94 THE OSAGE TRIBE [eth. ANN. 43 



It shall make their limbs to lengthen in growth, 



And they shall be able to live to see old age. 



Again Tho'-xe threw himself upon the earth 



And the poppy mallow 



Sprang from the soil and stood, beautiful, in its red Ijlossoms. 



Then Tho'-xe spake, saying: Of this plant also. 



Your little ones shall make their bodies. 



They shall use it as medicine 



And it shall make their limljs to lengthen in growth. 



It is astringent to the taste. 



Therefore you shall name your little ones Astringent. 



When the little ones make of this plant their bodies, 



They shall be able to live to see old age. 



At the time this work was begun the greater portion of the Osage 

 people had practically ceased to observe the ancient custom of 

 cutting the hair of their children in the prescribed symbolic fashion, 

 and those who continued the practice were reluctant to speak of it 

 on account of its sacred and mysterious character. For this reason 

 it was not possible to make an exhaustive study of the hair cut of 

 the various gentes of the tribe. In the days when the rite was 

 generally and strictly observed the girl, when she had attained the 

 age of ten, was permitted to let her hair grow long, and the boy was 

 allowed to wear his hair in the same style as that of all the grown 

 men; that is, all the hair of the head cut close excepting a crest 

 beginning at the middle of the crown and terminating with a long 

 braided tail called he-ga'-xa, horn, that hangs down the back of the 

 head and on the shoulder. (PI. 11.) The braided tail is called 

 "a'-yku" by the Omaha and the Ponca Indians. 



The Ponca and the Omaha, who were at one time a part of the 

 Osage tribe, also had the same tribal custom of ceremonially cutting 

 the hair of the children. The ritual used in the ceremony is a sup- 

 plication to Wa-ko^'-da to favor the child with a long and fruitful life. 



In the course of her ethnological work among the Omahas in the 

 years 1881-83, Miss Alice C. Fletcher undertook to gather infor- 

 mation about the symbolic haii' cut of the children of that tribe. 

 At first she made slow progress because the Indians were imwilling 

 to speak of matters that form a part of the tribal rites. One day, at 

 the house of Xo'-ga, the members of the family and some visitors 

 were speaking of Miss Fletcher's difficulty in gathering information 

 about the hair cut, when the old man caught his little boy and, 

 holding him fast between his knees, proceeded to cut his hair. The 

 little fellow fought manfidly but in a short time he stood with his 

 head closely sheared, with locks left uncut here and there. The 

 father swung the boy to his back and as he started to go he said: 

 "That white woman is my friend and I am going to help her." He 

 carried the child to Miss Fletcher and as he put him down before 

 her he said, "That's the hair cut of our gens. (See fig. 5, No. 2.) 



