IJ.Pl,ESCHE] EITE OF VIGII^ FREE TEANSLATIOISr. 187 



moving, like that of the waters and the clouds, which are never- still 

 but continually move, as do all other living things. 



The archaic Osage word "ta-ko," wliich appears in this group of 

 songs, having thus been found in use in the dialects of the Dakotas 

 and with a definite meaning, there should be no hesitancy in trans- 

 lating the word "ta-ko'' in the Osage Ritual as "divine;" as all the 

 symbols, the songs, and the wi'-gi-es used in the rites are regarded 

 as of a mysterious, divine nature, and are reverenced as such. 



Other words of the songs and the wi'-gi-es that have become 

 obscure to the Osage are to be found in the Omaha and Ponca dialects 

 with a definite meaning. " Wa-tsi'-shka," an archaic word used in 

 the Osage Ni'-ki Wi'-gi-e of the I°-gtho"'-ga gens, is found in daily use 

 among the Omaha as meaning a small creek. An Osage of to-day if 

 spoken to of a '"wa-tsi'-shka" would not understand the word, for his 

 ancestors had long ago abantloned it, using in its stead the word 

 "ga-xa," branch, for creek. In the Hawk Songs of the Tho'-xe gens, 

 given by 'Tse-zhi'^'-ga-wa-chi-in-ga, appears the archaic word " pa-he'," 

 which conveys no meaning to the modern Osage, for they have been 

 using for an indefinite time the word "pa-fi," a peak, for liill. 

 Whereas among the Omaha, and also the Ponca, the word used for 

 hill is ''pa-he'," a word given in the Hawk Song, two lines of which 

 are here given: 



Over the earth I spread my wings, 



Lo, the hills (pa-he') over which I am ever flying. 



