May 16, 1884.] 
INDIAN IMPLEMENTS OF THE NORTH - 
WEST. 
A Dakota puk’-gah-mdh-gun. 
Tue illustrations accompanying the present 
paper represent a Dakota puk-gah-mah-gun, 
or war-club. The weapon here figured (fig. 1) 
was formerly owned and 
earried by the Sioux 
chief, Black Bull, then 
a. distinguished person- 
age in Sitting Bull’s com- 
mand. By him it was 
eventually presented as 
a valuable token of affec- 
tion and confidence to a 
young Ojibwa named 
Mois-ko-ko’-nia (‘Red 
Robe’), toward whom, 
in accordance with cer- 
tain intertribal customs, 
he had previously as- 
sumed the relation of 
adopted father. This 
title, it should be ob- 
served, does not imply 
actual interchange of filial 
and paternal duties, but 
rather expresses the ex- 
Fre. 1. 
istence of a purely ideal 
phase of sentimental friend- 
ship on the part of the per- 
sons concerned. The re- 
cipient is now at the head 
of one of the seven chief- 
taincies of the Red Lake 
band of Ojibwas, living 
upon Red Lake reservation, 
in northern Minnesota; and 
he there disposed of the specimen to its pres- 
ent possessor, Mr. Jonathan Taylor, late sub- 
agent of the Red-Lakers. The weapon in 
question is undoubtedly, therefore, a genuine 
Dakota puk-gah-mah-gun. These implements 
in general are not only used as weapons of 
SCIENCE. 589 
war, but are also carried in the hand in times 
of peace, as a sort of ornamental appurtenance 
— much as a cane is sported by the city ex- 
quisite. 
The head (fig. 2), which is the essential part 
of this specimen, is wrought from a stone of a 
quartzose character. It is symmetrical in out- 
line, has a smooth though unpolished surface, 
and resembles an egg inform. The two ends 
are shaped alike, however; and they are pro- 
duced into obtuse points, which are cleverly 
adapted to deal a most effective crushing blow, 
upon the skull for instance. Midway between 
the points, the head is encircled with a groove 
about five-eighths of an inch broad. and deep 
enough to receive the slender hoop of wood by 
which the head is bound to the staff serving it 
as a handle. The measurements are as fol- 
lows: greatest diameter of head, three inches 
and seven-eighths ; least diameter of head, two 
inches and a quarter; circumference of head 
corresponding to least diameter, measured at 
the side of groove, six inches and a half. 
The stiff, slender staff is thirty inches in 
length, and averages about three-quarters of 
an inch in diameter. It consists of a central 
stem of wood enveloped in a sheath of leather. 
A section of the central stem, obtained by 
splitting. appears to be prolonged beyond the 
Gens 
staff proper, and, following the groove, to sur- 
round the head like a hoop, and extend about 
twelve inches down the opposite side of the 
staff; to which, as indicated by certain mark- 
ings, it is firmly bound. The leathern sheath 
is simply a strip of hide, closely drawn about 
