NO. 3 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I915 I-07 



versity of Iowa, who kindly examined the record of the tests and 

 expressed the opinion that the ahihties shown by these Indians are 

 about as good as would be found among average American whites 

 under similar conditions. 



OSAGE WAR RITES' 



In the month of March, 1915, additional information was secured 

 by Mr. Francis LaFlesche, ethnologist, from Xu-tha Wa-/o"-i", con- 

 cerning the Tse-do-ga I"-dse gens version of the great Osage war 

 rites. This information consisted mostly of certain j)arts of the rites 

 arranged in metrical form for the purpose of reciting at the cere- 

 monies. This arrangement is called wi'-gi-e, or a recitation. The 

 wi'-gi-e are as follows : 



1. Wi'gi-e ro°-ga has 584 lines and covers 20 typewritten pages 

 without the translations. The wi'-gi-e tells of the coming of the 

 people of the Tsi'-zhu from the sky to the earth and of the origin 

 of the various symbolic articles used in the ceremonies of the war 

 rites, as well as of the gentile symbols from which j^ersonal names 

 are adopted. 



2. Wa-zho-i-ga-tha Wi'-gi-e has 406 lines and covers 15 typewrit- 

 ten pages without the translations. This wi'-gi-e deals with the 

 various heavenly bodies that the people of the Tsi'-zhu of the Seven 

 Fireplaces adopted for their gentile symbols. These heavenly bodies 

 are : 



I. Mi, the Sun. 2. Mi'-o"-l)a, the Moon. 3. Mi-kii-k'e 1 Io"-ba 

 do", the ]\Iorning Star. 4. Mi-^a-^'e Ho"do", the Evening Star. 5. 

 Wa-ba-ha, travois, Ursa Major. 6. Mi-kn-k'e U-^i-tha-g'i", the Dou- 

 ble Star. 7. Ta-/'a, Deer's Head, Pleiades. 8. Ta. Tha-bthi", the 

 Three Deer. 9. Mi-kii-k'e Zhu-dse (Red Star), the North Star. 

 10. Sho'"-ge A'-ga-^'e e-go", Dog at the Side, Canis Major. 



3. KV-no" Wi'-gi-e has 63 lines and covers two typewritten pages 

 without translations. It relates to the symbolic painting of the mem- 

 bers of the Tsi'-zhu of the Seven Fire-jjlaces when about to go to 

 the ceremony of the Ni'-^i-e degree of the war rites. It refers back 

 to the time when the rites were being formulated. The people asked 

 of one another what they should use for symbolic painting. Then 

 they gathered four stones upon which they put a great pile of dry 

 wood. This they set on fire and the flames that leaped upward 



'The italic letters in the Indian names indicate peculiarities of pronun- 

 ciation which it is unnecessary to explain in this hrief account. 



