. Inds., bk. 5, 158, 

 1848. 



Prairie Ronde. A Potawatomi village 

 about the boundary of the present Cass 

 and VanBuren cos., s. w. Michigan, on a 

 tract of land ceded to the United States 

 by the treaty of St Joseph, Mich., Sept. 

 19,1827. 



Prayer. In their endeavors to secure the 

 help of the supernatural powers, the In- 

 dians, as well as other peoples, hold prin- 

 cipally three methods: (1) The powers 

 may be coerced by the strength of a ritu- 

 alistic performance; (2) their help may 

 be purchased bj' gifts in the form of sac- 

 rifices and offerings; or (3) they may be 

 approached by prayer. Frequently the 

 coercing ritualistic performance and the 

 sacrifice are accompanied by prayers; or 

 the prayer itself may take a ritualistic 

 form, and thus attain coercive power. 

 In this case the prayer is called an incan- 

 tation. Prayers may either be spoken 

 words, or they may be expressed by 

 symbolic objects, which are placed so 

 that they convey the wishes of the wor- 

 shipper to the powers. The rituals of the 

 Plains tribes and those of the Pueblos 

 contain many prayers. Thus in the Hako 

 ceremony of the Pawnee occurs a prayer- 

 song in which the father of the powers is 

 invoked to send needed help; in the Sun 

 dance (q. v.) of the Arapaho occur prayers 

 to the "Man- Above" for assistance in the 

 performance of the ceremony; the Zuni 

 ceremonials contain prayers for rain, food, 

 and health; the Hupa of California offer 

 a prayer accompanying their ceremonials 

 asking for health. Prayers accompany- 

 ing rituals are rather rare on the N. 

 Pacific coast. Very often prayers accom- 

 pany sacrifices. They are given when 

 tobacco smoke is offered to the gods; 

 they accompanied bloody sacrifices of the 

 Pawnee and the Iroquois, as well as the 

 sacrifices of pollen among the Navaho. 

 Prayers of this kind very commonly ac- 

 company the sacrifice of food to the souls 

 of the deceased, as among the Algonquian 



