286 



OMAHA DWELLINGS, FURNITURE, ETC. 



lETH. AXX. 13 



Bowstrings were made of the twisted sinew of the elk and buffalo, 

 as among other tribes. 



Ahbdws. 



The arrows (ma") used in former days were of several kinds. The 

 hunting arrow, used for killing the buffalo, was generally about 2 feet 

 long, of the usual cylindric form, and armed with an elongate triangu- 

 lar poiut, made at tirst of flint, afterward of sheet iron. The shoulders 

 of the arrow were rounded instead of angular, as in the ordi- 

 nary barbed form. The point, or head, was firmly secured 

 to the shaft by deer sinew wrapped around the neck of the 

 point, and over that was spread some cement, made in a 

 manner to be afterward explained. The flight of the arrow 

 was equalized by three half- webs of feathers, neatly fast- 

 ened near its base m the usual manner. 



Another kind of hunting arrow was the hide nazi^e, 

 which was altogether of wood. About G inches from the 

 Fig. 325. -Omaha poij^t the shaft was triangular or quadrangular; and the 



hunting arrow. ^ t> a o 7 



point was made by holding the shaft close to a fire and 

 turning it round and round till the heat had 

 reduced it to the proper shape and had hard- 

 ened it. This was used for killing fish, deer, 

 and small game. 



The war arrow (h) differed from that used in 

 hunting in having a barbed i)oint, which was 

 very slightly attached to the shaft, so that if 

 it penetrated the body of an enemy it could 

 not be withdrawn without leaving the point 

 in the wound. 



Children used the hide-^Ace, or target arrow, when they began to learn 

 the use of the bow. With this a boy could kill small birds and animals. 



a 



Fio 326.- 



-Omaha war arrow. 



Fig. 327.— Omaha style of hiil6.)4ce. 



The Ponka used to make arrowshafts (ma°sa) of ja"'-'qude-hi, ''gray 

 wood," juneberry wood, which grew in their country, but is not found 

 among the Omaha. Most of the Omaha made their shafts of the 

 ma°'saqtihi, or " real arrow-wood," { Viburnum) as that was the wood best 

 suited for the purpose. Sometimes they were made of chokecherry 

 wood; and Joseph LaFIcche informs me that he has made them of as)i 

 and hickory. 



Arrowshafts were held lengthwise directly in a line with the eyes of 

 the workman, who sighted along them to see if they were straight. If 

 one was bent, he held one end of it between his teeth, while he pressed 

 against the rest of it with his hands. They were polished by means of 

 the polishers, or ma"'-fiqf ade, two pieces of sandstone, each of which had 



