Omaha Dwellings, Furniture and Implements | Page 8

The other has a ball carved at the end of a straight handle,
with a wooden point (of one piece with the ball and handle) projecting
from the ball, making an angle of about 130° with one side of the
handle. There is a steel point inserted in the ball, forming an angle of
about 110° with the other side of the handle. The i^{n}[']-wate-jiñ[']ga
is something like a slung shot. A round stone is wrapped in a piece of
hide which is fastened to a wooden handle about 2 feet long.
Tomahawks.
The heads of tomahawks as well as of battle-axes were at first made of
stone; but within the last century and a half they have been fashioned of
iron.
Spears.
Lances, darts, or spears are designated by the general term
man[']d[)e]hi. The ja^{n}[']-man'd[)e]hi are made of ash, and are from
6 to 8 feet long. There are two kinds, of one of which the handle is
round, and about an inch in diameter, and the point is flat and about the
width of three fingers at its juncture with the handle.
Besides these there are the lances, called waq[|c]exe-[|c]áze, of which
there are two varieties. One consists of a straight pole, which has been
thrust through a piece of buffalo hide that has its long end sewed
together, forming a sort of covering. To this hide are fastened feathers
of the crow and mi^{n}[']xa-sa^{n}, or swan, in alternate rows or
bunches. Between the feathers are fastened square pieces of blanket.
About the middle of the pole a space of nearly 6 inches is left without
feathers, and this is the place where the spear is grasped. When the pole
was not set into a metal point the lower end was cut very sharp.[1] The
other variety, or mand[)e]hi [|c]iguje, "bent spear," is the weapon which
the Dakota call "wahukeza." It is ornamented with eagle feathers placed
at intevals, one being at the end of the curved part; and it generally

terminates at the bottom in an iron point. It is possible for one of these
waq[|c]exe[|c]aze to reach a man about 6 feet distant; and even
mounted men have been killed by them. Spears are used also in some
of the dances. Around the shaft is wrapped the skin of a swan or brant.
The end feather at the top is white; the other feathers are white or
spotted. The bent spear is no longer employed by the Omaha, though
the Osage, Pawnee, and other tribes still use it to a greater or lesser
extent.
Bows.
[Illustration: Fig. 323.--Omaha bow (za^{n}zi-mand[)e]).]
[Illustration: Fig. 324.--Omaha bow ([t]a[k]a^{n}-mand[)e])]
Bows (man-d[)e]) are of two kinds. One is the man-d[)e] or
za^{n}zi-mand[)e] (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
[t]a[k]a^{n}-mand[)e], so called because it has deer sinew glued on its
back.[3] Bows were made of hickory, ash, ironwood, or za^{n}zi, 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 za^{n}zi is probably that which Dougherty[4] called
"bow-wood (Maclura aurantiaca 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 (ma^{n}) 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[|c][)e], 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