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OMAHA INDIANS By MELVIN RANDOLPH GILMORE, M. A. [A thesis submitted by Mr. Gilmore
to the faculty of the University of Nebraska as part
requirement for the degree of Master of Arts-June,
1909.] |
of culture and a set of conditions now vanished forever from the hills and valleys and plains of our state. The prompt prosecution of this work and its early accomplishment are very important and much to be desired, for the reason that the old people who alone possess this knowledge are year by year becoming fewer in number, and before long will all be gone, and with them, unless it be now recorded, will pass away all certain knowledge of the old-time lore. For the young people's time and attention are occupied in the schools of the white man and in learning his arts and in the practice of the same in making their way and filling their places as fellow citizens, neighbors and competitors with the white man, so that they have neither time, opportunity nor inclination to learn the things pertaining to a former time and conditions very different and now superseded. But, much as has been lost already, a vast amount of information is still available which can now be easily obtained by one who is in the confidence of the Indians, but which will soon be utterly lost to science unless prompt action be taken to preserve it. I found it difficult to obtain information as to the uses of plants in the industries and arts, which at first seems strange, but will not seem so when we consider that for more than half a century the Omaha have been limited to the bounds of their reservation--Thurston county, Nebraska--and that for that period or longer their industries have been decadent and their products have been replaced by those of the white man. On the other hand, I was somewhat surprised at the store of information that is to be had as to the medical uses of plants; still perhaps that is not to be counted strange when we take note that among ourselves folk-remedies persist long after the rise of medical science. In my endeavor to obtain and record items of information on this subject I have at all times met the most courteous |
treatment on the part of all Omaha whom I interrogated, and with willing response to the full extent of their ability to serve my needs. All members of the tribe with whom I have come in contact have been kind, generous and patient in all efforts to aid me in my work, whether by directly imparting knowledge when they were able, or by referring me to those who could give certain information, by interpreting for me in talking with old people who could not speak English, by inviting me to ceremonials of their secret societies, to social gatherings; and in all other ways I was treated with uniform courtesy and hospitality. Among the many to whom I owe my thanks I would especially mention Mrs. Susan La Flesche-Picotte, M. D., her sister, Mrs. Walter Diddock, of Walthill, Nebraska, and their mother, Mrs. Mary La Flesche. Mrs. La Flesche is the widow of Joseph La Flesche or Iron Eye (INSHTA-MANZA), the last head chief of the Omaha. I owe much also to Mr. Francis La Flesche, of Washington, D. C., and his brother, Mr. Carey La Flesche, sons of Joseph La Flesche, to Mr. Alfred Blackbird, a great-grandson of Black Bird (WASHINGA-SABE), who was head chief of the Omaha about one hundred years ago. Mr. Cyrus Blackbird TONWAGARE-ZHINGA, Little Village Maker), in recognition of my work, did me the honor to confer upon me the name of his great ancestor, WAZHINGA-SABE. I am much indebted also to Mr. George Miller, to Mr. and Mrs. Noah La Flesche, to WAJAPA, his son, Francis Fremont, and daughter, Miss Nettie Fremont, and others of the tribe. The Omaha are a tribe of the great Siouan stock which includes the confederacy of the ten tribes of the Sioux nation, and in addition to these the tribes of the Assiniboin, Omaha, Ponka, Osage, Kansa, Kwapa, Iowa, Oto, Crow, Missouri, Minetari, Winnebago, Hidatsa, Tutelo, Biloxi, Catawba, and others. The territorial seat of the Omaha was comprised within the region bounded on the north |
by the NIOBRARA (Spreading water), on the east by the NISHUDE (Smoky Water, the Missouri River), on the south by the NEBRASKA (Flat-water or Flat River), which we call the Platte, and on the west by the stream which we call Shell creek. Their neighbors on the west were the Pawnee nation with whom they were in political alliance although of an alien stock. To the south their neighbors were of their own stock, the Oto, Osage and Missouri, while to the east were their kinsmen, the Iowa. It is commonly thought that the aborigines of America subsisted almost wholly or very largely upon the products of the chase, but this is far from true, for many of the tribes were essentially agricultural. This is the more remarkable when we consider that these peoples passed, or were passing, directly from the hunter stage to the agricultural stage without coming by way of the commonly intermediate pastoral stage. And even the non-agricultural tribes made extensive use of wild seeds, fruits, berries, roots, and other vegetable products, either separately or in combinations, with or without meats, fish or fowl. Now, taking up the particular uses of plants in domestic arts, I would mention first Cornus asperifolia, MANSA-HTÉ-HI.1 The straight shoots were used for arrow shafts as indicated by the name MANSA, arrow; HTÉ, real; HI, plant. Fraxinus viridis, TASHINANGA-HI, was also used for arrow shafts and for bows. Another wood 1 I have tried to render the sounds in the Omaha words approximately by the following principles: 1. All vowels to be given their sounds as in continental languages. 2. The N above the line, e. g., MANDE, has a vanishing sound, somewhat like the French n. 3. A lengthened vowel is shown by doubling, e. g., BUUDE. 4. A consonant sound approximating the German ch or Greek X is shown by H, e. g., HTE. It will be noted that the word HI recurs repeatedly in combinations, as HAZI-HI, TASPAN-HI. The word signifies plant. It is a general term covering herbs, shrubs, trees or vines. |
used for bows was Toxylon pomiferum, ZHON-PAHÎDHA-DHA, which was imported by trade with tribes to the southward. For fish weirs several species of Salix were used. Scirpus lacustris, SA-HI, was used for matting. Baskets were made from Salix fluviatilis and S. luteoseria. Ulmus americana and Quercus spp. were used for mortars for corn, a section of the trunk having been hollowed out for the purpose by fire. Pipestems were made from Fraxinus viridis, the drilling being done by means of a soft stick dipped in water and sharp sand and twirled by hand. Pipestems, arrow shafts, bows and other implements and utensils of wood were smoothed and polished by rubbing with Equisetum spp., MANDE- IDHE-SHNAHA; MANDE, bow; IDHE-SHNAHA, to smooth. It would be an interesting psychological study to account for the sacred or mystic character ascribed to certain plants used as ceremonial agents. Of such I mention first Lophophora williamsii Coult. (Echinocactus williamsii Lem.) This is not a native of Nebraska and was not anciently used in Nebraska, but its use has in modern time been introduced from the southern tribes and ultimately from Mexico, where it was known and used immemorially. This is what has come to be commonly called the "mescal". The mescal was introduced into the Omaha tribe in the winter of 1906-7 by an Omaha returning from a visit to the Oto in Oklahoma. He had been much addicted to the use of alcoholics and was told by an Oto that this plant and the religious cult connected therewith would be a cure. On his return he sought the advice and help of the leader of the mescal society in the Winnebago tribe, the Winnebago being neighbors of the Omaha on a contiguous reservation. These men and a few others of the Omaha who also suffered from alcoholism formed a society which has increased in numbers and influence against much opposition till it includes more than |
half of the tribe. The mescal plant and its cult appeal strongly to the Indian's sense of the mysterious and occult, and his appreciation of ceremonialism and symbolism. The Indian mind, being in that psychic stage which peoples all natural objects with spirits, quite naturally attributes to the mescal plant most wonderful properties and powers. As the Semitic and Aryan minds have found it possible to conceive that deity may be incarnated in an animal--in a human body, so to the Indian mind it seems just as reasonable to conceive that deity may dwell in a plant body. So he pays it divine honors and makes prayers to, or in connection with it and eats it or drinks a decoction of it in order to appropriate the divine spirit, to induce the good, and exorcise the evil, making its use analogous to the Christian use of bread and wine in the eucharist. James Mooney says: "The greatest of the Kiowa gods is the sun . . . Next to the sun the buffalo and the 'señi' or peyote plant claim reverence, and these may be reduced to the same analysis, as the buffalo bull in his strength and majesty is regarded as the animal symbol of the sun, while the peyote, with its circular disk and its bright center, surrounded by white spots or rays, is its vegetal representative."2 The same author in an article on "The Mescal Plant and Ceremony", says: "The traders call it mescal . . . . The local Mexican name upon the Rio Grande is peyote, or pellote, from the old Aztec name, peyotl.3 The use of the plant for medical and religious purposes is probably as ancient as the Indian occupancy of the region over which it grows. The ceremony lasts from twelve to fourteen hours, beginning about nine or ten o'clock and lasting sometimes till nearly noon the next day. The worshippers sit in a circle around the inside of the sacred tipi, with a blazing fire in the center. 2 Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians, 17th Annual Report Bureau of American Ethnology, p. 237. 3 Therapeutic Gazette, Detroit, January, 1896, p. 7. |
The exercises open with a prayer by the leader who then hands to each man four mescals which he takes and eats in quick succession, first plucking out the small tuft of down from the center. After this first round, the leader takes the rattle while his assistant takes the drum, and together they sing the first song four times, at the same time beating the drum and shaking the rattle. The drum and rattle are then handed to the next two, and so the song goes on round the circle. I know from experience that the mescal is a powerful stimulant and enables one to endure great physical strains without injurious reactions, in which it seems to differ from all other known stimulants." In Merck's Index, 1907, p. 66, 1 find this account of mescal: "Seed of Anhalonium lewinii (Lophophora lewinii)--Habitat: Mexico and southern United States. Etymology: Greek, Fepéiv, a crest or tuft, and lóFos to bear, i. e., tufted or crested. 'Mescale' is the Mexican name for the plant. The mescal button is top shaped and bears a ring of leaves bent around a tuft of short yellowish white filaments or hairs one-half inch in diameter. The button is one to one and one-half inches in diameter, one-fourth inch thick, with convex under surface, brittle and hard when dry, but soft when moist, very bitter, disagreeable taste and peculiar disagreeable odor.--Constit. Anhalonine, C12H15No3; mescaline, C11H17No3; anhalinodine, C12H15No3; and lophophorine, C12H17No3. Cardiac and respiratory stimulant.--Uses: Neurasth., hyster., insomn., angina pect., and asthmatic dysnea. On being chewed the buttons cause a form of intoxication accompanied by most wonderful visions, remarkably beautiful and varied kaleidoscopic changes, and a sensation of increased physical ability, the physical and psychic functions however remaining unimpaired." For incense Juniperus virginiana, MAZI-HI, and Savastana odorata, PEZHE ZONSTA, have been of immemorial use. Juniperus was used on the hot stones in the vapor bath, especially in purificatory rites. By the "MANCHU-IDHE-EDHE" (the bear-favored, i. e., those |
whose totemic vision had been the bear) the cedar branch was used as a badge and in connection with their sacred ceremonies. J. O. Dorsey says: "In the Osage traditions cedar symbolizes the tree of life. When a woman is initiated into the secret society of the Osages, the officiating man of her gens gives her four sips of water, symbolizing, so they say, the river flowing by the tree of life, and then he rubs her from head to foot with cedar needles, three times in front, three times at her back, and three times on each side."4 Kroeber says, in speaking of customs in connection with death: "Immediately after the burial the relatives bathe because they have touched the corpse. For several nights they burn cedar leaves, the smoke or smell of which keeps the spirit away." 5 George A. Dorsey, writing of the sun dance ceremony,6 and in discussing the symbolism of the seven trees used in the sun dance of the Arapaho,7 says of the cedar: "It is always green, is durable, pleasing to the eye, the gift of God. The twigs are used as incense." Populous sargentii, MAA-ZHAN, literally, "cottonwood", was used for the sacred pole and for the poles of the "buffalo tent", i. e., the temple of the divine powers of sustenance. It should be said, however, that use was not confined to the species sargentii, for any poplar was used; but sargentii is common in the territory of the Omaha. Ritualistic use was made of Artemisia gnaphaloides especially, and, failing that species, other species of the same genus were used. It is commonly associated with sacred things and in rites of lustration for man or beast, as, if by accident a man should touch the sacred tent, or if a horse in grazing should touch it, in either case the man or the horse must be bathed with an infusion of Artemisia. 4 Siouan Cults., p. 391. 5 The Arapaho, p. 17. 6 Field-Columbian Museum Pub. Anthrop. Series, May, 1903, p. 300. 7 Ibid., p. 121. 22 |
The display of sprays of the plant would indicate the sacred character of the article or place with which it was connected; thus when I entered the tent of meeting of the Mescal society and saw the ground decked with a covering of the plant in a circle about the fireplace in the center, I recognized that here its character as a symbol of sacredness had been transferred to the paraphernalia of this exotic cult. It is noteworthy that in the Hopi tribe a similar meaning was attached to the same plant. J. W. Fewkes says: "A sprig of this plant (Artemisia frigida) is attached to the paho or prayer emblem and is regarded as efficacious in petition for water."8 Juniperus virginiana, MAZI-HI; Savastana odorata, PEZHE-ZONSTA; Populus sargentii, MAA-ZHUN; Zea mays, WAHABE; Typha latifolia, WAHABAGASKONDHE; Fraxinus viridis, TASHINAN-GA-HI; Salix spp., THIHSPAN, were used in various of the old time rituals, and now in modern time Lophophora williamsii has been used as has already been described. Salix spp. was used in the ritual of mourning. Young men, friends of the deceased or of the mourners, on the day of burial appeared before the lodge as the funeral procession was about to start for the grave and, having incised the left forearm, they inserted twigs of willow down which trickled their blood as a token of their sympathy with the living while they sang the tribal song to the spirit, a song of joyous melody intended to cheer the spirit of the deceased as he entered on the last long journey, J. O. Dorsey says: "The Omaha have two sacred trees, the ash and the cedar. The ash is connected with the beneficent powers. Part of the sacred pole of the Omaha and Ponka was made of ash, the other part of cottonwood. The stems of the 'NINIBA WAWAN', or 'sacred pipes of friendship', are 8 A Contribution to Ethnobotany, American Anthropology, v. 9, (1896), p. 21. |
made of ash. But the cedar is linked with the destructive agencies, thunder, lightning, wars." 9 The leaf of Typha latifolia was used as one of the required articles in dressing the sacred pipes. One of the tribal fetishes of the Kansa was the sacred clamshell, kept wrapped in five coverings, as follows: 1. The innermost covering, the bladder of a buffalo bull. 2. A covering made of the spotted skin of a fawn. 3. A covering made of braided stems of Scirpus lacustris. 4. A very broad piece of deerskin. 5. The outermost covering, made of braided hair from the head of a buffalo bull. Of the esthetic uses of plants it may first be stated as a rather notable fact that the Omaha never use flowers of any kind, either in personal adornment, in symbolism, or in mortuary customs. As a perfume for hair oil the petals of Rosa arkansana, WAZHIDE-HI, were used, and still more commonly for the same purpose the leaves of Monarda fistulosa, PEZHE-PA. Young men used as a perfume the seeds of Aquilegia canadense, INA-BTHON-KITHE- SABEHI, the method of preparation being by trituration with the teeth, the paste being then placed among the blankets or other effects. The fruits of Xanthoxylum americana, PAHIDHADHA or ZHON- PAHIDHADHA, were also used as a perfume by the young men. Galium triflorum, WAU PEZHE or WAU-INA-MANKAN, was used as a perfume by the women only. For this purpose it was gathered and used in its green state by tucking into the girdle. Savastana odorata, PEZHE ZONSTA, was of as perfume. The plants here named are the general use sources of some of the perfumes of the Omaha, and it should be noted that there are no heavy scents among 9 J. O. Dorsey, Siouan Cults., 11th Ann. Rep. Bur. Am. Ethnol., p. 390. |
them, but that all are of a fine, delicate, elusive, evanescent fragrance, a mere suggestion of an odor and yet pervasive. Sanguinaria canadensis was used as a red stain for the skin. Now to speak of the general utilities: the framework of the vapor bath lodges was made of young poles of various species of Salix. The inner bark of Tilia americana, HINDE-HI, was used for ropes and cordage and for baskets, as also the inner bark of Ulmus fulva, EZHON ZHIDE or EZHON GTHIGTHIDE. Combs or hairbrushes were made by firmly binding together the grains of Stipa spartea, MIKA HI (MIKA, comb; HI, plant). Sinew was used for the binding substance, the points being broken or burned off, the grains forming the teeth, the awns, bent back, making attachment. As an agent for giving a black dye in tanning leather, the twigs of Acer saccharinum, WENUN SHABATHE HI, (plant-to-make-black), were used. The twigs and bark, together with an iron stained clay from the lower portion of the Pierre shales exposed along the Niobrara river in northern Nebraska, were mixed with tallow and roasted in a pot. On submitting a sample of the clay obtained from an Indian to Prof. N. A. Bengtson of the department of geography and economic geology, University of Nebraska, he returned the geological data upon it as just stated. The same being submitted to Dr. Samuel Avery of the department of chemistry, he supplied the information that in connection with the bark ferrous-tannic acid is formed, and on exposure to the air ferric-tannic acid is formed, which is a still more intense black. He stated further that the same principle is at present used commercially in the manufacture of black ink. Snow shoes, SEHINBE, were made with rims of hickory, NONSI HI, tied with thongs of rawhide woven across. A yellow dye was made from the leaf buds of Populus sargentii, MAA ZHON. A yellow dye was also made from the inner |
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