DORSEY] MYSTIC TREES AND PLANTS. 391 



friendsbip," are made of ash. But the cedar is linked with the destruc- 

 tive ajiem'ies, tliuuder, lightiiiug, wars.' 



When tlie seven old men took the pipes around the Omaha tribal circle, 

 the bad Ma"firika-gaxe people wore plumes in their hair and wrapped 

 branches of cedar around their heads, being awful to behold. ISo the 

 old man passed them by and gave the pipe to the other Ma"^inka-gaxe, 

 who were good. In the Osage traditions, cedar symbolizes the tree of 

 life. When a woman is initiated into the secret society of the Osage, 

 the officiating man of her gens gives her four sips of water, symbolizing, 

 so they say, the river flowing by the tree of life, and then he rubs her 

 from head to foot with cedar needles tluee times in front, three times at 

 her hack, and three times on each side, twelve times in all, pronouncing 

 a sacred name of Wakan^a as he makes each pass. Part of the Pa"i[ka 

 gens of the Osage tribe- are lied Cedar people. The Panka gens of the 

 Kausa tri.be is called " Qund jala"," i. e., "wearers of cedar (branches) on 

 the head." Cedar is used by the Santee Dakota in their ceremony of 

 the four winds. (See § 128.) The Teton Dakota believe in the efficacy 

 of the smell of cedar wood or of the smoke from cedar in scaring away 

 ghosts. (See § 272.) In the Athapascan creation myth of Oregon,' 

 obtained by the author in 18S4, the smoke of cedar took the place of food 

 for the two gods who made the world, and the red cedar is held sacred 

 as well as the ash, because these two trees were the first to be discov- 

 ered by the gods.^ 



That the Hidatsa have a similar notion about the red cedar is shown 

 by their name for it, "midahopa," mysterious or sacred tree. Compare 

 what Matthews tell about the Hidatsa reverence for the cottonwood 

 with what is recoided above about the Omaha sacred pole.'' (§ 344.) 



The cottonwood tree also seems to have been regarded as a mystic 

 tree by the Omaha and Pouka, just as it is by the Hidatsa. The sacred 

 pole of the two tribes was made from a tall cottonwood.^ When the 

 lower part of the sacred pole became worn away, about 8 feet remained, 

 and to this was fastened a piece of ash wood about 18 inches long. In 

 preparing for the dance called the Hede watci, the Iilke-sabe people 

 sought a cottonwood tree, which they rushed on, felled, and bore to the 

 center of the tribal circle, where they planted it in the "ujeji." Mys- 

 tic names taken fi-om the cottonwood are found in the (f ixida and Nika- 

 daona, the two war gentes of the Ponka tribe, and in the (|'atada and 

 5ja"zegentesof the Omaha." 



That there were other mystic tr^es and plants, appears from an ex- 

 amination of the personal names of the Omaha, I'onka, and cognate 

 tribes. For instance, j[^ackahig((;a", a nikie name of the x^da, or Deer 



Misa Fletclier, in Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Proc. vol. xxxill. pt. 2, 1885, pp. 616, 617. Francis La 

 riftchi., ibid.. 11. 014. 



•Osage Traditions, in 6th Ann. Kept, of the Director J?ur. Etlin., 1888, p. S77. 



'Am. Anthropologist, vol. II., No. 1, 1888, p. 59. ("Jaimary, 1889.") 



'U. S. Geo], and Gcojir. Survey. Ha>den; Miscel. Publ., Ko. 7, 1877: Matthews' Ethnography and 

 Philology of tlie Hidalsa, 1877, p. 48. 



'Oni. Soc, p. 234. Contr. N. A. Ethn., vol. VI, 468, line 3. 



'Om. Soc, p. 297. Contr. N. A. Elhn., vol. VI, 471, lines 3-5. 



