Omaha Dwellings, Furniture and Implements: Thirteenth Annual Report of the Beaurau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1891-1892, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896, pages 263-288 — John Shaqi
Omaha Dwellings, Furniture and Implements: Thirteenth Annual Report of the Beaurau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1891-1892, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896, pages 263-288Dorsey, James Owen
History
Omaha Dwellings, Furniture and Implements: Thirteenth Annual Report of the Beaurau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1891-1892, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896, pages 263-288
Dorsey, James Owen
Omaha Indians
Bows (man-dĕ) are of two kinds. One is the man-dĕ or zaⁿzi-mandĕ
(bow-wood bow), having an unbroken curve past the grip to within an inch
or two of each nock.[2] The other kind is the ʇaʞaⁿ-mandĕ, so called
because it has deer sinew glued on its back.[3] Bows were made of
hickory, ash, ironwood, or zaⁿzi, the last being greatly preferred. It
is a wood resembling that of the Osage orange, with which some persons
confound it; but it is black and much harder than the former, the Osage
orange wood being yellow, soft, and easily cut. The zaⁿzi is probably
that which Dougherty[4] called "bow-wood (<i>Maclura aurantiaca</i> of
Nuttall)."
[Footnote 1: See First Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology, 1879-'80;
1881, Pl. X, "Tolkotin cremation."]
[Footnote 2: This may be the "self-bow" mentioned in the American
Naturalist for July, 1886, p. 675.]
[Footnote 3: This is the sinew-backed bow above mentioned.]
[Footnote 4: Long's Expedition, op. cit., vol. I, p. 290.]
Bowstrings were made of the twisted sinew of the elk and buffalo, as
among other tribes.
Arrows.
[Illustration: Fig. 325.--Omaha hunting arrow.]
The arrows (maⁿ) used in former days were of several kinds. The hunting
arrow, used for killing the buffalo, was generally about 2 feet long, of
the usual cylindric form, and armed with an elongate triangular point,
made at first of flint, afterward of sheet iron. The shoulders of the
arrow were rounded instead of angular, as in the ordinary barbed form.
The point, or head, was firmly secured to the shaft by deer sinew
wrapped around the neck of the point, and over that was spread some
cement, made in a manner to be afterward explained. The flight of the
arrow was equalized by three half-webs of feathers, neatly fastened near
its base in the usual manner.
Another kind of hunting arrow was the hidé nazí¢ĕ, which was altogether
of wood. About 6 inches from the point the shaft was triangular or
quadrangular; and the point was made by holding the shaft close to a
fire and turning it round and round till the heat had reduced it to the
proper shape and had hardened it. This was used for killing fish, deer,
and small game.
[Illustration: Fig. 326.--Omaha war arrow.]
The war arrow (<i>b</i>) differed from that used in hunting in having a
barbed point, which was very slightly attached to the shaft, so that if
it penetrated the body of an enemy it could not be withdrawn without
leaving the point in the wound.
[Illustration: Fig. 327.--Omaha style of hidé-ʇáce]
Children used the hidé-ʇáce, or target arrow, when they began to learn
the use of the bow. With this a boy could kill small birds and animals.
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