362 A STUDY OF SIOl'AX CULTS. 



The following- Indiiins had become Christians before tiie author met 

 them : Joseph La Fleche, Frank La Fleche, John Big Elk, and George 

 Miller, all Omaha. Joseph La Fleche, who died in 1SS8, was the leader 

 of the civilization party in the Omaha tribe after 1855. He was at ime 

 time a head chief. He spoke several Indian languages, having spent 

 years among other tribes, including the Pawnee, when he was in the 

 service of the fur company. His son, Frank, has been in the Indian 

 Bureaii at Washington since 1881. The author has obtained consider- 

 able liuguistic material from the father and son. The father, with Two 

 Crows, aided the author iu the summer of 1882 in revisiug his sociologic 

 notes, resulting in the preparation of "Omaha Sociology," which was 

 published in the third annual report of the director of the Bureau of 

 Etlmology. John Big Elk, a full Omaha, of the Elk gens, furnished 

 an article on "Sacred Traditions and Customs," and several historical 

 pajiers, [)ublished in " Contributions to North American Ethnology, 

 Yol. VI." George Miller, of the Ictasanda or Thunder gens, is a full 

 Omaha, from whom was obtained nearly half of Chapter iii, including 

 most of the Omaha illustrations. 



The following Indians were not Christians : Gahige, Two Crows, 

 ja(j'i"-na"paji, and Samuel Fremont, all Omaha; Nuda"-axa, a Ponka; 

 and the Kansa, Osage, Missouri. Iowa, and Winnebago informants. 



Two Crows has been coimected in several ways with the ancient 

 organizations of his people. He has 1 een a head man, or nikagahi, 

 being thus an ex-ofiflcio member of the class which exercised the civil 

 and religious functions of the state. He has been a policeman during 

 the buffalo hunt. He has acted as captain, or war chief, and he is the 

 leading doctor in the order of Buffalo shamans, beiug.the keeper of the 

 "sweet medicine." 



jafi" na"paji, or He-who-fearsnot-the-sight-of-a-Pawnee, is a member 

 of the Black Bear subgens, and he is also one of the servants of the 

 Elk gens, it being his duty to be present at the sacred tent of that 

 gens, and to assist in the ceremonies pertaining to the invocation of 

 the Thunder Beings. 



Gahige was the chief of the Inke-sabe, a Buffalo gens, and at the 

 time of his death he was the keeper of the two sacred pipes. 



Samuel Fremont is a member of the Eagle subgens. He came to 

 Washington in the autumn of 1888 and assisted the author till Feb- 

 ruary, 1889. 



Nuda"-axa is a chief of a part of the Thunder-Being gens of the Pouka. 

 The author has known him since 1871. 



The other Indian authorities need not be named, as they are in sub- 

 stantial agreement. 



The following authorities were consulted in the preparation of the 

 Dakota and Assiuiboin chapter : 



Briyiek (John), a Dakota, MS. Teton ti'xts. 1888. Trauslated by himself. Bu- 

 reau of Ethuology. 



