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

by James Owen Dorsey

Hoes and Axes.

For hoes, the Omaha used the shoulder blades of the buffalo. Axes and hatchets are now made of iron, hence, the Omaha name, maⁿ′ze-pe, sharp iron. But the Kansa have the ancient name, maⁿ′hi-spe, answering to the Dakota, waⁿhiⁿ′-kpe, sharp flint. The hatchet is distinguished from the ax by adding "jiñga," small. Some of the stone axes and hatchets have been found on the Omaha reservation, but they could hardly have been used for cutting. It is not known what tools were used for felling trees.