SPECIFIC FORMS OF DECORATION. 



399 



Mazi-jin'ga ijajc a4i"'-l)iaiua. Sabe t6 ha"' k6 e gaxai; nia°'ba fa" 



Cedar Little hi.s name hail, tliey Black thq night the that made moon the cv. 



say Ig. ob. ob. 



efa"be tC gaxai. Nia"'ba ufaii'da faii'di nikaci"ga ug(('i"' gaxai, gaQ'jii 



emerging the made. Moon in the in the person sitting made and 



midst of part in 



ifa'efaf fifike e t6. Ma"'ba 6fa"be ati-uaudi iiaqtfi" <^ga"-na"'i. 



one seen in the one that the Moon emerging conies regularly, blazes some* usiiillly. 



a vision who when " (sends up what 



light) 



The black baud lefeis to the night; the circle, to the iiioou; the cir- 

 cumscribed figure is a ghost that he .saw in the moon; and the dots 

 above the moon refer to the " white whicli stands above the rising sun 

 or moon." PL XLiv u shows another tent decoration of the same man. 

 The red circle represents the sun, in which stands a man holding the 

 jacA-ge, or deer rattles, made of the hard or callous knobs found near- 

 the hoofs of the deer. These knobs are split, hollowed out, and strung 

 ou sticks. The tent being very large, the figure of the man was al- 



Fui. 105. — Teut uf Slazi-jiuga — ghost vision. 



Flo. 166.— A tent of Niku(fib(t.i". 



most life size, and a real feather was tied to his head. The blue band 

 at the bottom may represent night, but there is no certainty about it. 



§ 47. Fig. 106 is the decoration of one of the tents of Ni-kuf ibf a", 

 father of the present VVacka"ma"(j-i" (Hard ^^'alker), an ex-chief of the 

 Omaha. Niku(fibf a" was one of the two leaders of the order of Thunder 

 shamans, and was regarded as being very " qube" or mysterious. The 

 black band at the bottom refers to the night, and above it are seen the 

 moon and a star. The old man named one of his grandchildren Ha" akipa 

 {Meets the Night), after the vision to which the tent decoration refers. 



George Miller furnished the description of Niku(|;ib(j!a"'s tent, obtained 

 from an old woman, who is his widow: 



''Ga" wiqti ^a"'ba uiiijl ((•a°'ja, ufai ega" ana"a"hn. Ga"' ingfa"' 



A.u»l I I <li(l nut though they have 



myaeir see him tola about 



him 



I have 

 heard it. 



Aud Thunder 

 Bcini; 



