298 OMAHA SOCIOLOGY. 



in the ajeji, 1S or bole in the ground, which had been dug in the center 

 of the tribal circle. After the planting of the tree, from which the 

 topmost branches had not been cut, an old man of the gens was sent 

 around the tribal circle as crier. According to Big Elk, he said, " You 

 are to dance ! You are to keep yourselves awake by using your feet !" 

 This implied that the dance was held at night ; but Frank La Fleche 

 says that none of the regular dancing of the Hede-watci occurred at 

 night, though there might be other dancing then, as a sort of prepar- 

 ation for the Hede-watci. In like manner, Miss Fletcher told of num- 

 erous songs and dances, not part of the sun-dance, which preceded that 

 ceremony among the Dakotas. 



The Inke-sabg men cut some sticks in the neighborhood of their 

 tents and sent them around the camp, one being given to the chief of 

 each gens. Then the latter said to his kinsmen, "They have come to 

 give us the stick because they wish us to take part in the dance." Then 

 all the people assembled for the dance. In modern times, those who 

 thought much of themselves (chiefs and others) did not go to witness 

 this dance, but staid at home, as did Joseph La Fleche. Nearly all the 

 young men and boys wore nothing but their breechcloths, and their 

 bodies were smeared over with white clay. Here and there were young 

 men who wore gay clothing. The women and girls wore good dresses, 

 and painted the partings of their hair and large round spots on their 

 cheeks with red paint. Near the pole were the elder men of the Inke- 

 sabg gens, wearing robes with the hair outside ; some of them acted as 

 singers and others beat the drums and rattles; they never used more 

 than one or two drums and four gourd rattles. It is not certain which Inke- 

 sabg men acted as singers, and which ones beat the drums and rattles. 

 When Frank La Fleche witnessed this dance he says that the singers and 

 other musicians sat on the west side of the pole and outside the circle 

 of the dancers ; but Joseph La Fleche, Two Crows, and Big Elk agreed 

 in saying that their place was within the circle of the dancers and near 

 the pole. This was probably the ancient rule, from which deviations 

 have been made in recent times. The two sacred pipes occupied im- 

 portant places in this dance; each one was carried on the arm of a young 

 man of the gens, but it was not filled. 16 These two young men were the 

 leaders of the dance, and from this circumstance originated the ancient 

 proper name, j J a n (f;i n -na n ba, Two Bunning. According to Frank La 

 Fleche, these two young men began the dance on the west side of the pole, 

 standing between the pole and the singers. The songs of this dance 



16 This word "ujeji" appears to be the Dakota " otceti," fire-place, expressed in 

 Omaha notation. As the household fire-place is in the center of the lodge, so the 

 tribal fire-place was in the center of the tribal circle. 



16 Frank Fa Fleche said that the two pipes used in the Hede-watci were the weawa", 

 from which the ducks' heads were removed, and instead of them were put on the red 

 pipe bowls of the sacred pipes. (See § 30.) 



