MALLERY.] TRIBAL DESIGNATIONS. 387 
Fig. 511.—An Indian woman, who had been un- 
faithful to a white man to whom she was married, 
was killed by an Indian named Ponka. American- 
Horse’s Winter Count, 180405. 
The emblem for Ponka is the straight elk hair 
ridge. 
: Fig. 511.—Ponka. 
Fig. 512.—A Ponka, who was captured when a boy 
by the Oglalas, was killed while outside the village 
by a war party of Ponkas. American-Horse’s Win- 
ter Count, 179394. E 
The artificial headdress, consisting of a ridge of 
elk hair, is again portrayed. Hie: 512 Ponke 
SHOSHONI. 
Dr. George Gibbs ()) describes a pictograph made by one of the 
Indian tribes of Oregon and Washington, upon which “the figure of a 
man with a long queue or scalp lock reached to his heels denoted a Sho- 
shoni, that tribe being in the habit of braiding horse or other hair into 
their own in that manner.” 
This may be correct regarding the Shoshoni Indians among the 
extreme northwestern tribes, but the mark of identification could not be 
based upon the custom of braiding with their own hair that of animals, to 
increase the length and appearance of the queue, as this custom also pre- 
vails among the Absaroka, Hidatsa, and Arikaa Indians, respectively, 
as before mentioned in this work. 
Tanner’s Narrative (e) gives additional information on this topic 
regarding the absence of any tribal sign in connection with a human 
figure. 
The men of the same tribe are extensively acquainted with the totems which be- 
long to each, and if on any record of this kind the figure of a man appears without 
any designatory mark, it is immediately understood that he is a Sioux or at least a 
stranger. Indeed, in most instances the figures of men are not used at all, merely 
the totem or surname, being given. * ~* ~*~ It may be observed that the Algon- 
kins believe all other Indians to have totems, though from the necessity they are 
in general under of remaining ignorant of those hostile bands, the omission of the 
totem in their picture writing serves to designate an enemy. Thus, those bands of 
Ojibbeways who border on the country of the Dahcotah or Sioux, always under- 
stand the figure of a man without totem to mean one of that people. 
| Ol os i Fre [ 
a b c d e ui g 
Fic. 513.—Tamga of Kirghise tribes. 
In Sketches of Northwestern Mongolia, (a) are the tamga or seals of 
Kirghise tribes, of which Fig. 513 is a copy. 
