224 



OMAHA SOCIOLOGY. 



half of the circle till he reaches an old man seated opposite the head chief. 

 This old man (one of the Hanga wag^a) and (he head chief are the only 

 ones who smoke the pipe; those sitting between them do not smoke it 

 when Ifike-sabe goes around. When the old man has finished smoking 

 Ifikesabe takes the pipe again and continues around the circle to the 

 starting-point, but he gives it to each man to smoke. When he reaches 

 the head chief on the left he gives it to him, and after receiving it from 

 him he returns it to the place on the ground before the head chiefs. 



When Inke-sabS reaches the old man referred to ^e-da-it'aji starts from 

 the head chiefs with the other pipe, which he hands to each one, in- 

 cluding those sitting between the second head chief and the old man. 

 j^e-da-it'aji always keeps behind Iiikesabejust half the circumference of 

 the circle, and when he receives the pipe from the head chief on the left he 

 returns it to its place beside the other. Then, after the smoking is over, 

 Ictasanda takes the pipes, overturns them to empty out the ashes, and 

 cleans the bow-Is by thrusting in a stick. (See §§ 111, 130, 296, etc.) 



In smoking they blew the smoke 

 upwards, saying, "Here, Wakanda, 

 is the smoke." This was done be- 

 cause they say that Wakanda gave 

 them the pipes, and He rules over 

 them. 



§ 19. Frank La Fleche told the 

 following : 



The sacred pipes are not shown to the 

 common people. When my father was 

 about to he installed ahead chief, Mahi n -zi, 

 whose duty it was to fill the pipes, let one 

 of them fall to the ground, violating a law, 

 and so preventing the continuation of the 



ceremony. So my father was not fully iu- 

 Fig. 13.— Places of the chiefs; etc., in the tribal ... . , ,,., ., , , - ... .. 



assembly. itiated. When the later fall was partly 



A -The lirstbead cbief. on the left B.-Tho sec- „ one Mabi"-zi died. 

 and beau chief, on the risht. C. — The two Hanea ° 

 wafufa, one being the oid man whom Inke-sabe Wacuce, my father-in-law, was the Inke- 



eauses to smoko the pipe. D. — The place where „ .- » „ » i.i_„ _;„„,, yitk.^ +t... a^ q 



the two pipes are laid. The chiefs sit around in 8aD « kee P f r of the P'P es - Wbeu tbe 0tos 

 a circle. E.— The giver of the IVast. visited the Omahas (in the summer of 



1878), the chiefs wished the pipes to be taken out of the coverings, so they ordered 

 Wacuce to undo the bag. This was unlawful, as the ritual prescribed certain words 

 to be said by the chiefs to the keeper of the pipes previous to the opening of the bag. 

 But none of the seven chiefs know the formula. Wacuce was unwilling to break the 

 law ; but the chiefs insistc d, and he yielded. Then Two Crows told all the Omahas 

 present not to smoke the small pipe. This he had a right to do, as he was a HaBga. 

 Wacuce soon died, and in a short time he was followed by his daughter and his eldest 

 son. 



It takes four days to make any one understand all about the laws of the sacred 

 pipes ; and it costs many horses. A bad man, i. e., one who is saucy, quarrelsome 

 stingy, etc., cannot be told such thiugs. This was the reason why the seven chiefs 

 did not know their part of the ritual. 



