The sacred tent in which the sacred pole of the two tribes was kept was never painted. When the people remained in their permanent villages of earth lodges, the entrance of the sacred tent faced the sunrise; but when the tribe migrated, the entrance of the tent faced the direction in which they traveled. The pole was never exposed to dew, rain, or snow, but was kept within the lodge, during any kind of bad weather. It was never laid down, but was tied to a tent pole. In good weather it was exposed to view. Sometimes it was tied to one of the tent poles near the entrance, as shown in Fig. 187. When not tied thus, it rested on a forked post set in the ground, either in the rear of the tent or in front of it. The top of the pole, to which the scalp was fastened, projected beyond the forked post. When this post was in the rear of the tent, the top of the pole pointed towards the tent; but when the post was set up in front, the pole pointed in the direction to be traveled. The place for the pole in good weather was determined by its keeper. [Illustration: FIG. 187.--Sacred tent in which the pole was kept.] The people feared the pole, and they would not dare to tread on the tent or its tent-poles. Should a horse tread on a tent-pole of this tent, its legs were sure to be broken subsequently. George Miller knew of two horses that did this, and their legs were broken when the people were surrounding a herd of buffalo. Frank La Flèche has told the author about some sacred stone arrows which were used for purposes of divination. Hence, the nikie name, Maⁿ pĕjĭ, Bad Arrow, i.e. _Good_ Arrow, a personal name of the Hañga gens. Other objects, which may have been fetiches, have been named in § 56. In addition to all which have been mentioned must be named the waȼixabe or mysterious bags. While these are not governmental instrumentalities, they are “waqube” mysterious things, and on certain occasions they are addressed as “grandfathers.” There used to be five of these bags among the Omaha, but only three are now in existence. Those which could be carried in time of war were made of the skins and feathers of the gȼedaⁿ or pigeon hawk, the iⁿbe-jañka or fork-tailed hawk, and the nickucku or swallow.[70] ┴ade uȼeȼĕ, according to Big Elk (but denied by Joseph La Flèche and Two Crows) is the mystic rite performed by the principal captain when near the camp of the enemy. It is thus described by Big Elk (See § 62): “Four times he untied the bag which he had made sacred. He caused the wind to waft the odor of the medicine toward the lodges. When the medicine arrived there, it made the Pawnees forget their warlike temper; it made them forget their weapons.”[71] That there was some foundation for this statement, compare what is said in Omaha Sociology, p. 321: