dohsey.J DANCES. 353 



are iuvited to dance. " Egi'a u wa^atcigaxe tai," You will dance the dance 

 of exploits. The visitors sit in a circle and the members of the home 

 tribe sit outside. A drum, stick, a " crow," and a club or hatchet are 

 placed inside the circle. There is no singing. When the drum is struck 

 one of the visitors dances. He who has something to tell about himself 

 takes the crow and attaches it to his belt. Then he takes the club or 

 hatchet. When the drummers beat faster all of them say, " HI ! hi! hi ! " 

 When they stop beating the dancer tells what he has done. Pointing 

 in one direction with his club or hatchet he says, " In that place I killed 

 a man." Pointing elsewhere, he says, " There I took hold of a man." 

 " I brought back so many horses from that tribe." Sometimes they beat 

 the drum again before he finishes telling his exploits. Sometimes a 

 man recounts much about himself, if very brave, taking four such inter- 

 vals to complete his part of the performance. When he has finished he 

 hands the crow and weapon to the next dancer. There are four dancers 

 in all. Some tell their exploits two or three times, i. e., they may re- 

 quire two or three intervals or spaces of time after the beating of the 

 drum to tell all that they have to say. When the fourth dancer stops 

 the dance is over. (See the He watci, at the end of the Heifucka dance, 

 § 217.) This is not danced very often. 



§ 272. The Ghost dance. — Wanaxe ifae^-ma are those who have super- 

 natural communications with ghosts. The dance is called Wanaxe 

 ifaefe watcigaxe. Formerly the Ponkas had this dance, and the Oma- 

 has saw it and coveted it; so they took it. It has not been danced by 

 the Omahas for about forty years. La Fleche and Two Crows never saw- 

 it, but they have heard of it ; and they speak of it as " uqtaji ; edada" 

 fgaxewa^aji," undesirable; totally unfit for any use. But ^a^i n -na n pajl 

 says that it was an " uwaqube," a sacred thing. No women participated. 

 A feast was called, the men assembled, a drum was struck, and they 

 danced. The dancers made their bodies gray, and called themselves 

 ghosts. 



§ 273. The Padarika dance.— The Pddanka watci (Camauche dance ?) has 

 not been held among the Omahas since <ja^i n na n paji can remember. 

 The Omahas bought it from another tribe, and had it a long time. 

 When Mr. J. La Fleche was small, he saw a little of it. He and Two 

 Crows have heard about it. The drum was struck ; the dancers red- 

 dened their bodies with Indian red ; they wore head-dresses of crow 

 feathers or of the large feathers of the great owl. Each one carried 

 the " ^acage " or rattles of deers' claws. 



§ 274. The HeMna dance. — This was introduced among the Omahas by 

 the Otos when they visited the former tribe in August, 1878. The Otos 

 call it " He-ka n/ -yu-ha." It is found among the Sacs and other Indians 

 south of the Omahas. This is the dance in which the young people of 

 both sexes participate, and it is called " umi n ^ig(fa n ," as it leads the 

 young men to think of courting the girls. 

 When a young man wishes to have a chance for saying something to 

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