MALLERY. ] CSAGE CHART. 251 
men pass by they will often renew the same, by which means many things of great 
antiquity are freshin memory. So that as a man traveleth, if he can understand his 
guide, his journey will be the less tedious by reason of the many historical dis- 
courses which will be related unto him. 
Tn connection with this section students may usefully consult Dr. Brin- 
ton’s (f) Lenapé and their Legends. 
As an example of a chart used in the exact repetition of traditions, 
Fig. 167 is presented with the following explanation by Rev. J. Owen 
Dorsey: 
The chart accompanies a tradition chanted by members of a secret society of the 
Osage tribe. It was drawn by an Osage, Red Corn. 
The tree at the top represents the tree of life. By this flows a river. The tree 
and the river are described later in the degrees. i 
When a woman is initiated she is required by the 
head of her gens to take four sips of water (sym- 
bolizing the river), then he rubs cedar on the palms 
of his hands, with which he rubs her from head to 
foot. If she belongs to a gens on the left side of a 
tribal cirele, her chief begins on the left side of her 
head, making three passes, and pronouncing the 
sacred name three times. Then he repeats the pro- 
cess from her forehead down; then on the right side 
of her head; then at the back of her head; four times 
three times, or twelve passes in all. 
Beneath the river are the following objects: The 
Watse yuya, male slaying animal (?), or morning 
star, which is a red star. 2. Six stars called the 
“Elm rod” by the white people in the Indian terri- 
tory. 3. The evening star. 4. The little star. 
Beneath these are the moon, seven stars, and sun. 
Under the seven stars are the peace pipe and war 
hatchet; the latter is close to the sun, and the former 
and the moon are on the same side of the chart. 
Four parallel lines extending across the chart, rep- 
resent four heavens or upper worlds through which 
the ancestors of the Tsiou people passed before they 
came to this earth. The lowest heaven rests on an 
oak tree; the ends of the others appear to be sup- 
ported by pillars or ladders. The tradition begins 
below the lowest heaven, on the left side of the 
chart, under the peace pipe. Each space on the 
pillar corresponds with a line of the chant; and each 
stanza (at the opening of the tradition) contains 
four lines. The first stanza precedes the arrival of 
the first heaven, pointing to a time when the chil- Fic. 167.—Osage chart. 
dren of the ‘‘former end” of the race were without human bodies as well as human 
souls. The bird hovering over the arch denotes an advance in the condition of the 
people; then they had human souls in the bodies of birds. Then followed the pro- 
gress from the fourth to the first heaven, followed by the descent to earth. The 
ascent to four heavens and the descent to three, makes up the number seven. 
When they alighted, it was on a beautiful day when the earth was covered with 
luxuriant vegetation. From that time the paths of the Osages separated; some 
marched on the right, being the war gentes, while those on the left were peace 
gentes, including the Tsiou, whose chart this is. 
