Fig. 511.—An Indian woman, who had been unfaithful to a white man to whom she was married, was killed by an Indian named Ponka. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1804-’05.
The emblem for Ponka is the straight elk hair ridge.
Fig. 512.—Ponka.
Fig. 512.—A Ponka, who was captured when a boy by the Oglalas, was killed while outside the village by a war party of Ponkas. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1793-’94.
The artificial headdress, consisting of a ridge of elk hair, is again portrayed.
SHOSHONI.
Dr. George Gibbs (b) describes a pictograph made by one of the Indian tribes of Oregon and Washington, upon which “the figure of a man with a long queue or scalp lock reached to his heels denoted a Shoshoni, that tribe being in the habit of braiding horse or other hair into their own in that manner.”
This may be correct regarding the Shoshoni Indians among the extreme northwestern tribes, but the mark of identification could not be based upon the custom of braiding with their own hair that of animals, to increase the length and appearance of the queue, as this custom also prevails among the Absaroka, Hidatsa, and Arikaa Indians, respectively, as before mentioned in this work.
Tanner’s Narrative (e) gives additional information on this topic regarding the absence of any tribal sign in connection with a human figure.