WINTER 1859—60
Gíaká-ite, "Back-hide," died, and a cross was afterward erected over his bones. The figure of the individual, with the cross above his head, explains itself. The gíăká-i or "back hide" ([see the Glossary]) is a piece of rawhide worn over the shoulders by women, to protect the back when carrying wood or other burdens.
Fig. 126—Winter 1859—60—Gíaká-ite died.
Gíaká-ite was a very old man, and died on the Staked plain (Päsä´ngya, "Edge prairie"), at a salt pond called Tóñ-kóñ, "Black water," perhaps the Agua Negra, just within the Texas boundary. Having become so old and enfeebled in mind and body as to be a continual source of trouble and anxiety, his unfeeling relatives deliberately abandoned him. Shortly before this the old man asked Dohasän, who was of his own family, where they intended to camp next winter. The chief brutally replied, "What is that to you? We shall not take you with us." The poor old man, thinking it a joke, laughed and said, "How can you leave me behind? There are not many chiefs, and you can't afford to lose one." However, on their next move they left him behind to shift for himself, and as he was too feeble to keep up with the party he died alone. Whether he died a lingering death of starvation or met a quicker fate by the coyotes, is unknown; but some time afterward a small war party of the Kiowa, passing near the spot, found his skeleton, over which kind hands—probably Mexican travelers—had erected a rude cross.
The winter before his death, while the Kiowa were on the move somewhere in the same neighborhood, Âdalpepte and his wife, being some distance behind the others, met the old man mounted upon an animal nearly as feeble as its rider, vainly endeavoring to catch up with the main party. It was bitterly cold and he had no blanket. Âdalpepte, unable to endure the sight, generously took off his own buffalo robe and threw it over the old man's shoulders, saying to him, "Take it; I am young and can stand more." Thus, before we make an estimate of Indian character from this story we must decide how far the generosity of the one act offsets the heartless cruelty of the other. It is but fair to state that Gíaká-ite had no immediate relatives who were in condition to help him, as his children were dead and his grandson was but a small boy, so that no one felt directly responsible for his welfare. Abandonment of the aged and helpless was not infrequent among the prairie tribes, but was rather a hard necessity of their wandering life than deliberate cruelty, as generally the aged are treated with the greatest respect and consideration. This is particularly the case among tribes who are less nomadic in habit.