Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/117



them and had become in some degree civilized. During the Civil War the Iowas were loyal to the Union and many of them enlisted in the National Army, making good soldiers. In October, 1891, they finally surrendered their tribal organization and accepted lands in severalty.

At the time of the removal of the tribe from Iowa, the second Ma-has-kah, son of the great Ma-has-kah and his favorite wife, Rant-che-wai-me, was ruling chief. He was a quarrelsome, drunken fellow, inheriting none of the virtues of his mother, nor the administrative ability or military genius of his father.

The Iowas were worshipers of a Great Spirit, the creator and ruler of the universe. They had a tradition that a very long time ago a month's rain came and drowned all living animals and people, excepting a few who escaped in a great canoe. The Great Spirit then made from red clay another man and woman and from them all Indians descended. They regarded rattlesnakes and a certain species of hawks with veneration. Unlike most other Indian tribes, they are chaste in their social relations; illegitimate children are never found among them. Among themselves the Iowas were called Pa-hu-cha, which in English means “dusty nose.” Their tradition is that when they separated from the original tribe, they settled near the mouth of a river having large sandbars along the shore. The sand and dust from these were blown into their faces, giving them dusty noses and their name Pa-hu-chas. Their language was that of the Dakota group, of which they were a part. They were divided into eight clans, known as Eagle, Pigeon, Buffalo, Elk, Bear, Wolf, Beaver and Snake; each clan having a totem of the bird or animal they represented. Each clan had a particular method of cutting and wearing the hair. The name of the greatest of the Iowa war chiefs, Mahaska, has been given to one of the counties in Des Moines Valley, embracing a portion of our State over which this once powerful tribe held dominion. if they got pregnant they had to make the husband leave till the baby was born:)