Omaha Dwellings, Furniture and Implements Part 1

Omaha Dwellings, Furniture and Implements.

by James Owen Dorsey.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

The accompanying paper is one of the results of personal investigations among the Omaha of Nebraska and cognate tribes of Indians, beginning in 1878 and continued from time to time during late years.

While the paper treats of the Omaha tribe, much that is said is applicable to the Ponka, as the two tribes have long had similar environments and a common dialect, for, until 1877, their habitats were almost contiguous, and since 1880 about one-third of the Ponka tribe has been dwelling on its former reservation near the town of Niobrara, Nebraska.

Acknowledgments are due Dr. O. T. Mason for many valuable suggestions early in the progress of the work.

DWELLINGS.

The primitive domiciles of the Omaha were chiefly (1) lodges of earth or, more rarely, of bark or mats, and (2) skin lodges or tents. It may be observed that there were no sacred rites connected with the earth lodge-building or tent-making among the Omaha and Ponka.

Earth Lodges.

When earth lodges were built, the people did not make them in a tribal circle, each man erecting his lodge where he wished; yet kindred commonly built near one another.

The earth lodges were made by the women, and were intended princ.i.p.ally for summer use, when the people were not migrating or going on the hunt.

Those built by the Omaha and Ponka were constructed in the following manner: The roof was supported by two series of vertical posts, forked at the top for the reception of the transverse connecting pieces of each series. The number in each series varied according to the size of the lodge; for a small lodge only four posts were erected in the inner series, for an ordinary lodge eight were required, and ten generally const.i.tuted the maximum. When Mr. Say[1] visited the Kansa Indians, he occupied a lodge in which twelve of these posts placed in a circle formed the outer series, and eight longer ones const.i.tuted the inner series, also describing a circle. The wall was formed by setting upright slabs of wood back of the outer posts all around the circ.u.mference of the lodge. These slabs were not over 6 feet in height, and their tops met the cross timbers on which the willow posts rested. Stocks of hard willow about 2 inches in diameter rested with their b.u.t.ts on the tops of the upright slabs and extended on the cross timbers nearly to the summit. These poles were very numerous, touching one another and extending all around in a radiating manner, supporting the roof like rafters. The rafters were covered with gra.s.s about a foot thick; and over the whole lodge, including the sides or slabs, earth was piled from a foot to 2 feet in depth. Such a covering lasted generally about twenty years. A hole in the middle served as an exit for the smoke.

[Footnote 1: James' account of Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1819-'20.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 306.--Yellow Smoke's earth lodge.]

In addition to the lodge proper there was a covered way about 10 feet long and 5 feet wide, the entrance to which had a covering of tanned or dried buffalo hides. This covering consisted of two hides hanging side by side, with the inner borders slightly overlapping. They were fastened to the pa.s.sageway at the top and at the outer sides, but were loose at the bottom where they overlapped. This part was raised by a person entering the lodge. A similar covering was placed at the interior end of the pa.s.sageway.

Subsequently to 1855, the Omaha dwelt in three villages composed of earth lodges, as follows: (1) Biku'de, a village near the agency; (2) Windja'ge, Standing Hawk's village, near the Presbyterian mission house; and (3) Jana'te ("Wood Eaters,") named after an insect found under the bark of trees Sanssouci's village, near the town of Decatur, Nebraska.

Earth lodges were generally used for large gatherings, such as feasts, councils, or dances. Occasionally there was a depression in the center of the lodge which was used as a fireplace; but it was not over 6 inches deep. Each earth lodge had a ladder, made by cutting a series of deep notches along one side of a log. On a bluff near the Omaha agency I found the remains of several ancient earth lodges, with entrances on the southern sides. Two of these were 75 feet and one was 100 feet in diameter. In the center of the largest there was a hollow about 3 feet deep and nearly 4 feet below the surface outside the lodge.

Lodges of Bark or Mats.

The Omaha sometimes make bark lodges for summer occupancy, as did the Iowa and Sak. [T]iu'ipu jin'ga, or low lodges covered with mats, were used by the Omaha in former days. Such lodges are still common among the Winnebago, the Osage, and other tribes. The ground plan of such a lodge forms an ellipse. The height is hardly over 7 feet from the ground. The tent poles are arranged thus: Each pole has one end planted in the ground, the other end being bent down and fastened to the pole immediately opposite; a number of poles thus arranged in pairs formed both wall posts and rafters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 307.--Ground plan of Osage lodge.]

Generally there was one fireplace and one smokehole in such a lodge; but when I visited the Osage in 1883, I entered a low lodge with two fireplaces, each equidistant from its end of the lodge and the entrance, each fireplace having its smokehole.

Skin Lodges or Tents.

The tent was used when the people were migrating, and also when they were traveling in search of the buffalo. It was also the favorite abode of a household during the winter season, as the earth lodge was generally erected in an exposed situation, selected on account of comfort in the summer. The tent could be pitched in the timber or brush, or down in wooded ravines, where the cold winds never had full sweep.

Hence, many Indians abandoned their houses in winter and went into their tents, even when they were of canvas.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 308.--Omaha tent (from a photograph by W. H.

Jackson).]

The tent was commonly made of ten or a dozen dressed or tanned buffalo skins. It was in the shape of a sugar loaf, and was from 10 to 12 feet high, 10 or 15 feet in diameter at the bottom, and about a foot and a half in diameter at the top, which served as a smokehole (?ihu?an).

Besides the interior tent poles (?ici--3, figure 309) and the tent skin (?iha--1), the tent had the ?iumanhan, or the place where the skins were fastened together above the entrance (4). The ?iumanhan was fastened with the ?ihuubaxan(5), which consisted of sticks or pieces of hide thrust crosswise through the holes in the tent skins. The bottom of the tent was secured to the ground by pins (?ihuugadan--6) driven through holes (?ihugaquge) in the bottom of the skins, made when the latter were tanned and before they had become hard. The entrance (?ijebe) was generally opposite the quarter from which the wind was blowing. A door flap (?ijebegan--7) hung over the entrance; it was made of skin with the hair outside, so as to turn water, and was held taut by a stick fastened to it transversely. The bottom of the door flap was loose, but the top was fastened to the tent.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 309--Exterior parts of an Omaha tent.]

The smokehole was formed by the two ?ihugabina(9), or triangular ends of tent skins, immediately above the entrance and ?iumanhan. When there was no wind both of the ?ihugabina were kept open by means of the ?ihuubajin(8) or exterior tent poles, which were thrust through the ujiha, or small sacks, in the corners of the ?ihugabina. When the wind blew one of the ?ihuubajin was raised to the windward and the other was lowered, pulling its skin close to the tent and leaving an opening for the escape of the smoke; but if the wind came directly against the entrance both the flaps were raised, closing the smokehole to prevent the wind from blowing down it. When the wind blew the people used nandiagaspe to keep the bottom of each tent skin in place. These consisted of twisted gra.s.s, sticks, stones, or other heavy objects.

Figure 310 represents the tent of [P]ejequde, an Omaha. The banners or standards, which were carried by the leaders of a war party or a party going on a dancing tour, are depicted with their decorations of strips of red and blue Indian cloth. Sometimes these standards were ornamented with feathers instead of with cloth. Each standard could be used in four war expeditions.

No totem posts were in use among the Omaha. The tent of the princ.i.p.al man of each gens was decorated on the outside with his gentile badge, which was painted on each side of the entrance as well as on the back of the tent.[1] The furniture of the sacred tents resembled that of the ordinary ones.

Before the introduction of canvas tents by the whites no needles or thread were used by the Siouan tribes. The women used sinew of the deer or buffalo instead of thread, and for needles they had awls made of elk horn.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 310.--[P]ejequde's tent.]

Since there were no outbuildings, public granaries, or other structures of this description, each household stored away its own grain and other provisions. There were no special tribal or communal dwellings; but sometimes two or more households occupied a single earth lodge. When a council was held, it took place in the earth lodge of one of the head chiefs, or else two or three common tents were united, making one large one.[2] There were no public baths, as the Missouri river was near, and they could resort to it whenever they desired. Dance houses were improvised either of earth lodges or skin tents.

Sweat-lodges were in the form of low tents (?iuipu).[3] Stones were not boiled for the sweat-lodge, but were put into the fire to be heated.

They were removed from the fire by means of sticks called in?ebasian, and then water from the kettle was poured on them, creating steam. Cedar fronds were dropped on the stones, causing a perfume to arise.

[Footnote 1: Third Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnology for 1882-'83, p. 230; also "A Study of Siouan Cults," in Eleventh Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnology, 1889-'90, p. 351.]

[Footnote 2: Third Ann. Rep., op. cit., p. 294.]

[Footnote 3: Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. vi, 1890, pp. 152, 169, and 234.]

FURNITURE AND IMPLEMENTS.

Fireplaces.

Within the tent, in the center, was the fireplace (unee), formed by excavating a small hollow. Beside this was erected a forked post (isage), on which was hung the apparatus for suspending a kettle over the fire. This apparatus was called exe uugacke by the Ponka, literally, "that by means of which the kettle is hung." The Omaha have two names for it, uhan uugacke, and uugackege, the last syllable of the latter name referring to the att.i.tude of the post. Around the fireplace was a circular s.p.a.ce for the feet of the people as they sat about the fire. The couches of the occupants of the tent were arranged outside of and all around this circular s.p.a.ce.

Beds and Bedding.

A couch was formed by laying down two or three winter hides dried with the hair on. These hides were placed around the fireplace at a safe distance. In the earth lodges, according to Joseph La Fleche, the Omaha used sahi, or gra.s.s mats, for seats, as is the present custom of the Winnebago; but at night they reclined on dressed hides with thick hair on them, and covered themselves with similar hides.

For pillows they used ibehin or inbehin. When the vegetation was about 3 inches high in the spring, the Indians killed deer and pulled off the hair in order to remove the thin skin or tissue next to it. This latter, when thoroughly dried, is smooth and white, resembling parchment. It was used for pillows and moccasin-strings. When used for pillows the case was filled with goose feathers or the hair of the deer until it was about 2 feet long and 9 inches high. During the day, and whenever there was occasion, they were used as seats; but if none could be had, the people sat on winter robes or hides forming the couches.[1] Back of the couches and next to the interior tent-poles were placed the baggage, sacks of corn, and other household properties.