CE a E ee a SSS toe Lee ae Lge e eee ee ean ae, Lee) eae re 
THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
= Vor. xvit.— FEBRUARY, 1884.—No. 2. 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE WAR CUSTOMS OF THE 
OSAGES, 
GIVEN BY RED CORN (HAPA SUISE), OF THE TSIJU PEACE-MAKING 
GENS, TO THE REV. J. OWEN DORSEY. 
INTRODUCTION, 
i order to obtain a better understanding of the subject, it will 
be necessary for the writer to describe the order in which the 
Osages encamped in their tribal circle. When they went on their 
buffalo hunt in the summer they always pitched their tents in a 
certain order, according to the clans or gentes of which the tribe 
was composed. In the first diagram seven gentes camp on the 
left, and fourteen, considered as seven at present, on the right. 
Those on the left are the Tsi’-ou or Chee’-zhoo gentes, forming 
the peace element of the tribe; those on the right are the Hañ’-ka 
— and Wa-sa’-ve (War-shar’-shay)! gentes, constituting the war ele- 
ment. The former could not take animal life of any sort, but 
Were obliged to content themselves with vegetable food, till they 
made an agreement with those on the right to supply them with 
vegetable food in exchange for meat, which the Hafi-ka and 
Wa-da-9e could obtain. 
The Tsi-ou (Chee-zhoo) gentes are as follows: 1: Those who 
Wear tails or locks of hair on the head. 2. Buffalo bull face. 3. 
€€-zhoo peace-makers or red eagle. 4. Those who carry the 
Sun on their backs, sun carriers. 5. Night people, or the 
1 age 
Wa-9a-3e or Wa-zha-zhe, means Osage, The exact pronunciation cannot be 
ee by ordinary English characters. Hence the “c” = “sh’’,is inverted to 
‘Show a sound betw, : 
een “sh” and “zh.” 
VOL. xvii1,—no, n. 8 
