DORSEv.] AN OLD OMAHA CUSTOM. 375 



This agrees \vith what was learned about the Dakota by the late 

 missionaries, Messrs. S. E. lliggs and G. H. Poud, and by the late 

 James ^V. Lyud, as stated in chapter v. 



AN OLD OMAHA CUS'lOM. 



§ 27. "Abicude," said Samuel Fremont, " is a word which refers to an 

 old Omaha and Ponka custom, i. e., that of blowing the smoke dowuwaid 

 to the gTound while praying. The Omaha and Ponka used to hold the 

 pipe in six directions while smoking : toward the four winds, the ground, 

 and the upper world. The exact order has been forgotten by Fremont, 

 but Lewis and Clarke have recorded the corresponding Shoshoni cus- 

 tom. Capt. Lewis tells how the Shoshoni chief, after lighting his pipe 

 of transparent greenstone (instead of catlinite), made a speech, after 

 which he i)oiiited the stem of the pipe toward the four points of the 

 heavens, beginning with the east and concluding with the north. After 

 extending the stem thrice toward Capt. Lewis, he pointed it first to- 

 ward the heavens and then toward the center of the little circle of 

 guests, probably toward the ground, symbolizing the subterranean 

 power. ' 



In addressing the four winds, a peculiar expression is employed by 

 the Omaha: 



j^ad^ duba hitfa^e ^a4-i"ce, i" wifi'j[a°i-ga. Thou who causest the four 



Wind four youcause you (sing.) Iielp ye me. 



it to reach who move 

 there 



winds to reach a place, help ye me! Instead of the singular classifier, 

 ^aifi"ce, the regular plural, uankace, ye who sit, stand, or move, might 

 have been expected. (See § .'53.) 



In smoking toward the ground and upper world, the suppliant had 

 to say, " I petition to you who are one of the two, you who are reclin- 

 ing on your back, and to you who are the other one, sitting directly 

 above us. Both of you help me!" "Here," said Fremont, "the 

 ground itself was addressed as a person," Two Crows said that some 

 Omaha appealed to a subterranean Wakanda when their word was 

 doubted, saying, "I^c'Age hidea{ja aka a°na'a°i," "The venerable man 

 at the bottom hears me." The author is unable to say whether this 

 was j^aude or Wakandagi, (See § 37.) 



The following was recorded of the Omaha, and refers to a custom 

 relating to the buft'alo hunt.^ 



On coming in siglit of the herd, tlie hunters talk kindly to their horses, apply- 

 ing to them the endearing names of father, brother, uncle, etc. They petition 

 them not to fear the bisons, but to run well anil keep close to them, but at the same 

 time to avoid being gored. 



The party having approached as near to the herd .is they suppose the animals 

 will permit without taking alarm, they halt to give the pipe bearer an opportunity 



'lewis and Clarke, Expedition, ed. Allen, Dublin, vol. I, 1817, pp. 457, 458; also M'Vickar'a 

 abridgment of the same, Harpers, N. T., vol. r, 1842, p. 303. 

 2 James's Account of Long's Expert., Phila., vol, i, 1833, p. 208. 



