1884.] An account of the War Customs of the Osages. 1 15 



ers, or wind people. All but Nos. 8 and 10 are Han-ka fire- 

 places. 



The line drawn through the circle denotes the road traveled by 

 the tribe. This forms the boundary between the two half-tribes. 



The following accounts of the Osage war customs are necessa- 

 rily incomplete, being obtained from a member of the principal 

 peace gens. Moreover, there are customs peculiar to each gens, 

 which are not familiar to members of other gentes. 



There are three kinds of war parties among the Osages. The 

 first is the large war party, undertaken in the summer. The next 

 the sacred bag war party, in which only a few engage at any sea- 

 son. The third is called " tsi'-ka-kha'," undertaken at any time, 

 being an expedition after the horses and other property of the 

 enemy. 



T. — A Large War Party (Tu-ta°'-hu Tan'ka). 



When a man on the left side of the tribal circle is mourning 

 for one of his family, he selects a man from the right side of the 

 tribe to mourn with him, and to be the real leader of the expe- 

 dition. Let us suppose that the first mourner is a Chee-zhoo 

 peace-maker man. He must present the other man, whom we 

 will call a Hanka (in full, Hafika-apart-from-the-rest), with one 

 of his best horses. Then the Cheezhoo chooses a kettle-bearer 

 for himself, and this kettle-bearer builds a small lodge {D, Fig. i) 

 for his friend. It is on the west side of the village, and is made 

 of two buffalo robes. The door faces the west. A similar lodge 

 {E) is built for the Hanka mourner, by his kettle-bearer, on the 

 right side of the circle, and towards the west, as in the figure. 

 Each mourner stays alone in his lodge, seeing no woman. 



As the Chee-zhoo is a peace gens, it has no war customs per- 

 taining to it, so the Chee-zhoo mourner has to apply to a man of 

 the first gens, Lock-wearers, to act as his teacher. The Lock- 

 wearers and Buffalo-bull -face people are the soldiers or policemen 

 of the Chee-zhoo peace-makers. Should the mourner fail to ob- 

 tain a man of the first gens, he must ask one of the second gens, 

 Buffalo-bull-face people, to instruct him. The Hafika mourner 

 must select his teacher from one of the soldier gentes on his side, 

 Elder Osages or Hanka apart from the rest. 



Within four days of the time for departure, the mourners 

 return to the village and begin their preparations. The Hanka 

 mourner directs his teacher to select the time and place for 



