﻿B>LETCHBB-LA 
  FLBSCHB] 
  ENVIRONMENT; 
  RESULTANT 
  INFLUENCES 
  

  

  83 
  

  

  moved 
  to 
  their 
  present 
  reservation. 
  It 
  is 
  a 
  fact 
  that 
  horses 
  wore 
  

   frequently 
  strangled 
  at 
  funerals 
  and 
  their 
  bodies 
  left 
  near 
  the 
  burial 
  

   mound, 
  which 
  was 
  always 
  on 
  a 
  hill 
  or 
  at 
  some 
  elevation, 
  but 
  they 
  

   were 
  never 
  buried 
  alive 
  or 
  interred 
  with 
  the 
  body. 
  It 
  is 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  

   humors 
  of 
  Indian 
  history 
  that 
  a 
  relic 
  hunter 
  should 
  have 
  picked 
  up 
  

  

  Fig. 
  IS. 
  Bi 
  K 
  Elk. 
  

  

  a 
  horse's 
  skull 
  on 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  Blackbird 
  hills 
  and 
  preserved 
  it 
  in 
  a 
  

   museum 
  in 
  memory 
  of 
  this 
  fanciful 
  entombment. 
  

  

  The 
  "Blackbird 
  hills 
  " 
  (pi. 
  20) 
  are 
  not 
  known 
  to 
  the 
  Omaha 
  by 
  that 
  

   name, 
  but 
  as 
  O 
  n 
  'po 
  n 
  to 
  n 
  gaxaitho" 
  ("where 
  Big 
  Elk 
  is 
  buried"). 
  Big 
  

   Elk 
  (fig. 
  1 
  5) 
  died 
  in 
  1853. 
  He 
  was 
  the 
  third 
  of 
  his 
  name, 
  a 
  member 
  of 
  

   the 
  We'zhi 
  n 
  shte 
  gens, 
  and 
  a 
  leading 
  chief 
  of 
  the 
  tribe. 
  According 
  to 
  

   tradition, 
  all 
  three, 
  named 
  Big 
  Elk, 
  were 
  men 
  of 
  ability, 
  brave 
  and 
  

  

  