BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXIX
1860-’61.
1861-’62.
1862-’63.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.
1860-’61.—No. I. The-Elk-who-shows himself-when-he-walks makes medicine.
No. II. Device, the head and neck of an elk, like that part of the animal in 1837-’38, with a line extending from its mouth, at the extremity of which is the albino buffalo-head. “The elk made you understand his voice while he was walking.” The interpreter persisted in this oracular rendering, probably not being able to fully catch the Indian explanation from want of thorough knowledge of the language. The ignorance of professed interpreters, who easily get beyond their philological depth, but are ashamed to acknowledge it, has occasioned many official blunders. This device and its interpretation were unintelligible to the writer until examination of General Harney’s report above referred to showed the name of a prominent chief of the Minneconjous, set forth as “The-Elk-that-Hollows-Walking.” It then became probable that the device simply meant that the aforesaid chief made buffalo medicine, which conjecture, published in 1877, the other records subsequently discovered verified.
No. III. A Minneconjou Dakota, named Red-Fish’s-Son, made medicine with white buffalo-cow skin.
Mato Sapa’s record agrees with No. III.