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
The Ponka used to make arrowshafts (maⁿsa) of jaⁿ-′qude-hí, "gray wood,"
juneberry wood, which grew in their country, but is not found among the
Omaha. Most of the Omaha made their shafts of the ma^n'saqtihí, or "real
arrow-wood," (<i>Viburnum</i>) as that was the wood best suited for the
purpose. Sometimes they were made of chokecherry wood; and Joseph
LaFlèche informs me that he has made them of ash and hickory.
Arrowshafts were held lengthwise directly in a line with the eyes of the
workman, who sighted along them to see if they were straight. If one was
bent, he held one end of it between his teeth, while he pressed against
the rest of it with his hands. They were polished by means of the
polishers, or maⁿ′-¢iq¢áde, two pieces of sandstone, each of which had
a groove in the middle of one side. These grooves were brought together,
and the arrow was drawn between them.
War arrows had crooked lines drawn along the shafts from the points to
the other ends, down which, so I was informed by the Indians, it was
intended that the blood of a wounded foe should trickle.
Arrowheads (máhiⁿ-sí), when made of flint, as at the first, were called
"iⁿ′ߵĕ mahiⁿsí," stone arrowheads. In more recent times, they were
manufactured of pieces of sheet iron; as, for example, hoops of pails
and barrels.
Arrow cement (hiⁿ′pa), for attaching the heads to the shafts, was
usually made from the skin taken off a buffalo or elk head. This was
boiled a long time, till ready to fall to pieces. When the gelatinous
matter forming the cement rose to the top of the water, a stick (called
hiⁿpá-jaⁿjiñ′ga) was thrust in and turned round and round, causing the
material to be wrapped around it. When cooled it was smoothed with the
hand. Then the act was repeated till a large quantity was collected on
the stick. When needed for use, it was warmed by placing either in the
mouth or in hot water. The skin of the big turtle was also used for
making cement.
A set of arrows were called, collectively, "maⁿwiⁿ′daⁿ." A set generally
consisted of ten arrows, but the number varied; sometimes there were
two, four, or even twenty. When a man had arrows left in his quiver, he
compared them with that which was in the slain animal. When he had none
left, he appealed to some one who knew his style of arrow.
There were no clan or gentile marks on arrows. One set was distinguished
from another by the order of the paint stripes on them, by the kind of
feathers used, by the mode in which the arrowheads were made, etc. The
Oto made bad arrows; those of the Pawnee were better, but they were
inferior to those made by the Dakota, Ponka, and Omaha.
The feathers, half-webs generally, put on arrows were those of the
eagle, buzzard, wild turkey, great owl, and goose. Sometimes hawk or
crow feathers were employed.
Quivers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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