LA FLBSCHB] TRIBAL BITES FREE TRANSLATION 65 



answered, "I am Tho'-xe, lift ye your heads!" (See p. 134, 

 Name of gens.) At that moment there came a crash of thunder 

 that seemed to issue from the end of the ridgepole of the house. In 

 an excited manner the No^'-ho^-zhi^-ga gathered up all the wa-xo'-bes 

 and threw them toward the bull, who at once lowered his tail, ceased 

 pawing the earth, and became friendly. 



These two angry visitors, the bull and the thunder, were repre- 

 sentatives of the Tho'-xe and the Ni'-ka Wa-ko°-da-gi gentes. It was 

 in this dramatic manner that these two gentes were jointly given the 

 office of caring for the wa-xo'-bes. At an initiation of a member of 

 one of the various gentes into the mysteries of the war rite, the heredi- 

 tary caretaker of the wa-xo'-be, who belongs to the Ni'-ka Wa-ko"- 

 da-gi gens, is given the bird to redecorate, an act equivalent to its 

 reconsecration for the benefit of the mitiate. If the hereditary 

 caretaker happens to be absent from the initiation, this duty is 

 performed by the second official caretaker, who belongs to the 

 Tho'-xe gens. It is said that all the wa-xo'-bes belong to these two 

 gentes because the No°'-ho°-zhi°-ga had given them to the two gentes 

 through fear; also that the Tho'-xe and the Ni'-ka Wa-ko°-da-gi had 

 originally brought the birds from the sky and given them to the 

 people.^ 



The Tho'-xe and the Ni'-ka Wa-ko°-da-gi were also spoken of as 

 the Tsi Ha-shi, Those Last to Come — that is, those of the gentes 

 who were last to take part in the formulating of the war rite. 



Summary: Development op the Military Branch of the 



Government 



From the foregoing story it appears that the militaiy branch of the 

 tribal government in the course of its development passed through 

 two stages, each one of which was spoken of as a '' departure to a new 

 country." The introductory statement that the peoples of the 

 Wa-zha'-zhe, the Ho^'-ga, and the Tsi'-zhu came from the sky to 

 the earth expresses the conception that all life descends from the 

 sky to the earth. The story that immediately follows has a historical 

 basis and indicates the point of departure from a chaotic to an orderly 

 state of tribal existence. 



It also appears that at the beginning the affairs of the tribe were 

 under the control of the Ho^'-ga U-ta-no''-dsi, a division representing 



' There is, however, reason to suspect that these two gentes, feeling that they were slighted in the dis- 

 tribution of the sacred articles, threatened to depart, and in order to prevent the rupture the No">'-hon-zhii>-ga 

 gave them the office of official keeper. An incident of that kind occurred among the Omaha at the time 

 of their reorganization, when the seven ceremonial pipes were distributed among certain gentes of the 

 tribe. The distributors of the sacred pipes passed by an important and influential subgens of the Tha'-taKla 

 without leaving a pipe. This subgens, taking offense at the slight, prepared to leave the tribe, when the 

 leading men presented to the subgens a buffalo head for a wa-xo'-be. ."Vs a result the gens remained, the 

 buffalo head became sacred to the memliers, and from that time they were known as the Te-pa' I-ta-zhi 

 They Who do not Touch Buffalo Heads. 



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