396 OSAGE TRADITIONS. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



An Osage said to the aiithor : '• We do nf)t believe that oiir ances- 

 tors were really animals, birds. &c.. as told in the traditions. These 

 things are only wa-wi'-ku-ska'-ye [symbols] of something higher." 

 On saying this he pointed to the sky. 



Ai^art from such traditions or myths, it is found that even the 

 taboos and the names of thegentes, subgentes. phratries. and persons 

 are objects of mysterious reverence among many, if not all, of the 

 Siouan tribes. Such names are never used in ordinary conversation. 

 This is especial 1 >• 1 1 1 1 m 'use i n t ril les where the secret society continues in 

 all its power, as am. mi; llic( Jsa^i'. thePonka. and theKansa. When 

 the author was (lut'stiniiing these Indians he was obliged to proceed 

 very cautiously in order to obtain information of this character, which 

 was not communicated till they learned aboiit his acquaintance with 

 someof the myths. When several Dakota dele,i;a1i(iiis visited Wash- 

 ington he called on them and liadlit tie trouble ill |e;ii-|illli; the names cit' 

 their gentes, their order in the camping circle, c^re.. pni\ided the in- 

 terpreters were absent. During his visit to the Omaha, from 187« 

 to 1880, he did not tind them very reticent in furnishing him with 

 such information, though he was generally referred to the principal 

 chief of each gens as the best authority for the names in his own 

 division. But he found it very difficult to induce any of them to 

 admit that the gentes had subdivisions, which were probably the 

 original gentes. It was not till 1880. and after questioning many, 

 that by the merest accident he obtained tlie clew from the keeper of 

 a sacred pipe. 



The Iowa, who have these social divisicms and personal names of 

 mythic significance, also have sacred songs, but these are in the Win- 

 nebago language. It is probable that they are the property of a 

 secret order, as they, too, show how some of the gentes descended as 

 birds from the upper world. The names of the Winnebago gentes 

 and of some members of the tribe have been recorded by the author, 

 who has also learned parts of their traditions. He infers that their 

 secret society has not been abolished. 



When a man of the Kansa tribe observed that the autlujr had an 

 inkling of the matter he related part of the tradition of that tribe, 

 explaining the origin of the names and the taboos of several Kansa 

 gentes. The ancestors nf these gentes were spoken of as birds which 

 descended from an niiper world. The jjhratries in that tribe, the 

 " Wa-yu" mi"-'du°," or •• (Those who) sing together,'" refer to mystic 

 songs and strengthen the view that the secret society e.xists among 

 these Indians. Several members of the tribe have positively stated 

 its existence. 



As one phratry is comi)osed of the two gentes. Large and Small 



