STUDY FROM THE OMA.HA TRIBE: IMPORT OP THE TOTEM. 579 



and life. Tliis belief was complex and involved two prominent ideas: 

 First, that all things, animate and inanimate, were permeated by a com- 

 mon life, and second, that this life could not be broken, but was con- 

 tinuous. 



The common life. — The idea of a common life was in its turn complex, 

 but its dominating- force was conceived to be that which man recognized 

 within himself as will power. This power which could make or bring 

 to pass he named Wa-kow'-da. 



The question arises, Did the Omaha regard Wa-ko%'-da as a supreme 

 being? There is no evidence that he did so regard the power repre- 

 sented by that word, nor is there any intimation that he had ever con- 

 ceived of a single great ruling spirit. 



Anthropomorphism. — The word Wa-ko^'-da appears to have expressed 

 the Indian's conception of immanent life, manifest in all things. Grow- 

 ing out of this conception was a kind of anthropomorphism; the char- 

 acteristics of man were projected upon all nature; the Rock, in the 

 rituals, was addressed as ''Aged One!" sitting with "furrowed brow" 

 and "wrinkled loins ;" the Tree lived a double life in the Indian's fancy, 

 as did the Water, the Fire, the Winds, and the Animals. This duality 

 can be recognized in myths, in legends, in rituals, and in the para- 

 phernalia of ceremonies, in which there is a constant confusion of the 

 external aspect and the anthropomorphic conception. All things were 

 distinct from man, but in the subtle bond of a common life, embodying 

 the idea of will, or directive energy, they were akin to him, and could 

 lend him the aid of their special powers, even as he could help or hinder 

 his fellow-men. 



Will power. — We trace the Omaha's estimate of his own will power 

 in the act called Wa zhiw'-dhe-dhe (wa zhi«, directive energy ; dhe-dhe, 

 to send), in which, through the singing of certain sougs, strength could 

 be sent to the absent warrior in the stress of battle, or thought and 

 will be projected to help a friend win a game or a race, or even so to 

 influence the mind of a man as to aft'ect its receptivity of the super- 

 natural. Aside from the individual practice of this power there was, 

 so to speak, a collective energy exercised by the Hor^'he-wa chi society 

 in the act of Wa-zhin'-a-gdhe (wa-zhiw, directive energy; a-gdhe, to 

 place upon), where the members so fixed their will upon an obnoxious 

 person as to isolate him from all helpful relations with men and animals 

 and leave him to die. A similar ability to aid or to injure was imputed 

 to the elements and all natural forms. The Winds could bring health 

 to man; the Stone insure him long life; the Elk could endow the pur- 

 sued with speed, and the Hawk make the warrior sure to fall upon his 

 enemy. But it is to be noticed that, while man's own will was believed 

 to act directly, without intervening instrumentality upon his fellows, 

 the supplementing of man's powers by the elements and the animals 

 was obtainable only after an appeal to Wa-kow'-da in the rite of the 

 vision. 



