286 PICTURE-WRITING OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 
the Yankton, Ponka, and Santee reservations. These resulted in the 
Dakota treaty of 1868. 
Fig. 253, 1868~69.—Texas cattle were brought 
into the country. This was done by Mr. William 
A. Paxton, a well-known business man, resident 
in Dakota in 1877. 
Fig. 253. 
Fig. 254, 1869~70.—An eclipse of the sun. This was the solar 
eclipse of August 7, 1869, which was central and 
at @ total on a line drawn through the Dakota country. 
This device has been criticised because Indians gener- 
ally believe an eclipse to be occasioned by a dragon or 
aerial monster swallowing the sun, and it is contended 
that they would so represent it. An answer is that 
Fie. 254. the design is objectively good, the sun being painted 
black, as concealed, while the stars come out red, i. e., bright, and 
graphic illustration prevails throughout the charts where it is possible 
to employ it. 
Dr. Washington Matthews, surgeon, U. 8S. Army, communicated the 
fact that the Dakotas had opportunities all over their country of receiv- 
ing information about the real character of the eclipse. He was at Fort 
Rice during the eclipse and remembers that long before it occurred the 
offcers, men, and citizens around the post told the Indians of the com- 
ing event and discussed it with them so much that they were on the 
tip-toe of expectancy when the day came. Two-Bears and his band 
were then encamped at Fort Rice, and he and several of his leading 
men watched the eclipse along with the whites and through their 
smoked glass, and then and there the phenomenon was thoroughly 
explained to them over and over again. There is no doubt that similar 
explanations were made at all the numerous posts and agencies along 
the river that day. The path of the eclipse coincided nearly with the 
course of the Missouri for over a thousand miles. The duration of 
totality at Fort Rice was nearly two minutes (1/ 48’’). 
Fig. 255, 187071.—The 
Unepapas had a battle 
with the Crows, the former 
losing, it is said, 14, and 
killing 29 out of 30 of the 
latter, though nothing ap- 
pears to show those num-. 
bers. The centralobject is 
not a circle denoting mul- 
titude, but an irregularly 
rounded object, perhaps 
Fia. 255, intended for one of the 
