Knives.
Knives were made of stone. A prominent butte, near the old Ponka agency, Nebraska, is known as "Máhin-ʇu," signifying blue knife, from the character of the stone with which its surface is covered. It is several miles from the mouth of Ponka creek and nearly opposite the month of Choteau creek, South Dakota.
Implements Connected with Fire.
In former ages, the Ȼegiha made fire by rubbing or turning a stick round and round between the hands. On the present Omaha reservation, and in that region, the Omaha use elm roots for that purpose. In the country called [P]izábahéhe, near the source of Elkhorn river, there is a grass known as "duáduáhi," which has about a hundred fine shoots from each root, which is half the size of the head. The stalk was used for hand drills and fire sticks. One stalk was cut almost flat, and the man puts his feet on the ends to steady them. Then, holding the other stick in his hands, with one end touching the stalk on the ground, he turned it round and round till the friction produced fire. Sometimes a small quantity of dry sand was placed on the flat stick. The same flat stick answered for several occasions. When the cavity made by turning the hand drill became too large, the point of contact was shifted to another part of the flat stick, and so on until the whole of that stick was used, when it was thrown away and another was obtained. Duáduáhi, according to Mr. Francis La Flesche, may be found in Judiciary square, Washington, District of Columbia. After the coming of the white man, but before the introduction of friction matches, which are now used by the whole tribe, the Omaha used flints and tinder for making fire.
Spits for roasting, etc., náqpe, or wébasnan, were made of any kind of wood.
For tongs they used the [p]ediȼaȼisande ("fire-holder"), made by slitting one end of a stick. This implement was also called, jan jiñga nini ibista ("the stick that presses the fire against the tobacco"), because it was used for lighting pipes.
Smoking Paraphernalia.
Fig. 315.—Omaha calumet
The pipes in use among the Omaha are of three kinds: the sacred pipe (niniba waqube, mysterious pipe), including the war pipes and those used by the chiefs in making peace; the niniba weawan or calumet (illustrated in figure 315), used in the calumet dance or dance of adoption,[1] and the hatchet pipe or manzepe niniba, introduced since the coming of the white man. One form of the pipe used on ordinary Tobacco pouches (niniújiha) were made of deer or antelope skin, and were ornamented with porcupine quills or a fringe of deerskin. Sometimes buffalo bladders were used for this purpose. The women used them as receptacles for their porcupine quills.