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A striped skunk and a new-born mole

Ethnographic Notes

A striped skunk, which the Lakota call maka (Buechel, 1970: 328) is at the left. The small, short-tailed creature with naked, wrinkled skin, shown at the right, is a new-born mole, which Lakotas call “lice in hair” (wahinheya), a name sometimes also used for the physically-similar pocket gopher (Buechel, 1970: 517). Compare Plate 61, where the stuffed skin of an adult mole represents the Earth, in an altar for the Buffalo Dreamer ceremony. The amazing depiction, here, is a testiment to the clinical curiosity of Black Road. New-born moles are blind, defenseless, and never leave their underground nest. In order to have seen one, and recorded its appearance with such accuracy, Black Road must have dug out an entire tunnel system, to learn what might be at the end.


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Provenance

Private owner. Provenance provided by 3rd generation descendants of Charles A. Wilkins on a typed note taped ...

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Document Info
Plate No: 14
Page No: --
Media: pencil and colored pencil
Dimensions: 6.5 x 7.25 inches
Custodian
Personal Collection
Artist
Black Road
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