f(y? USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 33 
Trmacrar 
Tris verstcotor L. Blue Flag. (PI. 9.) 
Maha"-skithe* (Omaha-Ponca), “ sweet medicine” (maka", medi- 
cine; skithe, sweet), or perhaps in this case meaning not “ sweet ” 
in the sense we use the word, but “ stimulating,” as the plant has 
a pungent taste. 
The rootstock was pulverized and mixed with water, or more often 
with saliva, and the infusion dropped into the ear to cure earache; 
it was used also to medicate eye-water. A paste was made to apply 
to sores and bruises. 
SALICACEAE 
Porvtus sarcentit Dode. Cottonwood. (PI. 5, b.) 
Waga cha” (Dakota) ; cha” means “ wood ” or “ tree.” 
Maa zho (Omaha-Ponca), “ cotton tree” (zho", wood or tree). 
Natakaaru (Pawnee). 
The Teton Dakota say that formerly the people peeled the young 
sprouts and ate the inner bark because of its pleasant, sweet taste 
and nutritive value. Young cottonwood branches and upper branches 
of older trees were provided as forage for their horses and were 
said to be as “good for them as oats.” White trappers and travel- 
ers have recorded their observations as to the value of the cot- 
tonwood as forage. 
Mystic properties were ascribed to the cottonwood. The Sacred 
Pole of the Omaha was made from a cottonwood. This was an object 
which seems to have had among that people a function somewhat 
similar to that of the Ark of the Covenant among the ancient He- 
brews. Among the list of personal names pertaining to the Ka*za 
gens of the Omaha tribe is that of Maa-zho" Hoda, Gray Cotton- 
wood. Cottonwood bark was employed as a fuel for roasting the 
clays used in making paints for heraldic and symbolic painting of 
the skin. A yellow dye was made from the leaf buds in early spring. 
A very pretty and interesting use of cottonwood leaves was made by 
children in play. They split a leaf a short distance down from the 
tip along the midrib; at equal distances from the tip they tore across 
from the margin slightly; then, bending back the margin above the 
rents for the smoke flaps, and drawing together the leaf-margins 
below the rents and fastening them with a splinter or a thorn, they 
had a toy tipi. These they made in numbers and placed them in 
circles like the camp circle of their tribe. The children of all the 
Nebraska tribes played thus. It is interesting to note this manifesta- 
1Tt should be noted that a number of different plants seem to be known by the 
Omaha and Ponka as maka™—skithe, ‘‘ sweet medicine.” 
