﻿fletchbr-la 
  flesche] 
  TRIBAL 
  ORGANIZATION 
  135 
  

  

  organization. 
  Consonant 
  with 
  this 
  manner 
  of 
  enforcing 
  these 
  cosmic 
  

   and 
  religious 
  ideas, 
  the 
  tribe 
  was 
  composed 
  of 
  two 
  grand 
  divisions, 
  

   one 
  representing 
  the 
  Sky 
  people, 
  or 
  the 
  I 
  n 
  shta'cu 
  n 
  da; 
  the 
  other, 
  the 
  

   Earth 
  people, 
  or 
  the 
  Ho 
  n 
  'gashenu. 
  Within 
  each 
  of 
  these 
  divisions 
  

   there 
  were 
  five 
  gentes. 
  While 
  each 
  gens 
  had 
  its 
  designation, 
  its 
  rites, 
  

   its 
  place, 
  its 
  tabu 
  and 
  its 
  personal 
  names, 
  all 
  these 
  distinctive 
  marks 
  

   were 
  subordinate 
  to 
  the 
  two 
  grand 
  divisions 
  and 
  membership 
  in 
  the 
  

   gens 
  became 
  merged 
  in 
  membership 
  in 
  one 
  of 
  these 
  divisions, 
  the 
  

   Pshta'cuMa 
  or 
  the 
  Ho 
  n 
  'gashenu. 
  

  

  These 
  divisions 
  were 
  not 
  phratries, 
  as 
  they 
  were 
  not 
  based 
  on 
  ties 
  

   of 
  blood 
  but 
  on 
  mythic 
  ideas 
  as 
  to 
  how 
  creation 
  came 
  about 
  and 
  how 
  

   life 
  must 
  be 
  continued 
  on 
  the 
  earth. 
  Myths 
  relate 
  that 
  human 
  

   beings 
  were 
  born 
  of 
  a 
  union 
  between 
  the 
  Sky 
  people 
  and 
  the 
  Earth 
  

   people; 
  and, 
  in 
  accordance 
  with 
  this 
  belief, 
  the 
  union 
  of 
  the 
  Sky 
  peo- 
  

   ple 
  and 
  the 
  Earth 
  people 
  was 
  conceived 
  to 
  be 
  necessary 
  to 
  the 
  existence 
  

   of 
  the 
  tribe. 
  There 
  was 
  a 
  teaching 
  preserved 
  among 
  the 
  old 
  men 
  that 
  

   the 
  division 
  of 
  the 
  tribe 
  into 
  I 
  n 
  shta'cu 
  n 
  da 
  and 
  Ho 
  n 
  'gashenu 
  was 
  for 
  

   marital 
  purposes 
  — 
  a 
  teaching 
  which 
  bears 
  out 
  the 
  mythic 
  symbolism 
  

   of 
  these 
  two 
  divisions. 
  It 
  is 
  possible 
  that 
  this 
  symbolic 
  arrangement 
  

   throws 
  light 
  on 
  the 
  force 
  which 
  made 
  possible 
  the 
  artificial 
  practice 
  of 
  

   exogamy. 
  In 
  this 
  connection 
  it 
  is 
  interesting 
  to 
  note 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  mar- 
  

   riages 
  in 
  existence 
  among 
  the 
  Omaha 
  twenty-five 
  years 
  ago, 
  a 
  good 
  

   majority 
  represented 
  the 
  union 
  between 
  members 
  of 
  gentes 
  belonging 
  

   to 
  the 
  two 
  rather 
  than 
  to 
  one 
  of 
  these 
  grand 
  divisions. 
  And 
  it 
  is 
  also 
  

   important 
  that, 
  amid 
  the 
  wreckage 
  of 
  the 
  ancient 
  tribal 
  organization 
  

   at 
  the 
  present 
  time, 
  the 
  practice 
  of 
  exogamy 
  is 
  still 
  observed. 
  In 
  

   short, 
  all 
  the 
  conditions 
  seem 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  the 
  custom 
  is 
  based 
  on 
  

   fundamental 
  religious 
  ideas. 
  

  

  The 
  duality 
  in 
  the 
  tribal 
  organization 
  was 
  further 
  represented 
  by 
  

   two 
  principal 
  chiefs, 
  one 
  standing 
  for 
  the 
  I 
  n 
  shta'cu 
  n 
  da 
  and 
  the 
  other 
  

   for 
  the 
  Ho 
  n 
  'gashenu. 
  There 
  were 
  also 
  two 
  tribal 
  pipes, 
  which 
  were 
  

   always 
  kept 
  together 
  and 
  were 
  never 
  separated 
  in 
  any 
  ceremonial 
  

   use. 
  Both 
  had 
  flat 
  stems; 
  one 
  was 
  ornamented 
  with 
  porcupine-quill 
  

   work, 
  and 
  had 
  fastened 
  on 
  it 
  the 
  head 
  of 
  a 
  pileated 
  woodpecker, 
  with 
  

   the 
  upper 
  mandible 
  turned 
  back 
  over 
  the 
  crest 
  of 
  the 
  bird. 
  The 
  

   stem 
  of 
  the 
  other 
  pipe 
  was 
  plain, 
  but 
  had 
  bound 
  in 
  a 
  row 
  along 
  its 
  

   length 
  seven 
  woodpeckers' 
  heads, 
  the 
  mandibles 
  turned 
  back 
  as 
  just 
  

   described. 
  It 
  is 
  not 
  improbable 
  that 
  these 
  pipes 
  pertained 
  to 
  the 
  

   fundamental 
  ideas 
  on 
  which 
  the 
  two 
  grand 
  divisions 
  of 
  the 
  tribe 
  

   were 
  based; 
  but 
  which 
  pipe 
  belonged 
  to 
  the 
  Sky 
  people 
  and 
  was 
  

   masculine, 
  and 
  which 
  to 
  the 
  Earth 
  people 
  and 
  was 
  feminine, 
  the 
  

   writers 
  have 
  been 
  unable 
  to 
  learn. 
  

  

  The 
  gens 
  ° 
  was 
  called 
  in 
  the 
  Omaha 
  tongue, 
  to 
  n 
  'wo 
  n 
  gtho 
  n 
  , 
  ''village." 
  

   The 
  same 
  term 
  was 
  applied 
  to 
  the 
  village 
  in 
  which 
  all 
  the 
  tribe 
  dwelt. 
  

  

  i 
  Tiiis 
  term 
  is 
  used 
  to 
  indicate 
  that 
  the 
  kinship 
  group 
  traced 
  descent 
  in 
  the 
  paternal 
  rather 
  than 
  the 
  

   maternal 
  line. 
  

  

  