66 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 63 
was secured from the older men regarding the busk ceremonial and 
other ancient usages. 
When the ceremonies were over Dr. Swanton visited the Indians in 
Seminole County, who still speak Hitchiti, a language formerly 
current throughout southern Georgia, and recorded several texts. He 
also secured the cooperation of a Hitchiti Indian, able to write in 
the missionary alphabet, to obtain other texts after his departure. 
CEREMONIES AND RITUALS OF THE OSAGE 
During the year 1913, Mr. Francis LaF lesche of the Bureau of 
American Ethnology secured the songs and rituals of five different 
Osage ceremonies. Two of these are practically complete ; the others 
are fragmentary, but enough information was obtained to give a fair 
idea as to their significance. These rites are: Wa-d0o-ka We-ko, 
Scalp Ceremony ; Wa-zhii-ga-o, Bird Ceremony for boys; Wa-wa- 
thon, Peace Ceremony ; Zhin-ga-zhin-ga Zha-zhe Tha-dse, Naming 
of a Child; and We-xthe-xthe, Tattooing Ceremony. 
Owing to the superstitious hold these rites still have upon the 
people, together with the fact that every initiated person obtained his 
knowledge at a great expense, it was almost impossible to procure 
complete texts of any of the ceremonies. 
The Tattooing Ceremony is of peculiar interest. It was more dif- 
ficult to secure information concerning it than of any other ceremony. 
In earlier times only the warrior who had won war honors was en- 
titled to have the ceremony performed and have the war symbols 
tattooed upon his body. If his means permitted it, they might also 
be placed upon any number of his relatives. These war symbols 
were his marks of distinction as a man of valor, for the strength and 
life of the tribe depended upon the prowess of the warriors. In those 
days there were but few who were entitled to have the ceremony per- 
formed, because war honors were not easily won and few were 
wealthy enough to afford the expense of the ceremonies. When, 
during the last century, wars between the various tribes ceased, the 
real significance of the rite vanished, but the superstitious belief that 
the symbolic figures meant long life to the individual so tattooed, re- 
mained prominently in the minds of the people. 
About the time that the right of the honored warrior to the exclu- 
sive use of the Tattooing Ceremonies came to an end, a new condi- 
tion arose which materially changed the character of the rite. From 
the sales of lands to the United States the Osage tribe acquired a 
wealth by which a greater number of its members were enabled to 
