﻿612 
  THE 
  OMAHA 
  TRIBE 
  [ETH. 
  ANN. 
  27 
  

  

  name 
  Big 
  Knife 
  is 
  said 
  to 
  have 
  come 
  into 
  use 
  because 
  of 
  the 
  swords 
  

   worn 
  by 
  the 
  English. 
  The 
  present 
  Omaha 
  word 
  for 
  sword, 
  mo"a 
  

   weti 
  n 
  {mo 
  n 
  fe, 
  "metal:" 
  weti 
  71 
  , 
  ''war 
  club''), 
  was 
  given 
  to 
  the 
  sword 
  

   when 
  the 
  Omaha 
  learned 
  its 
  special 
  use. 
  

  

  The 
  French 
  and 
  the 
  English 
  were, 
  the 
  only 
  white 
  nationalities 
  with 
  

   which 
  the 
  Omaha 
  had 
  direct 
  relations. 
  They 
  learned 
  of 
  the 
  Span- 
  

   iards 
  also, 
  whom 
  they 
  called 
  by 
  a 
  corruption 
  of 
  that 
  name, 
  Hespayu'na. 
  

   The 
  Omaha 
  classed 
  the 
  Germans, 
  Swedes, 
  Italians, 
  and 
  Irish 
  as 
  one 
  

   people, 
  calling 
  them 
  Ie'thashathu 
  (ie', 
  "speech;" 
  thashathu, 
  "rattled" 
  

   or 
  "confused") 
  — 
  "they 
  of 
  the 
  rattled 
  or 
  confused 
  speech." 
  The 
  

   Negro 
  is 
  called 
  Wa'xecabe 
  (waxe, 
  "white 
  man;" 
  gale, 
  "black") 
  — 
  

   "the 
  black 
  white 
  man." 
  

  

  EARLY 
  TRADERS 
  

  

  By 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  seventeenth 
  century 
  Frenchmen 
  had 
  pushed 
  

   westward 
  beyond 
  the 
  Great 
  Lakes 
  and 
  trading 
  posts 
  had 
  sprung 
  up 
  

   along 
  the 
  adventurers' 
  trails. 
  The 
  French 
  held 
  the 
  trade 
  of 
  the 
  

   Omaha 
  and 
  were 
  not 
  supplanted 
  by 
  the 
  English 
  and 
  Americans 
  

   until 
  the 
  latter 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  eighteenth 
  century. 
  Old 
  men 
  of 
  the 
  last 
  

   century 
  remembered 
  the 
  stories 
  their 
  fathers 
  told 
  of 
  going 
  on 
  a 
  long 
  

   journey 
  to 
  trade 
  at 
  a 
  post 
  "on 
  a 
  great 
  lake 
  far 
  to 
  the 
  north." 
  This 
  

   was 
  probably 
  the 
  post 
  spoken 
  of 
  by 
  Carver 
  as 
  "Fort 
  La 
  Reine" 
  on 
  

   Lake 
  Winnipeg. 
  "To 
  this 
  place," 
  he 
  writes, 
  "the 
  Mahahs 
  who 
  

   inhabit 
  a 
  country 
  two 
  hundred 
  and 
  fifty 
  miles 
  southwest 
  come 
  to 
  

   trade."" 
  It 
  is 
  not 
  improbable 
  that 
  the 
  Omaha 
  knew 
  of 
  the. 
  first 
  

   trading 
  post 
  on 
  the 
  Missouri 
  river, 
  about 
  250 
  miles 
  above 
  its 
  mouth, 
  

   erected 
  in 
  IT'-'L', 
  and 
  known 
  as 
  Fort 
  Orleans; 
  this 
  fort 
  presaged 
  the 
  

   coming 
  of 
  the 
  white 
  trader 
  into 
  the 
  Omaha 
  country. 
  During 
  the 
  

   contention 
  between 
  the 
  French 
  and 
  the 
  English 
  in 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  

   eighteenth 
  century, 
  into 
  which 
  so 
  many 
  Indian 
  tribes 
  were, 
  drawn 
  as 
  

   partisans, 
  the 
  Omaha 
  were 
  fortunate 
  in 
  being 
  sufficiently 
  removed 
  

   from 
  the 
  sphere 
  of 
  activities 
  to 
  escape 
  entanglement. 
  In 
  fact 
  not 
  

   only 
  (hiring 
  the 
  wars 
  between 
  the 
  French 
  and 
  English 
  but 
  during 
  

   those 
  between 
  the 
  English 
  and 
  the 
  Colonists 
  the 
  Omaha 
  took 
  no 
  part, 
  

   so 
  that 
  the 
  tribe 
  has 
  never 
  taken 
  up 
  arms 
  against 
  any 
  of 
  the 
  white 
  

   race. 
  While 
  the 
  Omaha 
  kept 
  clear 
  of 
  these 
  difficulties, 
  they 
  were 
  

   not 
  able 
  to 
  elude 
  the 
  evil 
  influences 
  incident 
  to 
  white 
  contact, 
  many 
  

   of 
  which 
  were 
  accentuated 
  through 
  the 
  rivalries 
  that 
  sprang 
  up 
  

   between 
  the 
  fur-trailing 
  companies. 
  

  

  At 
  the 
  close 
  of 
  the 
  French 
  and 
  Indian 
  War, 
  in 
  1 
  763, 
  the 
  English 
  were 
  

   left 
  in 
  control 
  of 
  all 
  the 
  country 
  to 
  the 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  and 
  

   English 
  traders 
  gradually 
  made 
  their 
  way 
  westward 
  into 
  the 
  territory 
  

  

  " 
  Threi 
  ravels 
  through 
  the 
  Interior 
  I'arts 
  of 
  North 
  America, 
  etc., 
  by 
  Jonathan 
  Carver, 
  69, 
  

  

  Philadelphia, 
  1796. 
  

  

  