Plains Indian Ledger Art: Arrow's Elk Society Ledger - PLATE 76
LEDGER

Arrow's Elk Society Ledger

PLATE
No. 21 of 85
PLATE 76
ARTIST
Arrow
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Document Info

Page No. 76
Media:
Dimensions: 8.5 * 14 inches inches

Tribe

Cheyenne, Cheyenne - Southern

Custodian

Various Private Owners

Provenance

Collected in 1882 at Darlington, Indian Territory (Oklahoma) by Sallie C. Maffet.
Descendants of Maffet sold the manuscript at Sotheby's auction in N ...More

Essays & Videos

Arrow
by Mike Cowdrey


Keywords

No keywords for this plate.

Ethnographic Notes


This is rather a surprising picture, as one would not expect a bobcat to attack anything as large as a horse. Another drawing, by Squint Eyes, shows two Cheyennes lassoing a bobcat (Wheeler, 1978: 140-41). The spotted pelts of bobcats are appreciated by Cheyennes for the inherent beauty of their markings, as well as for a host of symbolic associations. Like cougars, for example, their curved, white claws are related to the crescent moon, and thought to be protective against death (Moore, 1974: 153); see also the discussion of crescent motifs with Plate 7. Bobcat pelts were used as wrappers for war shields---see the painting of a Cheyenne Sun Dance camp attributed to Little Chief in Heth, 1992: Fig. 151, bottom center.

Arrow may be recognized here from the feather talisman tied to the tail of his buckskin horse; as well as from the silver-mounted headstall, and the yellow, Mexican saddle seen earlier in Plate 32. His weapon is an 1873-model Winchester carbine. A yellow, latigo-leather scabbard for this rifle is carried, suspended upside down from the saddle horn. The tip of this scabbard is inserted under a secondary cinch (not visible here), which Arrow has tied over the folded, dark blue (shown as black) trade cloth blanket that is laid across the saddle to pad the seat. Compare Plate 88, where this over-cinch is shown in red. By Plate 154, Arrow has added two latigo-leather straps to support this scabbard. It appears also in Plates 120 & 144. The circular design on the scabbard sleeve is stamped or carved into the leather. Like the saddle, it is not of Indian origin. In Plate 126, Arrow employs a Cheyenne-made rifle scabbard.

It is interesting, and perhaps a reflection of the communal nature of Cheyenne society, that Arrow shows himself using both 1866 and 1873-model Winchesters. On two occasions the flashy 1866 "yellow boy" carbine is chosen for social events, and may have been borrowed for the sake of appearance. The 1866 model appears in Plates 74 & 154; the 1873 model is used in Plates 120 & 144. A different 1866-model Winchester is carried by another man in Plate 165.

Arrow wears brass armbands over a white shirt with red and black pinstripes. A cartridge belt is buckled over the shirt, with a red trade cloth blanket loosely wrapped around his waist, partly covering a breechcloth of the same material, and dark blue trade cloth leggings. These are accented with a stripe of gold braid. Arrow's moccasins are fully beaded; he wears a dentalium choker with the spacers painted yellow; and his face is painted in three colors. The blue stripe across his mouth may have been inspired by kingfisher markings, since the bird was a favorite war talisman (Grinnell, 1923, II: 120, 122).

The two ends of a red and blue woven sash hang below Arrow's blanket, apparently worn as a gee-string to support the breechcloth. These seem to have been a popular item of dress for Cheyenne men. Ten others, in different patterns, appear in the collection: Plates 102, 104, 106, 132, 134-136, 140, 142, 148, 160, 161 & 162. For a ca. 1895 photograph of a Cheyenne man wearing a sash of this type, see Cowdrey 1999: Fig. 35.

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