328 OMAHA SOCIOLOGT

among

the combatants,

who

were standingverythick,

and

atlast per- ished with his son.

§ 213. lieturnof ^{the u-arparty.}

— ^On

^the

^{way home}

^{the booty is di-}

vided. ja(j;i° na° pajl said that "

They

stop for the night at a point about twomiles fromthe village,"but

La

Flticheand

Two Crows deny

this,saying that the warriors

come

into the village

when

they please, asthey are

hungry and

wishto see their wives

and

children.

Ifthey

have

brought back scalpsor horses, they set the grass afire.

On

^{seeing thisthevillagerssay}

"Nuda° '

ama' ^agii, eb^e'ga". Usai."

—

I thinh that thewarriors are coming back. Theyhave set the grassafire.

ja^i"-ua° pajlsaid that if they have brought scalps,they put

some

of the hairin thefire,

and

the

smoke

is black.

But

if they put a horse's tailin the fire, the

smoke

is very yellow.

La

Flteheand

Two Crows

saidthatthereisnodifierenceinthemean- ing of the ^colorsofthesmoke,

though

d6jejideor redgrass,sidiihi,

and

other kinds ofgrass, areset afire,

and make

difi'erent kinds ofsmoke.

When

gunsarefiredit signifiesthatafoe hasbeenkilled.

But when

noneare fired,

and

thegrassis notset afire,itisasignofanunsuccess- fulexpedition.

As

soon as thepeoplehejirtheguns, they shout,

"The

warriors

have come

back!"

Then

the warriors ride

back

and forth,

moving

hereand there

among

themselvesinthe distance.

Then

theold

men

proclaim through thevillage

what

each warrior has achieved, calling

him by name —

" Thisone has killed afoeI" " This one has broken ^oflfahead!"

" Thisone

would

not allow the others toanticipate

him

inseizingoneof thefoe

by

che scalp-lock,"etc.

§ 214. Ordeal of^{thesacredbags.}

— ^When

^thewarriors

^{have had}

^arest

ofabouttwo days, they assemble for a dance, called the "W6watci,"

or Scalp-dance. Before the dance, however,thesuccessfulwarriors re- ceive therewards orinsigniaof valor fromthe

nuda^hauga who

has the threewa^ixabe^jail'gaorwast^gistu.

The

threebagsareplacedina row,

and

all the warriors stand ina row.

Bach

^warrior havingselected the wa^ixabe to which heintendsspeaking, he

makes

a presenttoit.

Then

thekeeperofthewa^ixabeaddresses him,reminding

him

that

Wakanda

seeshim, and thatifhe speaks talsely,he

may

not expectto stay

much

longeron the earth.

Then

the

young man

says, " Wi° 'ake.

Wakau'da

akd ibaha° i."

—

I

^tell the truth.

Wakanda

knows ^it.

As

^{he says this,}

he holds

up

his right

hand

towards the sky.

Then

he addi'esses the wa(};ixabe itself, as follows: "

Hau,

i° c'4ge-ha! eddda" uwib^a tilmmke

^a° 'ja,i^ausi'cta° -mdji uwib^atA miuke."

—

Ho, venerable

man

^{! though}

I

will tell you something, I will not lie

when I

^{tell it to you.}

When

hesays this, lie lets fall a smallstick which has been cut beforehand.

He

^isobliged to hold the stick

up

high

when

he drops ^it. Should the stickfall onthe sacred

bag

and remain there, itis a sign thathe has spoken the truth; butif it falls off, theybelievethathe has been guilty

DOROTT.l

RETURN — ORDEAL OF SACRED

BAGS, ETC.

329

offalsehood,

and

did not

do

in thefight that which he has claimedfor himself.

Rewards

_ofbravery.

— ^When

^all the warriors have thus beentested, they are addressed by the holder of the wa^ixabe.

To

one

who

was thefirstto take hold of afoe, hesays,

"3^x0

mifa.g^a'"te ha," Tow shall

wear the cr-nc in your belt. Sometimes he adds, ^"S4b6 (fiajiickaxe te.

3^X6

^jaja ^ajjickaxe te

ha."— Tow

shall blacJcen yourself.

Tou

shall

male

spotsonyourself,resembling crows'dung. This warrior

must

blacken his body,and then

mark

hereand there spotswithwhite clay.

^af

i^na^paji said that thesecond

who

took holdofa foe

had

thefol-

lowing reward:

He was

allowed to blacken his

body

from the waist to the shoulders, and torubwhite clay

down

the tops ofhisshoulders.

To him

was said, "M^ca° -ska, ^ahi° -wdgfa° 4fag(j!a° ' te

hS."— Tom

shall stick inyour hair whiteeagle feathers, and wearthe deer'stail head-dress.

La

ri^che

and Two Crows

said that this

man was

allowed to wear the

^ahi^-wag^a" alone on hishead, and to put the crowin his belt.

According to

jaf

i° na° pajl, thethird warrior

who

caught holdofthe foeblackened his

body

thus:

On

the arms, at the elbows, onthe ribs,

and hiusagi,hecould

make

places as largeasa

hand

(or,hecould

make

onesideofhis

body

black

—

sic).

To

him

was

said," x^hi° -w4g(f^a° mAca^

^ing6_{4(fagfa° '} teha,"

You

shallwear the!^ahi"-wagf a° withoutanyfeath- ers.

But La

Flfeche

and Two Crows

said that this

man was

told to wearthecrow in hisbelt;

and

the fourth

who

took hold of the foe

was

told to wearthe^ahi"wag^a" without

any

otherdecoration.

ja^i° -na° paji said that he

who

disemboweled afallen

enemy

with a knife

was

permitted to stick a red feather in his hair.

He

blackened

his

body

from the waist

up

tothe shoulder,

and

overtheshoulder, then

down

the backto thewaist.

He

could redden his knifeand dance as a grizzly bear.

But Two

Crows,

who

has attended the scalp-dance, never

saw

anything ofthis sort.

According to jafi° -na° paji, he

who

kilhd afoe

was

rewarded iu sev- eral ways.

He

couldwear thejehuqfabe'''necklace, called the "gad^- daje waci"',

and was

addressed thus^{: "} Gadddaje waci"' na"'^ap'i° te ha,"

You

canwear the^ehuqfabe necldace. "Ma° '-u^ubaski ^i^aga^a te ha,"

You

shall carry the ramrod on your arm. "xahi° -wilg(fa° sia^^e difagfa"" te ha,"

You

shall wear the 5ahi° -Magfa° alone in your hair.

(These were disputed

by La

Pltehe

and Two

Crows.) " Ma'-'sagasuji-

de^6 na° ^ap'i° ' teha,"

You

shall wear an arrow shaft, scraped and red- dened, suspended

from

your necTc. (Confirmed

by La

Fleche

and Two

Crows.)

He who

struck afoe with a hatchet, bow.etc.,

was

allowed to redden

it and carryit to the dance, ^ifhewished.

Sometimes a warrior gave a gun, etc., to an old

man, who

went through the

camp

telling of the generosity of the giver.

"Thefatonthe outside of thestomachof abuffalo ordomestic cow.

330 OMAHA

SOCIOLOGY.

All

who had

parts of scalps weretold to wear:}ahi° -wag^a° on their heads.

§ 215. The svalj)dance (of the women).

— ^One

^{of the}

^{women had}

^to

carry the scalp around on ^{a pole} during the dance. This act is kifd-

Mju.

When

^a

man

killedafoe with aknife,gun, hatchet,etc., it

was

taken by ^hiswife,

who

held it as she danced.

Such women

dressed them- selves in gay ^attire, decorated themselves with various ornaments, worehead-dresses of;eji° hi° de,painted theircheeks,

and

reddened the di5ugdza° or parting ofthehair ofthe head.

This scalp-danceisthe

women's

dance; the

men

^takenopartbut^that of singing the dancing songs ^{for the}

women

and beating the drums.

When any

ofthe

Omahas had

beenkilled

by

theenemy,thisdancecould notbe had; but

when

the

Omahas

were fortunate enough^to kill

some

ofthefoewithoutlosinganyoftheir

own

party the

men

^{said, "}

W6watci

ah'ki^etai," Let them dance the scalp-dance.

Then

the

men went

first

withone,two,orthree

drums

toa place bare of undergrowth,

and

began

tobeat the drums.

By and by

the

women

would hear ^it,and assemble.

There

was

nofeast

and

noinvitationswere

made by

criers.

Any women and

girls

who

wished todance could do so.

The

only

men

allowed to singthedancing songsforthe

women

werethose

who had

killed foes,or

had

taken holdof them.

The women

^didnotdancein a^circle,but "ki4qpaqpAg^a" (moving in

andout

among

themselves)and "ikifib^a"" (mixed,indisorder),asthey pleased. Sometimestheydancedallnight^till thenextmorning; some- times they continued thedance for two or three days. This wewatci has notbeen danced

by

the

Omaha women

^foraboutfourteen years. It isnot considered a sacred dance, but oneof rejoicing.

§216.

The He^ucka

dance(ofthe men).

— ^The

corresponding dance ^for the

men

is the He^ucka.""

The

only

members

ofthe

He^ucka

dancing societyaresuchashavedistinguishedthemselvesinwar,

and

boys

whose

fathers arechiefs.

When Frank La

Fleche

was

a boy he

was

admitted

tothe

Hef

uckasolely becausehisfather

was

a chief.

"The

^firstfourto take holdof thefoewere decorated with the{jahi"-

wag^a"head-dress, the ^*crow^' inthe belt,

and

gartersof otter-skin.

"He who had

killed a foewith a

gun

reddened the barrel for about nine inches orafootfromthemuzzle,worethe'crow,'

and

stuck several

swan

feathers around the muzzle.

He

^also wore afeather in his hair.

"Those who

struck

some

of the foe, but did not inflict fatal blows,

made

on^theirbodies the signs of blows; having blackenedtheirhands, theyput

them

here

and

thereon^theirbodies,leavingblack impressions.

Sometimestheyblackenedthewholebody,andover the blackthey

made

whitehands, afterrubbing whiteclaj' on their

own

hands.

They

wore feathers in their hair, as did all except the four

who

were ^{the first to} take hold of the foe.

"KnownamongtheKansasasthe Ilncka,and amongtheOsagesasthelujicfu'cka.

DOBBRT.l

SCALP DANCE HE(^UCKA HE-WATCI. 331

"He who had

been

wounded by

thefoe,withoutreceivingafatalblow, blackened hisbody,and put ona red spotandstripe todenote the

wound

and the dripping of the blood.

He

wore a redfeatherin his hair.

"Those who

had brought backhorses,worelariats, "nusi-dq(f;a"(over theleft shoulder

and

undertherightarm),

and

carried their whips on theirarms.

"All these were promotedto therankof

wandce

orpolicemen,to act assuch duringthebuffalo hunt." {LaFleche

and

Tico Croics.)

"There

were

many

^singers.

They

had a drum, but norattles of

any

sort.

They

danced as they

moved

around the fire-place,from left to right. This

was

^{always after} afeast.

They had

no regular

number

of timesfor dancing around thecircle.

"The man who

^firsthelda foerankedas

number

one; the slayer

came

next; the second

who

held thefoe rankedthird^; thethird tohold the foerankedfourth,

and

thefifth

was

he

who

cut off' thehead and threw

it away,

"Sometimes the fourth

man

did this.

Only

the first, second, and third of these

men

were regarded ashaving gained great honors, and these three laded out the food at the feast.

"

Only

those

who

heldortouchedthefoe

made

the impressionofhands on their bodies.

"Those who

struckliving foesworefeathers erect intheirhair,while those

who

hit dead enemies

had

to

wear

their feathers lying down."

(Frank

La

Fleche.)

Mr. J.

La

Fleche gave the following as averyancient song ofthis dance

:

"Wakan'da akd ^{a^^jifi'gete,} ai^ga", A^^iii'get^uiiuke."

"WakandahavingsaidthatIshall notbe, Ishallnot be."

Inthissong, "A° ^iu'ge ta'miuke" is equivalent to "At'6 tamiiike," ^7"

shalldie.

The

idea is that the singer thought he would notdie until

Wakanda

spoke theword,

and

then he

must

die. Till then he would besafe, no matter

what

dangers

he

encountered.

For thesong in honorof the

Ponka

chief, Ubiska, see pp. 380, 3S1, PartI, Vol. VI., Contributionsto

K

A. Ethnology.

§217. TheHe-icatei.

— ^The

concluding part of the

He^ucka was

^called the"H^-watci." It

was

danced only

by

one

man,

a

member

of the

He^ucka

society. After thefeast, thehead of a dog or deer

was

gen- erally given tooneoftheguests,

who

ate itclean and^laidit

down

after imitating,as he danced,

some

ofhis acts inbattle.

The man

arosesud- denly of his

own

^accord, takingthehead in both hands and holdingit in frontof him.

When

no head

had

been boiled hedancedwithoutone.

The drum was

beaten, but there were nosongs.

The

dancerworethe

" crow,"and graspeda club or hatchet,which

had

been purposely placed in themiddle of the circle. His act.sresembled those of the fourvisi- tors

when

the Egi'a° -watcigaxe

was

danced. (See §271.) Pointingin