cULIN] ARCHERY: OMAHA 393 
made is thrown into the air, and all shoot at it, trying to hit it before it reaches 
the ground; when it is hit, the arrow generally penetrates the object very far, 
leaving only a small part of the feather end visible. | The one who sends his arrow 
near the heart or mark on the grass ball has the right to toss the ball up into 
the air; but he who hits the heart on the ball throws the ball on the ground, 
and then throws it where he pleases, when all shoot at it. The game is generally 
played till dark, but there are no stakes put up. 
Unkchela kutépi, Shooting at the cactus. This game is always played for 
amusement, never for gain. On the appointed day the boys assemble on the 
prairie. One, who must be a swift runner, takes a cactus root into which he 
thrusts a stick to serve as a handle. Grasping the cactus by this handle, he 
holds it aloft as he runs, and the others shoot at it. During this game the 
swift runner himself is regarded as having become the cactus; so when one 
of the boys hits the cactus they say that it enrages the boy-cactus, who there- 
upon chases the others. Whenever the boy-cactus overtakes a player he sticks 
his cactus into him, turns around, and returns to his former place. Again the 
eactus is held aloft and they shoot at it as before, and again the players are 
chased. The game is kept up till the players wish to stop it. 
Ogléche kutépi, Shooting at an arrow set up. Some boys back their favorites 
among the players by furnishing them with articles to be put down as stakes. 
On each side of a hill there is an arrow stuck upright in the ground to serve as 
a mark. The players on one side shoot at the arrow set up on the other; the 
players at the front shoot at the arrow in the rear, and then the players in the 
rear shoot at the arrow set up at the front. The nearer a player sends his 
arrow to the mark, the more it counts. Sometimes one of the arrows set up is 
withdrawn temporarily from its place to be used for shooting at the other arrow. 
Only arrows are staked. 
Manpan. North Dakota. 
Catlin * describes a favorite amusement which they call the game 
of the arrow (figure 507) : 
The young men who are the most distinguished in this exercise, assemble on 
the prairic at a little distance from the village, and having paid, each one, his 
entrance fee, such as a shield, a robe, a pipe, or other article, step forward in 
turn, shooting their arrows into the air, endeavoring to see who can get the 
greatest number flying in the air at one time, thrown from the same bow. For 
this, the number of eight or ten arrows are clenched in the left hand with the 
bow, and the first one which is thrown is elevated to such a degree as will 
enable it to remain the longest time possible in the air, and while it is flying, 
the others are discharged as rapidly as possible; and he who succeeds in getting 
the greatest number up at once, is best, and takes the goods staked. 
Omana. Nebraska. 
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey” describes the following games: 
Shooting arrows at a mark is called ma*kide. The mark (nacdbeg¢e té) may 
be placed at any distance from the contestants. There must be an even number 
of persons on each side. Men play with men and boys with boys. Arrows are 
staked. Sometimes when an arrow hits squarely at the mark it wins eight 
arrows or perhaps ten, according to previous agreement. When no arrow 
«The Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, vy. 1, p. 141, 
London, 1841. 
> Omaha Sociology. Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 339, 1884. 
