Maegh 4, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



303 



its line of tents and became a segment of 

 the greater tribal Hu'-dhu-ga, in which 

 each gens had its fixed unchangeable posi- 

 tion, so that the opening of the tribal Hu'- 

 dhu-ga was always between the same two 

 gentes. Both these gentes were related to 

 Thunder. That upon the right, as one en- 

 tered the circle, was the Iw-shta'-thuw-da 

 —flashing eye— known as the Thunder 

 gens or people. To a sub-group of this gens 

 belonged the right of consecrating the child 

 to the Thunder god, in the ceremony of 

 cutting the first lock of hair ; another sub' 

 group kept the ritual used in filling the 

 Sacred Tribal Pipes. On the left of the en- 

 trance camped the We'-zhi?i-shte — a sym- 

 bolic name, probably meaning the represent- 

 atives of anger. The We'-zhi?i-shte were 

 Elk people, having in charge the Sacred 

 Tent of War, in which the worship of 

 Thunder, as well as all the rites pertaining 

 to war, of which Thunder was the god, 

 took place. 



It would lead too far afield to follow at 

 great length the inter-relations of the 

 gentes ; or the dominance of position and 

 leadership in tribal rites and ceremonies 

 conceded to certain gentes ; or to indicate 

 the scars left upon the Hu'-dhu-ga by the 

 breaking away of groups of kindred; or the 

 the devices used to keep intact an ancient 

 form and order. The point to be borne in 

 mind is that the position of the gentes in 

 the tribe, and the interlacing of their func- 

 tions, were regulated by the ascription of 

 different powers to their totems, and that 

 the unification and strengthening of the 

 gens depended upon the restraining fear of 

 supernatural punishment by the totemic 

 powers. 



In this rapid review of Omaha beliefs and 

 customs connected with the totem, many 

 observances have not even been mentioned ; 

 and of those indicated, the details have had 

 to be omitted in order to keep strictly 

 within the limits of our subject, but the 



fundamental ideas which have been briefly 

 considered will be found to underlie all 

 rites and ceremonies within the tribe. 



Linguistic Evidence as to the Totem. — We 

 turn now to the language for farther evi- 

 dence as to the import of the totem. 



The name of the concrete sign of the 

 vision is Wa/iu'-be, a sacred thing. The 

 word is applied to sacred objects other than 

 the totem, such as the Sacred Pole, the 

 Sacred Tents, the Sacred Tribal Pipes, etc. 



The name of a religious society always 

 included the name of the manifestation of 

 the vision of its members ; for instance, the 

 Bear society was called Wa'-tha-be i'-dha-e- 

 dhe, literally rendered is: the Bear with 

 or by compassion ; that is, those upon whom 

 the Bear had compassion. I'-dha-e-dhe 

 implies that this compassion, this pity, was 

 aroused by a human being making a per- 

 sonal appeal, either by his destitute appear- 

 ance or the movable character of his sup- 

 plication. Usage forbade the application 

 of this word to any emotion excited by 

 animal life ; it could only express a feeling 

 between man and man, or between man and 

 the manifestation of Wa-ko?i'-da. It did 

 not represent an abstract idea, as of a vir- 

 tue, but a feeling awakened by direct con- 

 tact with need. In the prayer already cited 

 as a part of the rite of the vision the man 

 makes a direct appeal to Wa-ko?i'-da 

 (' Wa-kon'-da ! here needy I stand'), and 

 reference to this act is made in the employ- 

 ment of the word i'dha-e-dhe in the term 

 designating the religious societies. 



The name of a gens indicated its totem 

 or the characteristic of the group of totems 

 in a composite gens. When the people of 

 a gens were spoken of in reference to their 

 totem the word i'-ni-ka-shi-ki-dhe was used 

 immediately following that of the totem; for 

 instance, the Thunder people — the In- 

 shta'-thun-da gens — were called Iw-gdhaw- 

 i'-ni-ka-shi-ki-dhe ; i«.-gdha?i', thunder ; 

 i'-ni-ka-shi-ki-dhe is a composite word, 



