D0B6ET] 



LANCES. 



285 



are two kinds, of one of wliicli the handle is round, and about an 

 inch in diameter, and the point is flat and about the widtli of three 

 fingers at its juncture with the handle. 



Besides these there are tlie lances, called vfaqfexe-^kz'i, of which 

 there are two varieties. One consists of a straight i^ole, which has 

 been thrust through a piece of buflt'alo hide that has its long- end sewed 

 together, forming a sort of covering. To this hide are ftistened feath- 

 ers of the crow and mi"'xa-sa", or swan, in alternate rows or bunches. 

 Between the feathers are fastened square pieces of blanket. About 

 the middle of the pole a space of nearly G inches is left without feath- 

 ers, and this is the place where the spear is grasped. When the pole 

 was not set into a metal i^oint the lower end was cut very sharp.' The 

 other variety, or mandehi "l-iguje, " bent spear," is the weapon whicli 

 the Dakota call "wahukeza." It is ornamented with eagle feathers 

 placed at intevals, one being at the end of the curved part; and it 

 generally terminates at the bottom in an iron point. It is possible for 

 one of these waq(J-exe(f aze to reach a man about 6 feet distant ; and 

 even mounted men have been killed by them. Spears are used also 

 in some of the dances. Around the shaft is wrapped the skin of a 

 swan or brant. The end feather at the top is' white; the other feathers 

 are white or spotteil. The bent spear is no longer employed by the 

 Omaha, though the Osage, Pawnee, and other tribes still use it to a 

 greater or lesser extent. 



Bows. 



Bows (mau-de) are of two kinds. One is the man de or za^zi-mandg 

 (bow-wood bow), having an unbroken curve past the grip to within an 



Fig. 323.— Omaha bow (za''zi-maDdf-). 



inch or two of each nock.^ The other kind is the ^aj[a"-maude, so called 

 because it has deer sinew glued on its back.^ Bows were made of hick- 

 ory, ash, ironwood, or za°zi, the last being greatly preferred. It is a 

 wood resembling that of the Osage orange, with which some i>ersous 



Fig. 324.— Omaha bow (4a5[a°-mand6), 



confound it; but it is black and much harder than the former, the 

 Osage orange wood being yellow, soft, and easily cut. The za^zi is 

 probably that which Dougherty* called "bow- wood (Madura aurantiaca 

 of 2^uttall)." 



'See First Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology, 1879-'80 ; 1881, PI. x, "Tolkotin cremation." 

 "Thi.s may be the "self-bow" mentioned in the American Naturalist for July, 1886, p. 675. 

 ^Thia IS the .sinew-backed bow above mentioned. 

 *Long'8 Expedition, op. cit., vol. I, p. 290- 



