dobset.] RIGHTS OF PARENTS AND OTHERS, ETC. 269 



WamaP'he and Ama n he. — The owner of a lodge, whether a inau or a 

 woman, is the ama n he, and the isinu is the wama n he, who has no lodge 

 of his own, and is obliged to ask for shelter of some one who is more 

 favored than himself. "While the wama n he has shelter he is expected 

 to do his share of the hunting of game, etc., just as all the other male 

 members of the household do, and he must bring it in for the benefit 

 of his host and the household. Sometimes the ama n he gives a skin 

 tent to the wama n he, who then goes elsewhere, as he has a lodge of 

 his own. 



Only those men are celibates who cannot get wives. There are no 

 single women, as the demand is greater than the supply. 



PERSONAL HABITS, POLITENESS, ETC. 



§ 104. Personal habits. — The Omahas generally bathe (hif a) every day 

 in warm weather, early in the morning and at night. Some who wish 

 to do so bathe also at noon. " Jackson," a member of the Elk gens, bathes 

 every day, even in winter. He breaks a hole in the ice on the Missouri 

 Eiver and bathes, or else he rubs snow over his body. In winter the 

 Omahas heat water in a kettle and wash themselves (jug^ija). This oc- 

 curs in some cases every week, but when a person is prevented by much 

 work it is practiced once in two or three weeks. There are some who 

 are not so particular about washing. One chief, Wacka n -ma n ^i n , was 

 nickamed " The man who does not wash his hands,'' and his wife was 

 styled " The woman who does not comb her hair." Wacka n -ina n £i n heard 

 of this, and it shamed him into better habits. It was always the custom 

 to brush and comb their hair, and the writer has a specimen, " qade-mi- 

 jjahe," such as served the Omahas of a former generation for both brush 

 and comb. The Ponkas used to bathe in the Missouri every day. The 

 Pawnees used to neglect this custom, but of late years they have ob- 

 served it. La Fleche and Two Crows prefer the sweat-bath to all other 

 ways of cleansing the body. They say that it is not a sacred rite, 

 though some Indians pretend that it is such; and it is so described in 

 the myths. Cedar twigs are still dropped ou the hot stones to cause a 

 perfume. 



§ 105. Politeness. — When friends or kindred have not met for about a 

 mouth they say, on meeting, " Hau ! kag6ha," Ho ! younger brother, 

 " Hau ! negiha," Ho 1 mother's brother, etc., calling each other by their 

 respective kinship titles, if there be any, and then they shake hands. 

 There are no other verbal salutations. Parents kiss their children, 

 especially when they have been separated for any time, or when they are 

 about to part. When the chief, Standing Grizzly Bear, met Peter Pri- 

 uieau, Ma n tcu-hi- n qti,and Cahiefa at Niobrara in January, 1881, he em- 

 braced them, and seemed to be very deeply affected. La Fleche and 



