White-Cow-Killer calls it: “Made-a-house-of-old-wood winter.”
1820-’21.—No. I. Large dirt lodge made by Two-Arrow. The projection at the top extends downward from the left, giving the impression of red and black cloth streamers.
No. II. The trader, La Conte, gave Two-Arrow a war-dress for his bravery. So translated an interpreter, and the sign shows the two arrows as the warrior’s totem; likewise the gable of a house, which brings in the trader; also a long strip of black tipped with red streaming from the roof, which possibly may be the piece of parti-colored material out of which the dress was fashioned. This strip is not intended for sparks and smoke, as at first sight suggested, as the red would in that case be nearest the roof, instead of farthest from it.
No. III. A Minneconjou Dakota, named Two-Arrows, built himself a dirt medicine-lodge. This the interpreter calls, rather inaccurately, a headquarters for dispensing medicines, charms, and nostrums to the different bands of Dakotas. The black and red lines above the roof are not united and do not touch the roof.
White-Cow-Killer calls it: “Two-Arrows-made-a-war-bonnet winter.”
Battiste Good says: They made bands of strips of blankets in the winter.
Major Bush says: A Minneconjou, named Two-Arrow, made medicine in a dirt-lodge.
It will be observed that the interpreters vary in the details.
