﻿FOREWORD 
  

  

  The 
  following 
  account 
  of 
  the 
  Omaha 
  tribe 
  embodies 
  the 
  results 
  

   of 
  personal 
  studies 
  made 
  while 
  living 
  among 
  the 
  people 
  and 
  revised 
  

   from 
  information 
  gained 
  through 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  constant 
  intercourse 
  

   throughout 
  the 
  last 
  twenty-nine 
  years. 
  During 
  this 
  period 
  the 
  

   writer 
  ha* 
  received 
  help 
  and 
  encouragement 
  from 
  the 
  judicious 
  criti- 
  

   cisms 
  of 
  Prof. 
  Frederic 
  Ward 
  Putnam, 
  head 
  of 
  the 
  Department 
  of 
  

   Anthropology 
  of 
  Harvard 
  University, 
  and 
  the 
  completion 
  of 
  the 
  task 
  

   undertaken 
  has 
  been 
  made 
  possible 
  by 
  means 
  of 
  the 
  Thaw 
  Fellow- 
  

   ship. 
  Objects 
  once 
  held 
  hi 
  reverence 
  by 
  the 
  Omaha 
  tribe 
  have 
  been 
  

   secured 
  and 
  deposited 
  in 
  the 
  Peabody 
  Museum 
  for 
  safe-keeping. 
  

   Professor 
  Putnam, 
  curator 
  of 
  that 
  institution, 
  lias 
  permitted 
  the 
  free 
  

   use 
  of 
  the 
  Omaha 
  material 
  collected 
  under 
  its 
  auspices 
  and 
  preserved 
  

   there, 
  for 
  reproduction 
  in 
  the 
  present 
  volume. 
  

  

  At 
  the 
  time 
  the 
  writer 
  went 
  to 
  live 
  among 
  the 
  Omaha, 
  to 
  study 
  

   their 
  life 
  and 
  thought, 
  the 
  tribe 
  had 
  recently 
  been 
  forced 
  to 
  abandon 
  

   hunting, 
  owing 
  to 
  the 
  sudden 
  extinction 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  herds. 
  The 
  

   old 
  life, 
  however, 
  was 
  almost 
  as 
  of 
  yesterday, 
  and 
  remained 
  a 
  com- 
  

   mon 
  memory 
  among 
  all 
  the 
  men 
  and 
  women. 
  Many 
  of 
  the 
  ancient 
  

   customs 
  were 
  practised 
  and 
  much 
  of 
  the 
  aboriginal 
  life 
  still 
  lingered. 
  

  

  Contact 
  with 
  the 
  white 
  race 
  was 
  increasing 
  daily 
  and 
  beginning 
  to 
  

   press 
  on 
  the 
  people. 
  The 
  environment 
  was 
  changing 
  rapidly, 
  and 
  the 
  

   changes 
  brought 
  confusion 
  of 
  mind 
  to 
  the 
  old 
  people 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  to 
  

   many 
  in 
  mature 
  life. 
  The 
  beliefs 
  of 
  the 
  fathers 
  no 
  longer 
  applied 
  to 
  

   the 
  conditions 
  which 
  confronted 
  the 
  people. 
  All 
  that 
  they 
  formerly 
  

   had 
  relied 
  on 
  as 
  stable 
  had 
  been 
  swept 
  away. 
  The 
  buffalo, 
  which 
  they 
  

   had 
  been 
  taught 
  was 
  given 
  them 
  as 
  an 
  inexhaustible 
  food 
  supply, 
  

   had 
  been 
  destroyed 
  by 
  agencies 
  new 
  and 
  strange. 
  Even 
  the 
  wild 
  

   grasses 
  that 
  had 
  covered 
  the 
  prairies 
  were 
  changing. 
  By 
  the 
  force 
  

   of 
  a 
  power 
  he 
  could 
  not 
  understand, 
  the 
  Omaha 
  found 
  himself 
  re- 
  

   stricted 
  in 
  all 
  his 
  native 
  pursuits. 
  Great 
  unrest 
  and 
  anxiety 
  had 
  

   come 
  to 
  the 
  people 
  through 
  the 
  Government's 
  dealings 
  with 
  their 
  

   kindred, 
  the 
  Ponca 
  tribe, 
  and 
  fear 
  haunted 
  every 
  Omaha 
  fireside 
  lest 
  

   they, 
  too, 
  be 
  driven 
  from 
  their 
  homes 
  and 
  the 
  graves 
  of 
  their 
  fathers. 
  

   The 
  future 
  was 
  a 
  dread 
  to 
  old 
  and 
  young. 
  How 
  pitiful 
  was 
  the 
  

   trouble 
  of 
  mind 
  everywhere 
  manifest 
  in 
  the 
  tribe 
  can 
  hardly 
  be 
  pic- 
  

   tured, 
  nor 
  can 
  the 
  relief 
  that 
  came 
  to 
  the 
  people 
  when, 
  in 
  1882, 
  

   their 
  lauds 
  were 
  assured 
  to 
  them 
  by 
  act 
  of 
  Congress. 
  

  

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