Major Bush same as last, using “woolly” instead of “curly.”
Battiste Good says: “Brought-home-Pawnee-horses-with-their-hair-rough-and-curly winter.”
1804-’05.—No. I. Calumet dance. Tall-Mandan born.
No. II. The Dakotas had a calumet dance and then went to war. The device is a long pipe-stem, ornamented with feathers and streamers. The feathers are white, with black tips, evidently the tail feathers of the adult golden eagle (Aquila chrysaëtos), highly prized by all Indians. The streamers anciently were colored strips of skin or flexible bark; now gayly colored strips of cloth are used. The word calumet is a corruption of the French chalumeau, and the pipe among all the Mississippi tribes was a symbol of peace. Captain Carver, in his Three Years’ Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America, Philadelphia, 1796, which travels began in 1766, after puzzling over the etymology of the word calumet (that honest “captain of Provincial troops” obviously not understanding French), reports it as “about 4 feet long, bowl of red marble, stem of a light wood curiously painted with hieroglyphics in various colors and adorned with feathers. Every nation has a different method of decorating these pipes and can tell at once to what band it belongs. It is used as an introduction to all treaties, also as a flag of truce is among Europeans.” The event commemorated in the figure was probably a council of some of the various tribes of the nation for settlement of all internal difficulties, so as to act unitedly against the common enemy. J. C. Beltrami, who visited the Dakotas not long after this date, describes them in his Pilgrimage, London, 1828, as divided into independent tribes, managing their separate affairs each by its own council, and sometimes coming into conflict with each other, but uniting in a general council on occasions affecting the whole nation.
No. III. Danced calumet dance before going to war.
Battiste Good says: “Sung-over-each-other-while-on-the-war-path winter.” He adds: “The war party while out made a large pipe and sang each other’s praises.” A memorandum is also added that the pipe here seems to indicate peace made with some other tribe assisting in the war. But see pages [118] and [139].
1805-’06.—No. I. Eight Dakotas killed by Crows.
No. II. The Crows killed eight Dakotas. Again the short parallel black lines, this time eight in number, united by a long stroke. The interpreter, Fielder, says that this character with black strokes is only used for grave marks.
No. III. Eight Minneconjou Dakotas killed by Crow Indians at the mouth of Powder River.
Battiste Good says: “They-came-and-killed-eight winter.” The enemy killed eight Dakotas.