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Gordon, Hanford Lennox, 1836-1920

"The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems"

The principal village of these hereditary chiefs
was _Ke-uk-sa_, or _Ke-o-sa_,--where now stands the fair city of Winona.
_Ke-uk-sa_ signifies--The village of law-breakers; so called because
this band broke the law or custom of the Dakotas against marrying blood
relatives of any degree. I get this information from Rev. Stephen R.
Riggs, author of the Dakota Grammar and Dictionary, "_Takoo Wakan_,"
etc. _Wapasa_, grandfather of the last chief of that name, and a
contemporary of _Cetan-Wa-ka-wa-mani_, was a noted chief, and a friend
of the British in the war of the Revolution. _Neill's Hist. Minn._, pp.
225-9.
[9] _E-ho, E-to_--Exclamations of surprise and delight.
[10] _Mah-gah_--The wild-goose.
[11] _Tee-pee_--A lodge or wigwam, often contracted to "_tee_."
[12] Pronounced _Mahr-pee-yah-doo-tah_--literally, Cloud Red.
[13] Pronounced _Wahnmdee_--The War Eagle. Each feather worn by a warrior
represents an enemy slain or captured--man, woman or child; but the
Dakotas, before they became desperate under the cruel warfare of their
enemies, usually spared the lives of their captives, and never killed
women or infants, except in rare instances under the _lex talionis_.


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