128 BULLETIN OF THE 



on them have persisted. They were consequent to the lake beds, 

 but they have cut their way down into the upbent rocks, and to 

 their structure they are inconsequent by superposition. 



At the conclusion of Mr, Gilbert's paper the Society adjourned. 



182d Meeting. May 22d, 1880. 



The President in the Chair. 

 Thirty-two members present. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted. 

 A paper was then read before the Society by the Rev. J. Owen 

 Dorset 



ON the gentile system of the omahas. 



The Omahas belong to the Dakotan family. That family is 

 divided into six or seven groups, which are as follows : I. The 

 Dakota, comprising the tribes of Dakotas and Assiniboins. II. 

 The Dhegiha, including the Poukas, Omahas, Quapaws, Osages, 

 and Kansas. III. The Winnebago group, embracing the Winne. 

 bagoes, lowas, Missouris and Otoes, IV. The Mandan. V. The 

 Hidatsa and Crows. VI, The Tutelo, now in Canada ; and to these 

 some add a seventh group, the Kat^ba of South Carolina. 



The Omahas, to the consideration of whom this essay is limited 

 form a tribe of the Dhegiha group. This group consists of Upper 

 Dhegiha or Omahas and Ponkas ; and Lower Dhegiha or Quapaws, 

 Osages and Kansas. 



Dhegiha means " belonging to the people of this land." It 

 answers to the Otoe, 'Ciwere, and to the Iowa, 'Ce'kiwere. 



If an Omaha or Ponka be challenged in the dark when on his 

 own land, he will reply " I am a Dhegiha." A Kansas, on his own 

 land will say, " I am he who is a Dhegiha." But when away from 

 home, even when on the land of a tribe of the same group, the 

 man must give the tribal name, saying " I am an Omaha," " I am 

 a Ponka," or " I am he who is a Kansas." 



Omaha, or rather U-ma^'-ha", means " up-stream people/' They 

 say that in former days their ancestors were on the Ohio river. 

 When they reached the mouth, they crossed the Mississippi. There 

 the people separated. Some went down the river, and became 



