BUSHNELL ] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 85 
comfort in the summer. The tent could be pitched in the timber or 
brush, or down in wooded ravines, where the cold winds never had 
full sweep. Hence, many Indians abandoned their houses in winter 
and went into their tents, even when they were of canvas. 
“The tent was commonly made of ten or a dozen dressed or tanned ° 
buffalo skins.. It was in the shape of a sugar loaf, and was from 10 
to 12 feet high, 10 or 15 feet in diameter at the bottom, and about a 
foot and a half in diameter at the top, which served as a smoke- 
hole... No totem posts were in use among the Omaha. The tent 
of the principal man of each gens was decorated on the outside with 
his gentile badge, which was painted on each side of the entrance as 
well as on the back of the tent.” (Op. cit., pp. 271-274.) 
In an earlier work, “ A Study of Siouan Cults,” Dr. Dorsey showed 
the varied designs on ceremonial tipis of the different Siouan tribes. 
Among other interesting illustrations are pictures of lodges erected 
at the time of the Sun dance, with the great camp circle as formed at 
that time. (Dorsey, (2).) 
A clear insight into the ways of life of the primitive Danate of 
a century ago, before their native manners and customs had been 
changed through influence with the whites, may be obtained from 
the narrative of the Long expedition. A great part of the recorded 
information was imparted by John Dougherty, at that time deputy 
Indian agent for the tribes of the Missouri. 
In 1819 and 1820, the period of the narrative, the permanent vil- 
lage of the tribe stood on the banks of Omaha Creek, about 24 miles 
- from the right bank of the Missouri, in the present Dakota County, 
Nebraska. As told on preceding pages, this was the large, perma- 
nent village of the tribe, but nevertheless it was occupied for less 
than half the year, and as related by Dougherty: “The inhabitants 
occupy their village not longer than five months in the year. In 
April they arrive from their hunting excursions, and in the month 
of May they attend to their horticultural interests, and plant maize, 
beans, pumpkins, and watermelons, besides which they cultivate no 
other vegetable. They also, at this season, dress the bison skins, 
which have been procured during the winter hunt, for the traders, 
who generally appear for the purpose of obtaining them. The 
young men, in the mean time, are employed in hunting within the 
distance of seventy or eighty miles around, for beaver, otter, deer, 
muskrat, elk, &c. 
“When the trading and planting occupations of the people are 
terminated, and provisions begin to fail them, which occurs generally 
in June, the chiefs assemble a council for the purpose of deliberating 
upon the further arrangements necessary to be made...” <A feast 
is prepared, and all gather to determine where and when the next 
