1826-’27.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.
1824-’25.—No. I. All the horses of Little-Swan’s father are killed by Indians through spite.
No. II. Swan, chief of the Two Kettle tribe, had all of his horses killed. Device, a horse pierced by a lance, blood flowing from the wound.
No. III. Swan, a Minneconjou Indian, had twenty horses killed by a jealous Indian.
Mato Sapa says: Swan, a Minneconjou chief, lost twenty horses killed by a jealous Indian.
Major Bush says the same.
1825-’26.—No. I. River overflows the Indian camp; several drowned. The-Flame, the recorder of this count, born. In the original drawing the five objects above the line are obviously human heads.
No. II. There was a remarkable flood in the Missouri River, and a number of Indians were drowned. With some exercise of fancy, the symbol may suggest heads appearing above a line of water, or it may simply be the severed heads, several times used, to denote Indians other than Dakotas, with the uniting black line of death.
No. III. Thirty lodges of Dakota Indians drowned by a sudden rise of the Missouri River about Swan Lake Creek, which is in Horsehead Bottom, 15 miles below Fort Rice. The five heads are more clearly drawn than in No. II.