298 OMAHA SOCIOLOGY

in thenjeji,^'*orbole in the ground, whicli

had

been

dug

in the center of the tribal circle. After the plantiug of thetree, from whichthe topmost branches bad notbeen cut, an old

man

of thegens

was

sent around the tribal circle ascrier. Accordingto

Big

Elk,hesaid, "

You

are todance !

You

aretokeepyourselves

awake

by usingyour feet^!"

This implied that thedance

was

held at night; but

Frank La

Flfeche says that noneof the regulardancingof the Hede-watci occurred at night,though ^there might be otherdancing then, as a sortof prepar- ation for the Hede-watci. In like manner, MissFletchertoldof

num-

erous songs and dances,not part of the sun-dance,which preceded that ceremony

among

^theDakotas.

The

Inke-sabg

men

cut

some

sticks in theneighborhood of their tents and sent

them

around thecamp, one beinggiven to thechief of each gens.

Then

the latter said to his kinsmen,

"They have come

to giveus the ^stickbecause they wishustotake partin the dance."

Then

all the people assembled^for the dance. In

modern

times, those

who

thought

much

of themselves (chiefs

and

others) did notgo to witness thisdance, but staidathome, as didJoseph

La

Flfeche. Nearlyall the

young men and

boys

wore

nothing but their breechcloths,

and

their bodiesweresmeared over withwhite clay.

Here

and therewere

young men who

wore gayclothing.

The women and

girls wore gooddresses, and painted the partings of ^their hair

and

large round spots on ^their cheeks with red paint.

Near

the pole

were

the elder

men

of the luke- sabg gens, wearing robeswith the hair outside;

some

of

them

acted as singers

and

others beat the

drums

and rattles; they never used

more

thanoneor

two drums

andfourgourdrattles. Itisnotcertainwhich^liike- sabg

men

acted as ^singers,

and

which ones beat the

drums and

rattles.

When Frank La

Fltehe witnessedthisdancehesays that thesingersand othermusicianssat

on

the west sideof thepole

and

outside thecircle ofthe dancers; butJoseph

La

Flfeche,

Two

Crows,

and Big

Elk agreed

in saying thattheir place

was

within the circleofthedancers and near the pole. This

was

probablythe ancient rule, from which deviations have been

made

in recent times.

The

two sacred pipes occupied im- portant placesinthisdance^; eachone

was

carriedonthe

arm

^ofa

young man

of the gens,but^it

was

notfilled.'^ These

two young men

werethe leaders ofthedance,

and

from ^this circumstanceoriginated the ancient proper name, j^a^^i^-na^ba.

Two

Kunning. According to

Frank La

Fltehe,thesetwo

young men

beganthedanceonthewestsideofthepole, standingbetween the pole

and

the singers.

The

songsof this dance

"This word "ujeji" appears to be the Dakota^"otceti,"_/irf-p;ace, expressed in

Omahanotation. As the household fire-placeis in the center of the lodge, sothe tribal fire-placewasinthe center of the tribal circle.

">FrankFaFl&che said that thetwopipesusedinthe Hede-watciweretheweawa",

fromwhichthe ducks'heads were removed,and ^insteadofthemwere put onthe red pipebowlsofthe sacredpipes. (See$ 30.)

DOKSEY.l

HEDE-WATCI TWO HUNTING

PARTIES, ETC.

299

were sacred,

aud

so they are neversung except duringthis ceremony.

Of

the

members

ofthetribe,thoseonfootdanced aroundthepole,while those

who

wishedto

make

presents were

mounted and

roderound

and

round thecircleof the dancers.

The men and

boys danced in a pecu- liarcourse, going from west to south,thence east

and

north, but the

women

aud girls followedthe course of the sun, dancing from theeast tothesouth,thence

by

the westto the north.

The

maledancers were nearer the pole, while the femalesdanced in anouter circle.

When

a horseman wishedto

make

a presenthe

went

toone ofthe bearers of the sacred pipes,and,having taken the pipe

by

the stem, heheld ittoward the

man

^to

whom

he desiredto givehis horse.

The man

thus ftwored, took the endof the stem into his

mouth

withouttouching it with his

hand and

pretended tobe smoking, while the other

man

held the pipe for

him

("uifa'^").

The

recipientof the giftthen expressed histhanks

by

extending his hands, with the palms towards the donor, saying,

"

Hau, kageha

^!" Thanks,

my

friend!

Each

male dancercarriedastickof hardwillow

trimmed

atthe bottom,but havingthebranchesleftatthe top ⁽ⁱⁿ imitationofthecottonwoodpole).

Each

stick

was

abontfivefeet high,

and was

used as astafforsupport

by

the dancers. Afterall

had

danced fourtimesasound the circle, all themales threwtheir sticks to-

ward

thepole; the

young men

threw theirs forcibly in sport,

and

cov- ered theheads ofthesingers

and

musicians,

who

tried toavoid themis- siles; This ended the ceremony,

when

all the people

went

to theirre-

spectivetents. Those

who

received the horses

went

throughthecamp, yellingthepraises ofthe donors.

§ 154. Division of ^{the tribeinto} two hunting parties duringthe

summer

hunt.

—

^{Sometimes the tribe divided,} each party taking in a different routein search of the buffalo. In such cases eachjiarty

made

its camp- ing circle,but without pitching the tents according to the gentes^; all

consanguinitiesandaflQnitiestried togettogether. Those

who

belonged tothe party that did not

have

the two sacred

Hanga

tents could not performanyofthe ceremonies which have been described in §§ 143

and

151. All that they could do

was

to prepare the hides

and meat

for future use.

They

had nothing todo with the anointing of the sacred pole,

sham

fight,

and

Hede-watci,which ceremonies could not be per- formedtwiceduringthe year.

§ 155.

When

the two parties

came

together again, if anyperson in eitherparty

had

beenkilled,

some

one

would

throwhimselfontheground as soon as they got in sight, as a tokentothe others of

what

had ^oc- curred.

§ 156.

Two

tribes hunting together.

—

Occasionally two tribes hunted together, as

was

often the case with the

Omahas

and Ponkas.

Frank La

Flechesays that

when

this

was

done

some

ofthe

Ponkas

joined the

Omahas

in the

sham

fight; buthedoes not

know

whether the

Ponkas

have

similarceremonies.

They

have nosacredpole,(je-sa^-ha,nor sacred

300 OMAHA

SOCIOLOGY.

teuts. thoiijjiithey claim a share ⁱⁿ thesacred poleofthe

Omahas, and

they have sacred pii)es.

§ 157. lluntuuipartyattackedhyfoes.

— ^When

^{ahuntingparty}

^was

^sud-

denly attacked by an

enemy

the

women

used to dig pits with their knivesor hoes, and stoop

down

in

them

in

company

with the children, to avoid the missilesofthe combatants. Ifthetribe

was encamped

at the time, the i)its were

dug

inside the tribal circle. Sometimes the children wereplaced in such pits and covered with skins, over which a quantity oflooseearth

was

quickly thrown;

and

they remained con- cealed till it

was

safe for

them

to

come

forth.

On

oneoccasion,

when

the Dakotas

had

attacked the camp, an

Omaha woman

had not time to cover the children with a skin and earth, so she threw herself over them and jireteuded to bedead.

The

Dakotas on coming

up

thought that she

was

dead, so they contented themselves with scalping ^her, to

which shesubmitted without acry,

and

thus saved herself as wellas the children.

When

^there

was

dangerof such attacks thepeople continued their journey throughoutthe night. So the

members

of the differenthouse- holds wereconstantly getting separated. Mothers werecalling out in the darkness fortheirlittleones,

and

the

young men

replied in sport,

"Here am

^I, mother," imitating the voices of thechildren.

§ 158. Returnof the tribe

from

^the

snmmer

hunt.

— ^The

^{people started}

homeward

immediately afterthe

sham

fight

and

the Hede-watci.

But

there were always fourrunners

who

weresent about fiveor sixdays in

advance of the

main

body. These runners were always volunteers.

They

traveled all the time, each onecarrying his

own

food.

Not

one waitedfor the others.

They

neverpitched atent,butsimplj' lay

down

and slept.

Whenever

one waked, even though ^it

was

^still night, he started again, without disturbing the othersifthey were^asleep.

They

always broughtpiecesof

meat

tothose

who had

remainedathome. Their approach

was

the signalforthecry,"Ikima"'(|;i° ag^-ii, hu"+^!"

—

Themes- sengers have come baclc, halloo! In the courseof afew days^{allof the} peoi)le reached

home

; but there were no religious ceremonies thaten- sued. Tliey alwaysbrought tongues to those

who

had staid athome.

§ 159. Ahae^ or hunting thelarger animals.

— ^No

^{religious ceremonies}

wereobserved

when

a

man went

from

home

^{for a few} days ⁱⁿ orderto procuregame.

The

i)rincipalanimals hunted by the

Omahas and

Pon- kas were theelk, deer, black bear, grizzlybear, and rabbit.

When

^a deer

was

killed it

was

generally divided into four parts.

Two

i)arts werecalled the"^e(fi|i"" or ribs,with which weregiven the fore legsand the ";e-na° 'qa" or

hump. Two

^parts were the "^e-j^ga"

or thighs, i.e., the hind quarters.

When

the party consisted of five

men

^{the ^e-na^qa}

was made

the share of the fifth ; and

whea

there were

more

persons present the fore legs were cutoff as shares.

When

an elk was killed it

was

generally divided into fiveparts.

The

";e-ju"

or forequarterswere two parts, with which

went

the fore legs.

The

DousEY.)

RETURN FROM SUMMER HUNT,

ETC.

301

:>ejegaorhind quarters

made

two moi-e parts, with oneof which

went

thepaunch, andwith the other theentrails.

The

je-na"qa

was

tliefifth

part;

and when

theelk

was

largea sixth share

was

formed bycutting off the "46

mange"

or chest.

Frank La

Flfeche does not

know how

^theblack bears used to be di-

vided, as there

have

been none found on the

Omaha

reservationfor the past fourteen years.

§160. If one shoots a wild turkeyor goose (mi^xa), another person standing near

may

run

up and

take the bird if he can get therefirst,

without saying anything.

The

slayercannotsay, "Give^ittome."

He

thinks that he can get the next one which he kills.

The same

rule ap- plies toa raccoon.

But when

one catches a beaver in a trap hedoes not give itaway.

§161. Trapping.

—

^{Since the}

^coming

^{of the white}

men

the

Omahas

have been

making

small houses or traps of sticks abouta yard long, for catching the mijjasi (prairie wolves), big wolves, grayfoxes, and even the wild cat.