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3. The Pawnees and Their Agents
- University of Nebraska Press
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87 Chapter Three The Pawnees and Their Agents John Dunbar had been in the West for three years when he wrote an ethnographic outline of the Pawnee tribe.1 The Pawnees are divided into four distinct bands. These are the Grand Pawnees , the Republican Pawnees, Pawnee Loups, and Tapage Pawnees. The Grand Pawnee village is on the south side of the Platte 130 miles from its junction with the Missouri. Tapage and a part of the Republican band live in the same village on the north side of the Loup fork of the Platte 30 miles above its mouth. The other part of the Republican band live in a little village 4 miles above the Tapage on the same stream. The Pawnee Loups have a village on the Loup fork 3 miles above the little Republican village. The four villages have a population of 8,000 or 10,000 souls, and may all be visited by riding 30 miles. It may be questioned whether there be another spot in the whole Indian country where so many immortal beings may be visited with so little travel. The different bands intermarry. The chiefs of each band seem to be independent in managing the affairs of their respective clans. But when business of common interest is to be transacted a general council of the chiefs and others from the different bands is held. The first chief of the Grand Pawnees is the first chief of the nation. Jealousies often exist between the different clans, villages , and chieftains. The Loups have longest been separated from the parent stock, and between this and the other bands there is a less intimate connection existing than between either of the three other bands. Between the Loups and the other bands war has been waged. The Loups have been so long a distinct band that their language has become dialectically different from that spoken by the others. The Rees, or Aricaras were once probably a band of Pawnees, but their separation has been of such long standing, that their language has become Chapter Three 88 materially different from the Pawnee tongue, yet there is still a striking resemblance . This tribe numbers from 2,000 to 3,000—has been hostile to the whites, is poor and wretched and distinguished for the beauty of their females.2 The government of the Pawnees is exercised by the chiefs. Some of these possess a good degree of authority and influence over their people. Usually they are the fathers of their people and instead of receiving any compensation for their services do much directly to promote the happiness of their subjects by feeding them and giving them presents. In the exercise of their authority they are generally mild, but when the occasion requires it, they are sufficiently severe. Instances have been known of life’s having been taken to secure obedience . A man who persists in his disobedience is pretty sure not to escape a sound beating. The chiefs take a deep interest in the welfare of their people. I have known them to manifest much anxiety to benefit their people, and this too when they stood most in need of the sympathies and efforts of their rulers . Rank among the Pawnees is hereditary. A man is a chief because his father was. But all authority is conferred by the common consent of the people. A man may be in rank a chief, yet have no authority. To be an authoritative chieftain a man must have rank, and be a favorite of his clan. Among the Pawnees a man becomes a brave by stealing horses and killing his fellowmen. It is not necessary however among those wild savages, for a man to have contributed to the destruction and misery of so many of his fellow mortals to constitute himself a hero, as it is in lands dominated [by] Christians. The Pawnees make two hunts each year, the summer and winter hunt. To perform the winter hunt they leave their villages usually in the last week of October , and do not return to them again till about the first of April. They now prepare their cornfields for the ensuing season. The ground is dug up with the hoe, the corn is planted and well tended. When it has attained to a certain height, they leave it, and go out to their summer hunt. This is done near the last of June. About the first of September they return to their villages. Formerly the...