PAWNEE, pa-n?('. The most important tribe of the Caddoan stock (q.v.) of North American Indians. They formerly claimed a large terri tory upon the Platte River. in what is now Nebraska. ranging from the Niobrara on the north to the Arkansas on the south. and occa sionally extending their forays far down into Texas or New Mexico. They were in chronic warfare with every surrounding tribe with the xetption of the Omaha, Ponca, and Oto, whom they treated as wards and dependents. The few temaining are now associated with the Ponca, Oto, and Tonkawa upon Oakland Reservation, ndahonia.
The Pawnees call themselves k*ihiksihiks, 'men of men,' or 'super-excellent men.' The popular name wars to be derived from the Pawnee 1,ariki. 'a horn,' referring to their pec•ulia scalp lock, which id] s dressed to stand nearly erect: This mark indicates a Pawnee in the pictographs of the plains tribes and undoubtedly also gave origin to the tribal sign, now interpreted to mean `Wolf People' They have four bands o• grand divisions, viz. Shau-i, o• Grand (i.e. 'prin cipal'), Kitkrhaki, or Republican, Pitahaucrat, or Tapage (`noisy'), and Skidi, or Loup ('Wolf'). The Skidi were originally a distinct and hostile tribe, which bad preceded the Paw nee proper, by whom they were conquered and incorporated. Traditional and historic evidence show•s that the Pawnee and .Arikara migrated from the south, probably from about the middle Red River, adjoining the cognate Caddo tribes. The Skidi and Arikara may have preceded the others by perhaps a century, the latter continu ing up the Alissouri. while the Skidi halted at the Platte, where they were overtaken by the Pawnee proper. The dialects of the Pawnee, Skidi, Arikara. and Wichita are all so closely related as to constitute but one language. The Pawnee appear to have been known to the Span i:n•ds as early as 1626. They are noted upon Sla•quette's map of 1673 about where they were found in 1804 by Lewis and C'la•k, viz. the lower Platte near its confluence with the Missouri. By treaty in 1833 they ceded their lands south of the Platte and came under the supervision of an agent. Some civilizing work was started among them, which prospered for a little time until the hostile Sioux drove them south of the river, compelling them to abandon their fields and villages. About the same time. in 1838, the
great smallpox epidemic carried of at least 2000 of their number. In 1849 probably a greater nuumbe• perished by cholera. Since then Their history has been one of swift and certain decline from disease, removal, and unceasing warfare in which the Pawnee found every man's hand against him. They have never, however, as a been at war with the whites, but, on the contrary, have frequently furnished a con tingent of scouts in our various difficulties with the Northern plains tribes. One main factor in the introduction of disease has been the great trail, which passed directly through their territory. In 1858 they ceded all their remaining original territory except a strip 30 miles long by 15 wide upon the Imp River. In 1874 they sold this and removed to their pres ent location in Oklahoma.
Like all the tribes of C'addoan stock, the Paw nee were principally agricultural and sedentary, building large circular houses of log, covered with earth, and raising abundant crops of corn, pumpkins. and ether Indian vegetables, which they dried or cached for winter use. The skin tipi was used only for temporary purposes when upon the buffalo hunt, away from their perma nent villages. They are of good physique, some what more robust than the regular hunting tribes, and were noted for their running and walking powers. It is said that their warriors could cover one hundred miles in twenty-four hours on a foot trot without stopping to eat or sleep. They were devoted to religious ceremo nials, the Skidi being particularly noted for their bloody rite of human sacrifice, offered to the horning Star, as the spirit of fertility on the occasion of the annual corn planting, the victim being a captive girl. See PETALESIIARO.
The best early estimate of their population is that by the missionaries Dunbar and Allis in 1835, who give them 10,000. In 1840, after the smallpox, the same authorities estimated them at about 7500. In 1847 they were about 8400, but were again terribly reduced by the great cholera epidemic in 1849. Later official esti mates are 4686 in 1856; 3416 in 1861; 2370 in 1874 (just before removal to Oklahoma) ; 1440 in 1879; 824 in 1889; 029 in 1901.