Part 2 (2/2)

Nisude ?an'ga, or large flutes, were made of red cedar. A branch was cut off, rounded, split open with a knife, and hollowed out; then six holes were made in the side of one of them, and the halves were stuck together again. When one of these instruments is blown it produces quavering notes. The best specimens were made by [P]ain-?an'ga, Big p.a.w.nee.

The large flute is ill.u.s.trated in figure 319.[1] Wahi nisude, or bone flutes, were made of the long bones from the eagle wing. These small flutes have only one hole. Reed flutes, iqe nisude, were made of a kind of reed which grows south of the Omaha territory, probably in Kansas. The Omaha obtained the reeds from some of the southern tribes and made them into flutes having but one hole each.

[Footnote 1: Compare Ree fife, ”AMM 129-8429, Gray and Matthews,” in the National Museum.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 319.--Omaha large flute.]

WEAPONS.

Clubs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 320.--Omaha club (jan-[p]a?na).]

The jan-wetin, ”striking-wood,” is a four-sided club. It is made of ash, and is as long as from the elbow to the tips of the fingers. The ja^n-daona, ”wood with a smooth head,” is a club made of ironwood, which is very hard. According to the late Joseph La Fleche, the Omaha form of this weapon had a steel point projecting from the ball.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 321.--Omaha club (jan-da?na).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 322.--Omaha club (weaqade).]

Figures 320 and 321 are forms of the jan-[p]a?na which may be seen in the National Museum (nos. 2649 and 22419). The weaqade, another kind of war club, is made of some kind of hard wood. There are two varieties, one of which is shown in figure 322 (National Museum no. 23729). The other has a ball carved at the end of a straight handle, with a wooden point (of one piece with the ball and handle) projecting from the ball, making an angle of about 130 with one side of the handle. There is a steel point inserted in the ball, forming an angle of about 110 with the other side of the handle. The in'-wate-jin'ga is something like a slung shot. A round stone is wrapped in a piece of hide which is fastened to a wooden handle about 2 feet long.

Tomahawks.

The heads of tomahawks as well as of battle-axes were at first made of stone; but within the last century and a half they have been fas.h.i.+oned of iron.

Spears.

Lances, darts, or spears are designated by the general term man'dehi.

The jan'-man'dehi are made of ash, and are from 6 to 8 feet long. There are two kinds, of one of which the handle is round, and about an inch in diameter, and the point is flat and about the width of three fingers at its juncture with the handle.

Besides these there are the lances, called waqexe-aze, of which there are two varieties. One consists of a straight pole, which has been thrust through a piece of buffalo hide that has its long end sewed together, forming a sort of covering. To this hide are fastened feathers of the crow and min'xa-san, or swan, in alternate rows or bunches.

Between the feathers are fastened square pieces of blanket. About the middle of the pole a s.p.a.ce of nearly 6 inches is left without feathers, and this is the place where the spear is grasped. When the pole was not set into a metal point the lower end was cut very sharp.[1] The other variety, or mandehi iguje, ”bent spear,” is the weapon which the Dakota call ”wahukeza.” It is ornamented with eagle feathers placed at intevals, one being at the end of the curved part; and it generally terminates at the bottom in an iron point. It is possible for one of these waqexeaze to reach a man about 6 feet distant; and even mounted men have been killed by them. Spears are used also in some of the dances. Around the shaft is wrapped the skin of a swan or brant. The end feather at the top is white; the other feathers are white or spotted.

The bent spear is no longer employed by the Omaha, though the Osage, p.a.w.nee, and other tribes still use it to a greater or lesser extent.

Bows.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 323.--Omaha bow (zanzi-mande).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 324.--Omaha bow (?a?an-mande)]

Bows (man-de) are of two kinds. One is the man-de or zanzi-mande (bow-wood bow), having an unbroken curve past the grip to within an inch or two of each nock.[2] The other kind is the ?a?an-mande, so called because it has deer sinew glued on its back.[3] Bows were made of hickory, ash, ironwood, or zanzi, the last being greatly preferred. It is a wood resembling that of the Osage orange, with which some persons confound it; but it is black and much harder than the former, the Osage orange wood being yellow, soft, and easily cut. The zanzi is probably that which Dougherty[4] called ”bow-wood ( of Nuttall).”

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