uobbey.] RETURN FROM SUMMER HUNT, ETC. 80 L 



^ejega or hind quarters made two moi - e parts, with one of \vbich went 

 the paunch, aud with the other the entrails. The ie-na n qa was the filth 

 part ; and when the elk was large a sixth share was formed by cutting 

 off the "^e mange" or chest. 



Frank La Fleche does not know how the black bears used to be di- 

 vided, as there have been none found on the Omaha reservation for the 

 past fourteen years. 



§ 160. If one shoots a wild turkey or goose (mi n xa), another person 

 standing near may run up and take the bird if he can get there first, 

 without saying anything. The slayer cannot say, " Give it to me." He 

 thinks that he can get the next one which he kills. The same rule ap- 

 plies to a raccoon. But when one catches a beaver in a trap he does 

 not give it away. 



§ 161. Trapping. — Since the coming of the white men the Omahas 

 have been making small houses or traps of sticks about a yard long, 

 for catching the mijjasi (prairie wolves), big wolves, gray foxes, aud 

 even the wild cat. 



FISHING CUSTOMS. 



§ 162. Before the advent of the white man the Omahas used to fish in 

 two ways. Sometimes they made wooden darts by sharpeninglong sticks 

 at one end. and with these they speared the fish. When the fish appeared 

 on the surface of the water they used to shoot them with a certain kind 

 of arrows, which they also used for killing deer and small game. They 

 spoke of the arrows as " nasize gaxe," because of the way in which they 

 were prepared. ~No arrowheads were used. They cut the ends of the 

 shafts to points ; then about four inches of the end of each arrow next 

 the point was held close to a fire, and it was turned round and round 

 till it was hardened by the heat. 



Since the coming of the whites, the Omahas have learned to make 

 fishing-lines of twisted horse-hair, and these last a long time. They do 

 not use. sinkers and floats, and they never resort to poison for securing 

 the fish. Both Ponkas and Omahas have been accustomed to fish as 

 follows in the Missouri River : A man would fasten some bait to a hook 

 at the end of a line, which he threw out into the stream, after securing 

 the other end to a stake next the shore; but he took care to conceal the 

 place by not allowing the top of the stick to appear above the surface 

 of the water. Early the next morning he would go to examine his line, 

 and if he went soon enough he was apt to find he had caught a fish. 

 But others were on the watch, and very often they would go along the 

 bank of the river and feel under the water for the hidden sticks, from 

 which they would remove the fish before the arrival of the owner of the 

 lines. 



