The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-25

me is Fearing bear-t hat-is-wild.'
With this Interpretation the agent
named him Fearing B. Wilde This
is not a bad arrangement but there are
many Indians whom l have met with
whose names could not be so niceiy
altered. For instance. I remember a
Crow Indian whose name, translated,
was 'Kil1s-the-one-wi th-th -blue-mark-
Observation-Disclosures Others met
were named OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES 3,
Keeps-his -head-a bove-water,' Walk
Whitewater Rain-in-the-face. era
zy horse 'Yellow-bonnet,' and 'Afraid-
of-his-enemy. These names, of course,
are uncouth, un-American, and unciv-
ilized.
LAS the Indian grows he commits
acts from time to time, each of which
gives him a new name. For example,
he may see bear and run screaming
to a tepee. The folks all laugh at him
and call him 'Afraid-of-a-bear.
Later on he may become the possess
sor of an unruly pony. which he is
afraid to ride. and he then becomes
known as 'Afraid-o of his-horses.' Or
he may mount a horse from which
another Indian has been thrown, and
he then becomes known as 'Rides-the-
horse Further he may become a
great hunter and kill many wild ami
mails, and he then is known as Five
BEARS and when he Stays another, he
dS known as 'SiX-bears.' He may
perform a valiant deed in battle. and
ride his horse through the camp of
the enemy, for which he becomes
known as Charges through- the-camp.
During the conflict he may kill one
of the enemy. If his victim is the
L. Il l.
the-enemy' But if others fall, the
one he kills must be described in his
name, as Kills the one- with the-eagle-
-his-scalp' or. lsthe-one
who-rides- the pony with the bob tail. :
If he braids in his hair a yellow
feather which he has plucked from the
tail of an eagle he may be called
'Eagle-tail, 'Eagle-feather,' Yellow
tail, 'Yellow-feather.' If he gives it
to his friend, he will be known as
'Gives-feather,' but if he keeps it,
when asked for it, he becomes Keeps
e-yellow-feather,' if he has more
than one feather.
"Or he may obtain his name from
some other object. If he is accus-
toned to ride what is commonly known
has a short TAIL he will be known as
'Bob-tail-horse.' Now, the chances
are that he will be known by all the
forging names. His enemies in the
tribe will continue to speak of him as
Long-ears,' or 'Afraid-of- his-horse,
while his friends will speak of him
as 'Rides-h his horse 'Six-bears, and
| Kills the-enemy. For this reason ii
occurs that if you speak of an In
dian in the presence of members oil
his tribe and call him 'Six-bears,
- Io.Y ut md n n
not his name: his name "Runs-from-
a-bear." But if you speak of him to
other Indians and call him Runs
from-a- bear they will scowl and say.
That not his name: his name Kills
the-enemy." Hence it will be seen
that the Indian names are delusion
and a snare and the practice of con-
verting them into English is eminently
wise. 1t is certain that the names on
the rolls at the agency are only one
of the Indians many names. AT the
Colville Reservation, in this State,
there are such names as these Grant
on Hi Tom e o, jim Chel Quen LIE, Lot
Whist LIE pc som, Mack Chill sit sa,
and Alex sin he sa lock- The plan
resorted to in some quarters of dis
carding the Indian names altogether
and fitting the Indians out with names
that are purely English has not
worked well, for those selected, in
MANY cases. are names illustrious in
American history, and this has caused
the Indian to become the butt of many
joke.
civilian Penn, Fitzhugh Lee, David
B. Hill, and William Shakespeare are
the names of Indian policemen at the
Shoshone Agency, Wyoming. l my
self have seen George Washington,
John Quincy Adams, Franklin Pierce
Rip Van Wrinkle, Allen G.. Thurman
and Hilary A. Herbert engaged to-
gether in a game. A funny little Incl
dent is reported from the Apache Res
ervation in Utah-AriZona. An Indian
policeman rode up to the government
school and delivered a little boy to
the superintendent. What's his nameE
demanded the superintendent. 'Des-
to-dah.' replied the Indian in Federal
blue as he rode away. 'Des-to-dah,
unused the Superintendent Queer
name. Max will fit him very nicely
for a first name So the little fellow
was duly christened Max Des-to-dah
1t turned out, however. that 'des-to-
dab was the Indian word for don't
know The Indian policeman had
simply said that he did not know
what the name of the child was. II
further turned out that Max was one
of four brothers in the same school,
no two of them having the same sur
name. One finds many cases here and
there where the Indian name is not
carried through the family. On the
Chebalis Reservation dwells Tenas
Pete. He has two sons, Sam Pete
and Joe Peterson. Two brothers on
this reservation are named Bruce Jack