120 



OMAHA 



[b. a. e. 



Avith the Sioux. They were on the w. 

 side of the Missouri a short distance 

 above the Platte in 1845, but in 1855 re- 

 moved to what is now Dakota co., Nebr. 

 They joined with other tribes in the 

 treaties of Julv l.\ ISnO, and Oct. 15, 1836, 



OMAHA MAN. 



and by the treaty of Washington, D. C. , 

 Mar. 16, 1854, ceded all their lands w. of 

 the Missouri and s. of a line running due 

 w. from the point where Iowa r. leaves 

 the bluffs, retaining their lands n. of this 

 line for a reservation. By treaty of Mar. 

 6, 1865, they sold part of their reservation 

 to the United States for the use of the Win- 

 nebago. Many of them learned to culti- 

 vate grain and raise stock, and in 1882, 

 through theeffortof Miss AliceC. Fletcher, 

 a law was enacted granting lands in sev- 

 eralty and prospective citizenship. 



The primitive dwellings of the Omaha 

 were chiefly lodges of earth, more rarely 

 of bark or mats, and skin tents. The 

 earth lodges, similar in construction to 

 those of the Mandan, were intended prin- 

 cipally for summer use, when the people 

 were not hunting. The bark lodges were 

 usually elliptical in form, occasionally 

 having two fireplaces and two smoke 

 holes. The skin tent was used when the 

 people were traveling or hunting the 

 buffalo. Pottery was made by the Omaha 

 before 1850, but the art has been for- 

 gotten. Their mortars were made by 

 burning a hollow in a knot or round 

 piece of wood, and spoons were made of 

 horn, Avood, and pottery. Polygamy was 



practised, but the maximum number of 

 wives that any one man could have was 

 three. Until 1880 there were two prin- 

 cipal chiefs, usually selected from the 

 Hangashenu subtribe, though there was 

 no law or rule forbidding their selec- 

 tion from other divisions. In addition to 

 these there were subordinate chiefs. 

 Their religion, according to Dorsey (3rd 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1884), was associated with 

 the practice of medicine, mythology, and 

 war customs, and with their gentile sys- 

 tem. 



The population of the Omaha since their 

 recovery from the great loss by smallpox 

 in 1802, when they were reduced to about 

 300, has greatly increased. In 1804, ac- 

 cording to Lewis (Statist. View, 16, 1807), 

 they numbered 600, including 150 war- 

 riors. In 1829 they were estimated at 

 1,900, and in 1843 at 1,600, both of which 

 estimates were probably excessive. 

 Schoolcraft gives 1,349 in 1851, Bur- 

 rows 1,200 in 1857, and the same num- 

 ber is given by the census of 1880. In 

 1906 the population of the tribe was 

 1,228. 



The Omaha gentes as given bv Dorsey 

 (15th Rep. B. A. E., 226, 1897) are : A.— 

 Hangashenu half tribe: 1, Wezhinshte; 2, 



OMAHA WOMAN 



Inkesabe; 3, Hanga; 4, Dhatada; 5, Kanze. 

 B. — Inshtasanda half tribe: 6, Mandhink- 

 agaghe; 7, Tesinde; 8, Tapa; 9, Ingdhez- 

 hide; 10, Inshtasanda. ( J. o. d. c. t. ) 

 Eromahas.—W. Reserve Hist. Soc. Tracts, I, no.6, 24, 

 1871. Ho'-man-ha".— Dorsey, Winnebago MS., B. 

 A. E., 1886 (Winnebago name). Hu-umui. — Gat- 



