The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-02-04

do it you will soon forget how to do II
| till you are shown the second time"
The trick Is to take little loop of
| string, catch it on the two fore fingers,
| bring the thumbs to the fingers and,
| giving the latter dexterous turn, sud
denly leave the tied loop lying loose on
the two fingers. It is one of the
simplest and hardest string tricks that
can be tried. It was originally devised
by the Comanche Indians.
Here is Cheyenne puzzle in arithme-
tic which, although placed in progress
sive ratio. is not easy to solve. If any
! white civilian thinks it inconsequential
let him try it. The problem Is this: An
Indian mother had three sons. To one
she gave ten apples, to another thirty,
and to the third fifty, saying: eco, my
sons, sell all your apples for the same
price and bring me back each of you
the same amount of money"
How did they do it? Mu-la-que-tah
can tell You.
This is the way the plains Indians
split buffalo hide.
What is the half of twelve?" Every
body says six" of course.
Mu-la-que-tah says seven. Of course
it is a trick, but how possibly? The In
dians simply take the numeral XII. and
draw line through one-half Of it, or
fold one-haf back on paper, and say:
See? VII; the half of twelve is seven"
The halved top OF the numeral tells the
story.
Curious tricks like these serve to
while away the night.
Geography is taught by rude tracings
in the sand / saw an old Indian teach
ing little Indian boy the whole coun-
try from the Mississippi to the Pacific
coast by river and railroads and large
towns drawn in earth.
But dancing with the Indians, as with
rs, is the main pastlme Of the nocturnal
hours. For these dances both men and
women robe themselves in their best at
tire and deck their hair, limbs and bod
les in beadworl1 of all devices and de-
the dancers. A few only it fell to my
lot to witness.
The sign dance" IS a very clever and
curious one. A pretty woman leads a
man into the room set apart for the pur-
pose. This is one of two tepees thrown
together. In one are the tom-tom beat
ers. in the other the dancers. In this
room the couple begin to dance. max
ing signs to each other, the meaning OF
which may be: well, what do you
think of me? Do you like me? Do you
think me pretty? How do affect you?"
and so on, the signs being all
closely watched By the spectators.
who applaud. giggle, chuckle OF laugh
uproarious-y by turns as the case may
be. Such a dance is a questioning
bee, a collision Of wits on the part of
two really facetious Indians. Wit is
universal trait OF the savage. Some
white mer draw All Indians draw.
Some white men are cunning. All In
dams are cunning. Some white men are
humorous. All Indians are witty Dry
Wit. with 4 proverbial philosophy in il
which would have delighted the soul Of
upper. IS indigenous to the Indian
The Indian IS the finest ep;Zrannatist
on earth His sentences are pithy and
and involved. A book Of Indian wit and
wisdom would have an enormous sale
and would reveal the very core of his /
thought on e typical scale.
! saw one of these women. who was 2
true type Of al Indian 9irt. She was
sweet, saucy. subtle, seductive. She
had the art Of keeping in stock con
stantly about her a score of bucks. each
one Of whom battered himself that he
and he alone was the special object o. I
her aomiratio Every tribe has had It's
belle, Pa-quitz for the Modocs. Ur-slzs-
te-na for the Navaios Mini-haha FOR the
Dacotas, RornOna for the neiEhbo-iR-
bands These bellies have their foes
among Indian women. but however cor
daily hated hey new orawi or come !
TO hLn<rs