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A Boy and his Pony
The pony does not see his
way out of the poles, and is forced to keep up with the procession. At the
first halt strife is renewed. The pony jumps over a nest of children slung
between tent-poles, and rouses the ire of the dogs. With them at his heels,
and the boy on his back, he is an object of terror as well as of mirth to
the camp. He goes where he likes. All the boy can do is to hold on; but hold
on he does, until at nightfall he dismounts without the aid of the pony. The
animal recognizes this as a defeat, and the struggle is over. An admiring
uncle presents the boy with a whip, the handle of which, decorated in
porcupine-quill work, is terminated by a tassel of elk teeth; and
thenceforth he rides his pony with the pride of a conqueror, while the pony
himself prances along as if he too were proud of his own part of the
performance.
Many similar scenes occurred along the line of march,
when more than a thousand men, women, and children, with many more ponies
and colts, stretched out over the prairie. The line was guarded on both
sides by warriors appointed by the leader to act as soldiers, whose office
was not simply to protect, but to prevent any slipping out on a private
adventure of any sort.
At the close of a day's journey, at a point designated
by the leader, the tribe halted, the tent-poles dropped from the sides of
the ponies, and each woman, according to the gens of her husband, set up her
tent in its relative position in the Hoo-thu-ga, which shaped itself with
marvelous precision and rapidity. The girls ran to the creek for wood and
water, men and boys unpacked the ponies and staked them outside the camp,
and in an incredibly short time smoke rose from the numerous tents, and the
evening meal was ready for the tired multitude.
If it was decided to continue the journey on the
morrow, the smoke curled up from the circle of tents beneath the morning
stars, and breakfast was over before the half-opened eye of the sun on the
horizon line looked along the prairie upon the pleasant scene. Packhorses
were waiting for their loads; the youngsters were impatiently running here
and there, intent upon the performance of their little parts. Tent-pins had
been loosened, the fronts unfastened, and outside each tent stood a woman
grasping the long poles that held the smoke flaps. The impatient, fluttering
canvas broke the slanting sunlight, and every one watched the tent of the
leader. When that fell, down dropped the tent covering of the entire camp,
and the naked poles stood stark against the brightening sky, with the busy
hives beneath, where all were at work tying up bundles and babies and other
items of the family belongings.
When the leader judged that the buffalo were not far
off, he selected a number of young men swift of foot and cautious in action,
the sons of noted persons, and sent them out as runners to find the game.
The herd found, they hastened back, and, coming in sight of the tribe,
signaled the people by peculiar waving movements of their robes. If the
tribe chanced to be moving, an immediate halt was ordered, and if the
signals indicated a favorable report, the wife of the keeper of the pole,
wearing the buffalo robe ceremonially (with the hair outside), took the pole
upon her back, and the wife of the keeper of the white buffalo-hide,
similarly clothed, took its pack, and the two together went out to meet the
runners, who were coming in one at a time. The official herald, also
ceremonially clothed, went with them. Arrived beyond the line of the camp,
they halted, and the women set up the pole and the pack on their respective
supports, and the herald, stepping in front of the pole, sat down with
crossed arms and bowed head. The foremost runner arrived and whispered to
the pole, over the shoulder of the herald, then stepped aside to the right.
A second runner approached and repeated the tidings. Meanwhile a messenger
had sped to the leader, who immediately retired to his tent, and remained
there until he heard the herald making his way toward the sacred tent of the
white buffalo-hide, shouting as he went:
"It is reported that smoke is rising from the earth as
far as eye can reach!"
Then the leader also went to the tent to meet the Hun-ga,
who had already gathered there with the seven principal chiefs and the
herald. Within the sacred tent the chiefs sat with bowed heads, while the
leader gave his commands to the herald. The hunters were to go forth ; two
men were designated to precede the hunters, one to carry the wa-sha-bae, the
other the pipe to which the shell disk had been tied;6
and the herald left the tent, turned to the left, and circled the camp,
calling out as he went, in the name of the leader, the command
"You are to go upon the chase; bring in your horses.
"Braves of the In-stha-sunda,
Hun-ga-chey-nu7
pity me who belong to you!
"Soldiers of the In-stha-sunda, Hun-gachey-nu, pity me
who belong to you!
"Women of the In-stha-sunda, Hun-gachey-nu, pity me who
belong to you!"
6 This pipe and the shell disk were
provided by the leader when a candidate for the office; the pipe is smoked
with religious ceremonial in the sacred tent by the leader, the Hun-ga, and
the principal chiefs. The leader did not go personally to the hunt proper,
but sent the wa-sha-bae as the badge of his office, and the pipe to
symbolize his dependence upon Wakened; in a word the two stood for the
temporal and spiritual power of his office.
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Omaha Hunting Customs
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