THE SIOUX DESCRIBED BY A MAN WHO LIVED WITH THEM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 185, 13 October 1876, Page 13

THE SIOUX DESCRIBED BY A MAN WHO LIVED WITH THEM.

++ A ebpobtbb of the ' St. Louis Globe-Democrat' met Mr. J. D. Keller, a gentleman who resides in that city, and who possesses a great deal of interesting information about the Sioux, having 1 lived with them five years. Mr. Keller was, from 1868 to 1873, clerk of the agent at Standing Rock, and had ample opportunities to get acquainted with this tribe of bloodthirsty savages. In fact, he lived among them so long that he learned to speak their language " like a native," and was a great favorite of the big chiefs who came to the agency. They called him " Minnehua Ochila" (the writing boy). The word Sioux means "cut-throat." According to Mr. Keller's statement, the various bands of Sioux number from 35,000 to 45,000, and are divided into the following different tribes : — Unkapapa, Black Feet, Sans Arcs, Two Kettles, Upper Tanktonais, Lower Yonktonais, Santee Sioux, Burgklys, Mini Conjoux, and Galkaa. Part of these live east and part west of the Missouri River. Tatonka Otahka (Sitting Bull), who led the savages in the fight against Ouster, belongs to the TJnkapapas (dried beef-eaters). Mr. Keller knows him well. He has a large head, eyes, and nose, high cheek bones : one of his legs is shorter than the other, from a gun-shot wound in the left knee. His countenance is of an extremely savage type, betraying that bloodthirstiness and brutality for which he has been so long notorious. He has the name of being one of the most successful scalpers in the Indian country. There has been a standing reward of l,ooodol. offered for his head for the last eight years, by the Montana people, who have special cause to know his ferocious nature, some of his worst deeds having been perpetrated in that Territory. The Sioux, when on the war path, black their faces from the eyes down, the forehead being colored a bright red. When in mourning, and very eager to revenge the death of friends or relations, they cut their hair short, and daub their faces with white earth. Their feats of horsemanship are wonderful. They consider the greatest act of valor to be the striking of their enemy with some hand instrument while alive, and whether alive or dead, it is the first one that strikes the fallen foe that " counts the coup," and not the one that shoots him. They do not always scalp. Their object in scalping is to furnish a proof of their deed, and give them to their women to dance over. They always attack in a sweeping, circling line, eagle like, give a volley, pass on, circle and return on a different angle. "When they kill one of the enemy there is always a rush to get the first crack at him, so as to "count the coup," and then some Indian, who was disappointed in getting a cut at the victim while alive, scalps him. The Sioux always camp with tepes (lodges) in a circle, making, as it were, a stockade, and, when on dangerous ground, they picket their ponies in the centre. Mr. Keller is familiar with the ground where the disastrous engagement of Custer occurred. Concerning this, he said : "My idea of the Custer slaughter is that the Indians had no women and children in their lodges, and had parapets dug under the lodges out of sight. Custer, thinking it was a family camp, rushed into the centre of their fort, where resistance would necessarily prove fatal. His only means of escape was, after finding himself in this fix, to run right through and out, and not stop to fight, but join Reno's command and retreat."