v(36 OMAHA SOCIOLOGY. 



her mother. As she grew older, she learned how to cut. wood, to culti- 

 vate corn, and other branches of an Indian woman's work. When a 

 girl was about three feet high, she used to wear her hair tied up in 

 four rolls, one on top of her head, one at the back, and one at each side. 

 This lasted till she was about six years old. The girl manifested the 

 most affectionate regard for her parents and other near kindred. 



"With a boy there was not so much strictness observed. He had more 

 liberty allowed him ; and at an early age he was furnished with a bow 

 and blunt arrows, with which he practiced shooting at marks, then at 

 birds. He had his sports as well as the girl, though it was not usual 

 for many boys and girls to play together. If a boy played with girls 

 (probably with those who were not his sisters), the Ponkas referred to 

 him as a " mi n quga " or hermaphrodite. Both sexes were fond of mak- 

 ing houses in the mud, hence the verb, ligaxe, to viake lodges, to play 

 games. 



Joseph La Fleche used to punish his son, Frank, by tying him to a 

 chair with a cord and saying to him, " If you break the cord I will strike 

 you." 



When a boy was seven or eight years old he was expected to un- 

 dergo a fast for a single day. He had to ascend a bluff and remain 

 there, crying to Wakanda to pity him and make him a great man. 

 Dougherty said that the boy rubbed white clay over himself, aud went 

 to the bluff at sunrise. When the boy was about sixteen years of age 

 he had to fast for two days in succession. This had to be without any 

 fire, as well as without food and drink ; hence, it was not practiced in 

 the winter nor in the month of March. The period of fasting was pro- 

 longed to four days when the boy was from eighteen to twenty years 

 of age. Some youths fasted in October ; some fasted in the spring, 

 after the breaking up of the ice on the Missouri River. The same youth 

 might fast more than once in the course of the year. Some who fasted 

 thought that Wakanda spoke to them. 



Boys took part with their elders in the Hede-watci, when they danced, 

 stripped of all clothing except the breech-cloth. 



STANDING OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY. 



§ 96. The women had an equal standing in society, though their du- 

 ties differed widely from what we imagine they should be. On cold 

 days, when the husband knew that it was difficult for the woman to 

 pursue her usual occupations, he was accustomed to go with her to 

 cut wood, and he used to assist her in carrying it home. But on 

 warm days the woman used to go alone for the wood. The women 

 used to dress the hides at home, or at the tent in which she was 

 staying when the people were traveling. When a woman was strong 

 sbe hoed the grouud and planted the corn ; but if she was delicate or 



