68 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 33 
When the corn was approaching maturity, and blackbirds made 
depredations on the fields, the men of the Wazhinga-thatazhi subgens 
of the Omaha tribe used to chew up some grains of corn and spit the 
chewed corn around over the field. This action was supposed to 
keep the birds from doing any further damage.t 
In the Omaha subgens, the Wazhinga-thatazhi (“those who eat no 
small birds”), the people feared to eat the first mature ears lest the 
small birds, particularly blackbirds, should come and devour the 
rest of the crop.” 
A white leaf appearing in a cornfield was hailed with joy by the 
Omaha as a portent of a bountiful crop for the year and of abun- 
dance of meat at the next buffalo hunt. 
Among the Omaha if a murderer passed near a field it was feared 
the effect would be to blight the crop. Some time in the latter half 
of the nineteenth century a murderer, having passed his term of 
exile for his crime, was returning to his people. As he approached 
he was warned away from the fields by their owners. This indi- 
vidual was a mystery man (‘“ medicine man”) and as such was consid- 
ered to possess supernatural power, or to be able to enlist the aid of 
supernatural powers by certain prayers and songs; hence as he came 
by the fields he sang a song to the powers to avert the disastrous effect 
on the crop, which otherwise his presence might incur. Of this he 
assured the people to quiet their fears of blight on their crop. 
Corn silks were gathered and, after being dried in the sun, were 
stored away for use as food. To this end the dried corn silks were 
grouhd with parched corn, and, it is said, gave sweetness to the 
compound. 
Our European race little appreciates the great number and variety 
of corn food products made by the American tribes. No attempt is 
here made even to give a full list of such products. 
Awnpropocon Furcatus Muhl. 
Hade-zhide (Omaha-Ponea), “ red hay” (Jade, hay; zhide, red). 
This grass, the most common in the meadows and prairies of the 
State, was ordinarily used to lay on the poles to support the earth 
covering of the lodges. The stiff, jomted stems are termed in the 
Omaha-Ponea language peska. These were often used by little 
boys in play to make arrows for their toy bows. In making arrows 
of the stems of this wild grass small boys of the Arikara, Mandan, 
and Hidatsa tribes would commonly insert a thorn ot Crataegus sp. 
(thorn apple) for an arrow point. With such arrows to their little 
bows they would train themselves to skill in archery by shooting 
frogs. The first field matron to the Omaha taught the women to knit. 
One woman, Ponka-sa®, lost her needles and improvised a set from 
1Dorsey, Omaha Sociology, p. 238. 
2 Dorsey, Siouan Cults, p. 402, 
