James H. Howard

Ponca Dances, Ceremonies and Music

T he Ponca are a small Lower Missouri tribe of the Siouan family, numbering approximately 1500 persons. Aboriginally, they were in part agriculturalists who also hunted buffalo and deer, and belonged to the great complex of tribes subsumed under the Plains culture area. In 1879, as a result of action taken by the United States Government, the tribe was divided into two bands. Those Ponca who returned to the old

Two Newly-Recorded Dakota House Types

ing Mr Saul separately on a number of different occasions. The information secured was then compared, and where some bit of information was discrepant, he was questioned again. Very few such discrepancies occurred in Mr Sauls accounts given on ten different occasions. A few other older Yanktonai present during one of the interviews remembered the earth lodge as well, but could not supply details concerning its construction.