Part 1 (1/2)
Omaha Dwellings, Furniture and Implements.
by James Owen Dorsey.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
The accompanying paper is one of the results of personal investigations among the Omaha of Nebraska and cognate tribes of Indians, beginning in 1878 and continued from time to time during late years.
While the paper treats of the Omaha tribe, much that is said is applicable to the Ponka, as the two tribes have long had similar environments and a common dialect, for, until 1877, their habitats were almost contiguous, and since 1880 about one-third of the Ponka tribe has been dwelling on its former reservation near the town of Niobrara, Nebraska.
Acknowledgments are due Dr. O. T. Mason for many valuable suggestions early in the progress of the work.
DWELLINGS.
The primitive domiciles of the Omaha were chiefly (1) lodges of earth or, more rarely, of bark or mats, and (2) skin lodges or tents. It may be observed that there were no sacred rites connected with the earth lodge-building or tent-making among the Omaha and Ponka.
Earth Lodges.
When earth lodges were built, the people did not make them in a tribal circle, each man erecting his lodge where he wished; yet kindred commonly built near one another.
The earth lodges were made by the women, and were intended princ.i.p.ally for summer use, when the people were not migrating or going on the hunt.
Those built by the Omaha and Ponka were constructed in the following manner: The roof was supported by two series of vertical posts, forked at the top for the reception of the transverse connecting pieces of each series. The number in each series varied according to the size of the lodge; for a small lodge only four posts were erected in the inner series, for an ordinary lodge eight were required, and ten generally const.i.tuted the maximum. When Mr. Say[1] visited the Kansa Indians, he occupied a lodge in which twelve of these posts placed in a circle formed the outer series, and eight longer ones const.i.tuted the inner series, also describing a circle. The wall was formed by setting upright slabs of wood back of the outer posts all around the circ.u.mference of the lodge. These slabs were not over 6 feet in height, and their tops met the cross timbers on which the willow posts rested. Stocks of hard willow about 2 inches in diameter rested with their b.u.t.ts on the tops of the upright slabs and extended on the cross timbers nearly to the summit. These poles were very numerous, touching one another and extending all around in a radiating manner, supporting the roof like rafters. The rafters were covered with gra.s.s about a foot thick; and over the whole lodge, including the sides or slabs, earth was piled from a foot to 2 feet in depth. Such a covering lasted generally about twenty years. A hole in the middle served as an exit for the smoke.
[Footnote 1: James' account of Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1819-'20.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 306.--Yellow Smoke's earth lodge.]
In addition to the lodge proper there was a covered way about 10 feet long and 5 feet wide, the entrance to which had a covering of tanned or dried buffalo hides. This covering consisted of two hides hanging side by side, with the inner borders slightly overlapping. They were fastened to the pa.s.sageway at the top and at the outer sides, but were loose at the bottom where they overlapped. This part was raised by a person entering the lodge. A similar covering was placed at the interior end of the pa.s.sageway.
Subsequently to 1855, the Omaha dwelt in three villages composed of earth lodges, as follows: (1) Biku'de, a village near the agency; (2) Windja'ge, Standing Hawk's village, near the Presbyterian mission house; and (3) Jana'te (”Wood Eaters,”) named after an insect found under the bark of trees Sanssouci's village, near the town of Decatur, Nebraska.
Earth lodges were generally used for large gatherings, such as feasts, councils, or dances. Occasionally there was a depression in the center of the lodge which was used as a fireplace; but it was not over 6 inches deep. Each earth lodge had a ladder, made by cutting a series of deep notches along one side of a log. On a bluff near the Omaha agency I found the remains of several ancient earth lodges, with entrances on the southern sides. Two of these were 75 feet and one was 100 feet in diameter. In the center of the largest there was a hollow about 3 feet deep and nearly 4 feet below the surface outside the lodge.
Lodges of Bark or Mats.
The Omaha sometimes make bark lodges for summer occupancy, as did the Iowa and Sak. [T]iu'ipu jin'ga, or low lodges covered with mats, were used by the Omaha in former days. Such lodges are still common among the Winnebago, the Osage, and other tribes. The ground plan of such a lodge forms an ellipse. The height is hardly over 7 feet from the ground. The tent poles are arranged thus: Each pole has one end planted in the ground, the other end being bent down and fastened to the pole immediately opposite; a number of poles thus arranged in pairs formed both wall posts and rafters.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 307.--Ground plan of Osage lodge.]
Generally there was one fireplace and one smokehole in such a lodge; but when I visited the Osage in 1883, I entered a low lodge with two fireplaces, each equidistant from its end of the lodge and the entrance, each fireplace having its smokehole.
Skin Lodges or Tents.
The tent was used when the people were migrating, and also when they were traveling in search of the buffalo. It was also the favorite abode of a household during the winter season, as the earth lodge was generally erected in an exposed situation, selected on account of comfort in the summer. The tent could be pitched in the timber or brush, or down in wooded ravines, where the cold winds never had full sweep.
Hence, many Indians abandoned their houses in winter and went into their tents, even when they were of canvas.