590 



SKIDI 



[b. a. e. 



654). About 1777 a group of the Pani- 

 Maha joined the Taovayas (Tawehash) 

 settlement. When Mezieres was there in 

 1778 they had temporarily withdrawn, but 

 he urged them to return, which they did 

 within a year. From this time on they 

 seem to have formed an important part 

 of the Taovayas settlement, which was 

 called by Sibley, in 1805, that of the 

 "Panis or Towiaches" (Hist. Sketch, 

 1806). A Mexican map of 1862 shows a 

 "Pannis" village near the head of Sul- 

 phur cr., N. E. Texas (Map no. 1020, Sec. 

 de Cartografia, Dept° de Fomento, 

 Mexico). 



During the two centuries prior to their 

 removal from Nebraska to Indian Ter. in 

 1874 the Skidi, in common with the other 

 Pawnee tribes, fought to hold their hunt- 

 ing grounds against intruders, and to that 

 end strove for the possession of horses. 

 The securing of this class of booty was the 

 chief incentive of war parties, and the pos- 

 session of ponies became the sign of wealth. 

 The history of the Skidi does not differ 

 materially from that of the other Pawnee 

 tribes. They joined in the treaties with 

 the United States, served as scouts in its 

 army, and followed their kindred to Okla- 

 homa, where they live to-day, owning 

 lands in severalty as citizens of the United 

 States. There were no missions estab- 

 lished especially for the Skidi; they were 

 included in those maintained for all the 

 Pawnee. 



The organization of the Skidi is per- 

 haps more fully carried out in accord- 

 ance with the religious beliefs of the peo- 

 ple than that of the other Pawnee tribes. 

 They say they were organized by the 

 stars, which powers "made them into 

 families and villages, taught them how 

 to live and how to perform tlieir cere- 

 monies."- Five villages formed the cen- 

 tral group. The village at the w. led in 

 religious ceremonies and had no secular 

 function except in times of dire distress. 

 The other 4 villages of the group were situ- 

 ated as at the corners of a square, the 

 sides of which faced the cardinal direc- 

 tions. Following an established rotation, 

 each village led in tribal affairs during 

 one year — a winter and a summer. The 

 position of these 5 villages and of the 

 other 17 of the tribe were all fixed by 

 the position of the stars which had given 

 them their shrines and ceremonies, so 

 that the Skidi villages on the earth were 

 like a reflection of their stars in the 

 heavens. The star gave its name to the 

 shrine, and the village took its name from 

 the shrine or from some incident con- 

 nected with its bestowal by the star. A 

 secular name indicative of locality was 

 sometimes added. The shrine was given 

 by the star to a certain man, and his de- 

 scendants became its hereditary keepers. 



The immediate care and protection of 

 the shrine devolved on a woman de- 

 scendant. The ceremonies and rituals 

 pertaining to the shrine were in charge of 

 a priesthood, into which anyone of good 

 character might enter after instruction 

 and the performance of certain duties. 



To the Skidi the universe was dual — 

 male and female — and on the conjunc- 

 tion of these two forces depended the 

 perpetuation of all forms of life. A cere- 

 mony exemplifying this belief, in which 

 was the sacrifice of a girl, typical of the 

 evening star, to the masculine morning 

 star, was peformed among the Skidi as late 

 as the first quarter of the 19th century (see 

 Petalesharo) . The various ceremonies of 

 the villages began with the first thunder 

 in the spring and closed when the winter 

 sleep set in. The social customs and avo- 

 cations of the Skidi did not differ from 

 those of the other Pawnee tribes. 



Consult G. A. Dorsey, Traditions of 

 the Skidi, 1904; Dunbar, Pawnee Indians, 

 1880-82; Fletcher, (1) The Hako, in 22d 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1903, (2) in Am. Anthr., 

 IV, 730, 1902; Grinnell, Pawnee Hero 

 Stories, 1889. (a. c. f. ) 



Ckx^i.— Dorsej', Osage MS. vocab., B. A. E., 1883 

 (Osagename). Ckiyi. — Dorsey, Kansa MS. vocab., 

 B. A. E., 1882 (Kansa name). Indiens-Loups. — 

 Gass, Voy., 22, ]810. La Loup.— Orig. Jour. Lewis 

 andClark,vi,86, 1905. Loos.— Gass, Jour., 23, 1807. 

 Lou.— Orig. Jour. Lewis and Clark, vi, 86, 1905. 

 Loupes.— Lewis, Travels, 15,1809. Loup Pawnees. — 

 Prichard, Phys. Hist. Man, v, 412, 1H47. Loups.— 

 Lewis and Clark Discov., 15, 1806. Mahah.— Sage, 

 Scenes in Rocky Mts., 153, 1846. Mahas.— Gregg, 

 Comm. Prairies, ii, 301, 1844. ja(<i"-mahan.— Dor- 

 .sey, (fegihaMS. diet., B. A. E., 1879 (Omaha name). 

 Paihi Mahas. — Gallatin in Schoolcral't, Ind. Tribes, 



III, 397, 1853. Pammahas.— McKenney and Hall, 

 Ind. Tribes, in, 80, 1854. Panemaha. — Boudinot, 

 Star in West, 128, 1816. Pania Loups. — Lewis and 

 Clark Discov., 62, 1806. Pania Luup. — Orig. Jour. 

 Lewis and Clark, v, 381, 1905. Pania Lousis.— 

 Ibid., VII, 314. Panias Loups.— Lewis and Clark, 

 Travels, 15, 1807. Panimachas.— Barcia, Ensayo, 

 298, 1723. Panimaha.— Douav (1687) quoted bv 

 Hayden, Ethnog. and Philol. Mo. Val., 346, 1862. 

 Panimaha's.— Coxe, Carolana, 16, 1741. Pani- 

 Mahaws.— Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, in, 399, 1853. 

 Pa-ni-mahii. — Grayson, Creek MS. vocab., B. A. 

 E., 1885 (Creek name). Panimakas. — Jefferys, 

 French Dom. Am., 1, 139, 1761. Panimalia.— Ibid., 

 I, Canada map. Panimalis. — Alcedo, Die. Geog., 



IV, 52, 1788. Panimoas.— Barcia, Ensayo, 291, 1723. 

 Panimoha.— Hennepin, New Discov., pt. ii, 47, 1698. 

 Panislousa.— Crepy, Carte Gt'n. de I'Am^rique 

 Sept., n. d. Panismahans. — La Salle (1687) quoted 

 by Shea, Early Voy., 28, 1861. PanisHahas. — Lewis, 

 Travels, 15, 1809. Panivacha.— McKennev and 

 Hall, Ind. Tribes, in, 81, 1854 (probably identical). 

 Pannamaha. — Coxe, Carolana, map, 1741. Panni- 

 malia.— Bowles, Map of America, after 1750. Pants 

 Mahas.— Lewisand Clark, Journal, 17, 1840. Papia 

 Louisis. — Lewis, Travels, 24, 1809. Paunee Loups. — 

 H. R. Ex. Doc. 117, 19th Cong., 1st sess., 7, 1826. 

 Pawnee Loup.— Irving, Ind. Sketches, ii, 13, 1835. 

 Pawnee Loupes.— Drake, Bk. Inds., bk. v, 181, 1841. 

 Pawnee Mahas.— Long, Exped. Rockv Mts., I, 300, 

 1823. Pawnee Mahaw.— Pike, Exped., 143, 1810. 

 Pawnee Marhar.— Treaty of 1812 in U. S. Ind. 

 Treaties, 644, 1873. Pawnee Mohaw.— Ind. Aff. 

 Rep., 904, 1847. Pawnee O'Mahaws.— Hildreth, 

 Dragoon Campaigns, 163, 1836. Pawneeomaw- 

 haws.— Long, Ex^ied. Rocky Mts., ii, Ixxxv, 

 1823. Pawnee O'Mohaws.— Hildreth, op. cit., 169. 

 Pawnees Loups,— Lewis and Clark Exped., i, 33, 



