Gunnison news-champion and tribune., 1904-07-08
IlANoE


Sioux dance of the same naEne
danced by both sexes. The Lam
HORSE Dance h. exclusively iu
women. aud the Bear Danee Tor bath
men and women.
The Bear Dance is given by SOM
one 0f the main Ute TRIBES once q
year, and is for the purpose of sssist
ing the bears In the mountains
o. recover from Information. 10 pr
vide food for tine living bears and ihe
spirit bears IN the Happy Hunting
Grounds; 81 charm the dancers FROM
dangers from bears. and Is besides a
social function, II takes place ia
March, lasts four days and one might.
and is followed by a feast. The
dance is held out Of doors in circu-
lar enclosure made Of green boughs
CHRIsutNIH.
No serious effort has been made 10
convert the Southern Utes 30 Christ
ianity, and but little progress has
been made in educating their young
Several boys aud girls have been
sent 10 schools and kept there for
few months at a time but the best
educated among them can only man
age 10 read IN the third readers
Of the public schools. They
learn rapidly, taking into con
sideratI0n the fact that before they
advance they must master a foreign
language, bat they are ma ong
enough in the schools PsseaD Are
s~cse v sesAsnS their shieyouA =.
school, and thef school training does
but hys/g good to children who are
'sent back 10 the old careless tribal
life and blanket costume.
The lives of these Indians are very
narrow and restricted. even among
those who remain in Colorado and
who have become stock raisers and
citizens. They have but little inter
course with the whites, as they know
white men are NOT well disposed
toward them lfthey are approached
m the right way they are very
friendly, and they greatly esteem the
friendship Of white men whom they
like and respect. They are staunch
IN friendship, honest and truthful,
bnt bitter and implacable i'm eumity.
Most OF the men can speak Eng
Hsh, but the women talk mostly in
Spanish. Their own dialect Is rather
more harsh than other Indian dia-
lects There aro comparatively few
words in their language. but un ac-
count Of the difficulty in reducing il
TO grammar, their dialect is hard
10 master, for a word may have many
different meanings according r0 the
way 1T is infected.
They have a system Of notation
running 10 one hundred. After
counting TO that number, they begin
at 'onc' again, making a marx for
each one hundred.
Considering the few words al their
command and the mcagcrur-s of
their language, most Of them adopted
Spanish prior 10 the white occupation
of their country.
The force of their broken English
is greatly enhanced by their intense
earucstuess when speaking upon ser
Ious subjects, by their Undesirable
dignity. by their sparkling eyes and
their magnificent powers Of Er-ticu-
latIan ouray possessed this per
-Juai magnetism, and infused the
fire and enthusiasm 1l his own nature
into that of his people
Card >churz, Secretary of the In
terror under President Hayes. speak
ing of the various Indian Chiefs Of
the wild tribes whom be had met
and c0uyer7ed with, regarded Chief
Ouray as by far the wisest indian he
had ever seen.
Ouray was a rich Indian Ile
possessed large herds of cattle and #
horses. and lived in a house with
stair case in it,-a thing Of which in
dIans are apt TO be especially proud.
He had a carriage and table knives
and forks which he used at his meals
\ former governor Of Colorado had
also given him a set Of silver ware.
castUrs. napkin rings. etc. which he
kept mainly for display. His refine
ment in the matter Of home decora-
- ] 4