30G 



OMAHA SOCIOLOGY. 



§ 168. Melons, pumpkins, etc, Nakaifide ukcfi", thecommoti watermelon, 

 was known to the Omahas before the coming of the white men. It has 



a green rind, which is generally striped, 

 and the seeds are black. It is never dried, 

 but is always eaten raw, hence the name. 

 They had no yellow sakaij-ide till the whites 

 came; but they do not eat them. 



YVapi"', Pumpkins — The native kinds 

 are three: waja"' qti, wa4a'"-kukiige, and 

 waja 1 " miixa. WapV'-qti, the real pump- 

 kins are generally greenish, and "bicka," 

 round but slightly flattened on sides like 

 turnips. They are usually dried, and are 

 called u wapi , "-gazan'de," because they are 

 cut in circular slices and hung together, 

 as it were, in festoons (gazaude). 



The second variety is large, white, and 

 striped ; it is not good for drying. The 

 wara" muxa are never dried. Some are 

 white, others are "sabe pi ega n , a sort of 

 black or dark blue," and small. Others, 

 the waqa n '-niuxa g<feje,are spotted, and are 

 eaten before they become too ripe. In 

 former days, these were the only sweet 

 articles of food. Sometimes pumpkins are 

 baked on coals (j6g£a n ). 



Modern varieties are two: The wata n - 

 niu'de bazu and the wata n '-jide. The Oma- 

 has never plant the latter, as they do not 

 Tbewma»qtiisatth6 top; the next is regard it as desirable. They plant the 



the waja" muxa ; (he third is the waia n - . . _ . 



tide; ami the bottom our, the waja"ninde former, which IS 110111 '-! to '2i feet long, and 



covered with knots or lumps. The native 

 pumpkins are frequently steamed, as the kettle is filled with them cut 

 in slices with a very small quantity of water added. Pumpkins are 

 never boiled with ^e cibe or buffalo entrails ; but they can be boiled with 

 a buffalo paunch, beans, dried meat, and with any preparation of corn. 



§ 1(59. Fruits and berries. — Taspa n/ , red haws, are seldom eaten; and 

 then are taken raw, not over two or three at a time. Clumps of the haw- 

 thorn abound on Logan Creek, near the Omaha reserve, and furnish the 

 Omaha name for that stream, Taspa"'hi bare. 



Wajide-uika, which are about the size of haws, grow on low bushes 

 in Northwest Nebraska. They are edible in the autumn. 



Buffalo berrie-, the wajide-qti, or real wajide, are eaten raw, or they 

 are dried and then boiled before eating. 



gaflde, plums, though dried by the Dakotas, are not dried by the 

 (pegiha and ^oiwere, who eat them raw. 



I'n. L'O — Figures of pumpkins. 



at tin- top; the next is regard it 



the third is the waia n - 



