Arapaho people

“ This is another song about the whites, who are spoken of as “yellow hides” or “white skins.” The proper Arapaho name for a white man is Nia′tha, “skillful.” A great many names are applied to the whites by the different Indian tribes. By the Comanche, Shoshoni, and Paiute they are called Tai′vo, “easterners;” by the Hopi, of the same stock as the three tribes mentioned, they are known as Paha′na, “eastern water people;” by the Kiowa they are called Be′dălpago, “hairy mouths,” or Ta‛ka′-i, “standing ears.” It is very doubtful if the “pale face” of romance ever existed in the Indian mind. ”

“ The whole number of the Arapaho and Gros Ventres, including a few in eastern schools, is about 2,700.
Fig. 88—Arapaho tipi and windbreak.
Until very recently the Arapaho have been a typical prairie tribe, living in skin tipis and following the buffalo in its migrations, yet they retain a tradition of a time when they were agricultural. They are of a friendly, accommodating disposition, religious and contemplative, without the truculent, pugnacious character that belongs to their confederates, the Cheyenne, although they have always proven themselves brave warriors. ”

“ I perceive the correctness of my conjecture. I am on the butte—upon its summit. I am close to the edge of the platform, and command a full view of the valley below. A painted Arapaho is standing on each side of me. One is a common warrior, with nought to distinguish him from his fellows. The other is a chief. Even without the insignia of his rank, the tall gaunt form and lupine visage are easily identified. They are those of Red-Hand the truculent chieftain of the Arapahoes. ”

“ The Arapaho warriors, instead of scattering about the camp, to gratify their curiosity, and to pick up such loose available articles as they could lay their hands on, as was the custom of Indians on the plains at friendly talks, had kept in a body, had maintained a stolid gravity of demeanor, and had watched every movement of their chief and of all about the camp. ”

“ It was a joyful procession that left the Arapaho village to visit the old medicine-man. It was a twelvemonth since he had shown his face to the tribe, and their anxiety to see him was most intense. The mysterious and the supernatural profoundly affect the nature of the savage, as well as of the civilized man. The Arapahoes, convinced that their prophet possessed supernatural powers of a high order, were sure that he had come laden with news from the spirit-land, all of which they were eager to hear and prepared implicitly to believe.
Dove-eye, accompanied by Black Horse, led the procession. ”

“ While appearing to have all his attention concentrated upon the speakers, he carefully kept one eye upon Black Horse and his tomahawk.
“What you ask is entirely out of the question,” said Colonel Wilder, in reply to the last demand of the Arapaho chief. “If you have no better terms to offer, you may go, and take your warriors with you.”
“The Arapahoes come as they please, and go as they please. They have not learned to obey the commands of the white men.” ”

“ The word may mean “red willow (i. e., kinikinik) men,” or “blood-pudding men,” the latter etymology being derived from bä, blood, and chĭni′niki, to put liquid into a bladder.
Bääku′ni—“Red Feather,” the Arapaho name of Paul Boynton, a Carlisle student, and formerly interpreter at Cheyenne and Arapaho agency.
Baa′-ni′bina—“thunder-berries,” from băa′, thunder, and ni′bin, berry; a wild fruit, perhaps the black haw. See Arapaho song 51.
Bääthi′na—cedar tree. See Arapaho song 31.
Bad Pipes—one of the three bands of the northern Arapaho. Their present chief is Sharp Nose. ”

“ The Arapahoes seemed inspired by a desperate resolution to exterminate the band of Crows. They made charge after charge upon the breastwork, with the greatest fury, and on two occasions nearly gained possession of it. The white men persuaded their Indian allies to act altogether upon the defensive, to content themselves with repulsing the attacks of their assailants, and to labor as much as possible to strengthen their position. By this means, they argued, the Arapahoes would tire themselves out, and, when they should become wearied, they might be charged and put to flight. ”

“ Or might it be that tribe of still darker, deadlier fame—the hostile Arapaho? If they be Arapahoes, we need look for no mercy.
I sweep the glass over them, seeking for signs by which I may identify our enemy. I perceive one that is significant. The leggings of the chiefs and principal warriors are fringed with scalps; their shields are encircled by similar ornaments. Most of these appendages are of dark hue—the locks long and black. But not all are of this kind or colour. One shield is conspicuously different from the rest. A red-hand is painted upon its black disc. ”

“ The Indians who had been seen from the camp were Arapahoes, in pursuit of Dove-eye and the companions of her flight. Their chief was well enough acquainted with the reputation of both Old Blaze and Silverspur to know that they would not easily be caught, and he had determined to take enough men to follow them, if necessary, into the heart of the Crow [81] nation. The pursuers, therefore, were a war-party, numbering nearly two hundred of the best braves of the Arapahoes, a truly formidable array to the Crows and their white friends, if their intentions should prove to be hostile. ”

“ Among the tribes of North America their nearest peers would probably be found among the Navajos; but the Araucanians were in many respects far superior to their brothers of the northern plains. They were, above all, warriors, and for long they successfully resisted the Spanish invasion. They were a free, restless, brave, and highly independent people, and far better fitted for survival than their more highly cultured neighbors, and this they have proved by resistance to the ill effects of eastern civilization and a persistence unto this day. ”

“ The Arawaks proper were physically an undersized, weakly people, peaceable agriculturists, by far the most civilized of all Guiana peoples, being skilful weavers and workers in stone and gold. The chief tribes which may be called Arawakan are the Anti, Arawak, Barre, Goajiro, Guana, Manaos, Maneteneri, Maipuri, Maranho, Moxo, Passé, Piro and Taruma. ”

“ LANTARO, THE BOY HERO OF THE ARAUCANIANS. The river Biobio, in Southern Chili, was for centuries the boundary between liberty and oppression in South America. South of it lay the land of the Araucanians, that brave and warlike people who preserved their independence against the whites, the only Indian nation in America of which this can be said. Valorous and daring as were the American Indians, their arms and their arts were those of the savage, and the great multitude of them were unable to stand before the weapons and the discipline of their white invaders. ”

“ This is the real home of the natives, and for ages has formed the chief settlement of the Arawa tribe. Nothing could possibly be more grotesque than to see groups of the native women—from the wrinkled old grandams to the girls of a dozen years—bathing at all hours in the warm, steaming pools without any apparent thought of undue exposure. It is their daily, almost hourly resort. ”

“ He never rides in a wagon with it. Since the tribe is permanently divided under the modern reservation system, individuals or small parties of the southern Arapaho frequently make the long journey by railroad and stage to the reservation in Wyoming in order to see and pray over the sĕicha, as it is impossible, on account of the ceremonial regulations, for the keeper to bring it down to them in the south. ”

“ This song referring to the whites was composed by Nawat or Left Hand, chief of the southern Arapaho, and can hardly be considered dangerous or treasonable in character. According to his statement, in962 his trance vision of the other world the father showed him extensive orchards, telling him that in the beginning all these things had been given to the whites, but that hereafter they would be given to his children, the Indians. Nia′tha, plural Nia′thuă, the Arapaho name for the whites, signifies literally, expert, skillful, or wise. ”

“ The Big Medicine, he was told, had spoken quite imperfectly the dialect used by the Arapahoes, and the lame excuse which he had given, although it had easily satisfied the credulous Indians, had another effect upon Silas Wormley. Again—why had he directed the Arapahoes to release Old Blaze, about whom he seemed to know so much? What was the hunter doing when he was captured near the village? For what purpose had he come there? The trader knew that white men on the plains, like snakes, are generally found in couples. When one is seen, there is another not far from him. ”

“ A plateau before the cliff commands a view of broken hills and ravines, becoming less rugged as they descend and finally melting into the wide expanse of prairie that stretches endlessly toward the east.
Among these hills and ravines a fearful scene is being acted. A party of Arapaho Indians have been surprised by a band of Crows, who have attacked them with such vigor that they are flying in all directions, pursued by their bloodthirsty and vindictive adversaries. The air resounds with shouts and yells, with screams and shrieks ”

“ The yells and wailing cries that followed told the Arapahoes that their chief had fallen, and they soon drew off, to the great relief of the defenders of the camp. As they went, they carried with them their dead and wounded, a proceeding which their foes were unable to prevent, although some of them would have been willing to prevent it.
The Crows and the few remaining white men were so exhausted by the deadly and protracted struggle that they were glad to throw themselves on the ground and rest, even before they could attend to their wounded and count up their losses. ”

“ There seems to be no possible trace of a clan or gentile system among the Arapaho, and the same remark holds good of the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche. It was once assumed that all Indian tribes had the clan system, but later research shows that it is lacking over wide areas in the western territory. It is very doubtful if it exists at all among the prairie tribes generally. Mr Ben Clark, who has known and studied the Cheyenne for half a lifetime, states positively that they have no clans, as the term is usually understood. ”

“ Among the northern Arapaho, on the occasion of every grand gathering, the sacred pipe occupied a special large tipi in the center of the circle, and the taking down of this tipi by the medicine keeper was the signal to the rest of the camp to prepare to move. On the occasion of a visit of several hundred Cheyenne and Arapaho to the Kiowa and Comanche at Anadarko, in the summer of 1892, each of the visiting tribes camped in a separate circle adjacent to the other. The opening of the circle, like the door of each tipi, always faces the east. ”

“ The civilization of the Araucanians, both past and present, is among the most interesting of the social developments of American origin, and is, perhaps, the one which has survived in truest individuality. Little record is found of individuals; but two historical facts may be cited concerning the women of the great Indian race of the south facts illustrative of the spirit which was inculcated into females as well as males and born of the indomitable love of liberty which was the fundamental characteristic of the Araucanians. ”

“ The only Arapahoes that by any stretch of the imagination could be said to have been under the protection of the military were the small part of the tribe under the control of Left Hand, a sub-chief; while there is no doubt whatever as to the hostility of the head chief Raven and his followers, who constituted a large majority of the tribe. It is generally conceded that the chief Left Hand and a few of his adherents were peaceably inclined. ”

“ Like the Cheyennes, the Arapahoes have been somewhat tamed of late by the transit of the United States army in 1857.
Among the Prairie Indians, when a war-chief has matured the plans for an expedition, he habits himself in the garb of battle. ”

“ On the South Platte the white people are finding gold, and the Cheyennes and Arapahoes have no longer any hunting-grounds. Our country has become very small, and before our children are grown up we shall have no game.”
In the autumn of this year (1859) an agent was sent to hold a council with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, and tell them of the wish of the Government that they should “assume a fixed residence, and occupy themselves in agriculture. ”

“ The famished Arapahoes and their horses had been fed and cared for, but they did not move away. Instead of moving away, they came in increasing numbers. As early as April 8, 1878, nearly the whole tribe was on the scene. Washakie protested to the agent. The agent at frequent intervals communicated the protests to the Commissioner. There was nothing in return but silence. Months lengthened into years, and the signs accumulated steadily that the Arapahoes were there to stay. Schools were established for their benefit to the end that their youth might be adequately trained. ”

“ Some two or three hundred lodges of Arapahoes are encamped in and about this log city, calculating that the presence of the whites will afford some protection to their wives and children against a Ute onslaught, while the braves are off on any of their fighting—that is stealing—expeditions. ”

“ The dark line of Arapaho warriors stopped ere they had got within reach of our two friends, for scarcely had their own war-cry pealed from their own lips, when there arose another yell that seemed to issue from the earth, the sky and [70] the air, so loud and fierce that the earth seemed to tremble beneath them.
Mahaska had been true to his word, and, with his warriors, had come to the rescue; and, after all, the Arapahoes were the surprised party, and like sheep they scattered and fled in every direction. Half of their number, however, fell under the blows of the Sioux.
Tumult and Town. ”