BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 3
SHELL GORGET AND DOWNY PLUME (LIFE SYMBOLS)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 4
WA-SHO´-SHE (HON´-GA A-HIU-TON (EAGLE) GENS)
The first seven lines of the wi´-gi-e refer back to the time when “the Hoⁿ´-ga who possess seven fireplaces” chose for one of their life symbols the “Stainless Bird,” the mottled eagle. The people who are here spoken of as the Hoⁿ´-ga having seven fireplaces are those who compose the seven gentile groups that represent the land portion of the earth in the two great tribal divisions symbolizing the cosmos. These seven gentile groups (seven fireplaces) are, as given by Black-dog. (See 36th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 52-53.)
1. Wa-ça´-be-ṭoⁿ, They-who-own-the-black-bear.
2. Iⁿ-gthoⁿ´-ga, Puma.
3. O-poⁿ, Elk.
4. Moⁿ-iⁿ-ḳa-ga-xe, Makers-of-the-earth.
5. Hoⁿ´-ga gthe-zhe, The-mottled-sacred-one.
6. Xu-tha´, Eagle (the adult golden eagle).
7. Hoⁿ´-ga zhiⁿ-ga, The-little-sacred-one.
When the “Hoⁿ´-ga, a people who possess seven fireplaces” went to the “Stainless Bird” and said to him (lines 5, 6, and 7): “The little ones have nothing of which to make their bodies,” meaning that they have no symbol for the long life which they crave, he replied in the words as given in the wi´-gi-e, from line 10 to the end: