§ 20. A child belongs to its father's gens, as "father-right" has succeeded "mother-right." But children of white or black men are assigned to the gentes of their mothers, and they cannot marry any women of those gentes. A stranger cannot belong to any gens of the tribe, there being no ceremony of adoption into a gens.
THE WEJINCTE OR ELK GENS.
§ 21. This gens occupies the first place in the tribal circles, pitching its tents at one of the horns or extremities, not far from the Ictasanda gens, which camps at the other end. When the ancient chieftainship was abolished in 1880, Mahin-¢iñge was the chief of this gens, having succeeded Joseph La Flèche in 1865.
The word "Wejincte" cannot be translated, as the meaning of this archaic word has been forgotten. It may have some connection with "wajin´cte," to be in a bad humor, but we have no means of ascertaining this.
La Flèche and Two Crows said that there were no subgentes in this gens. But it seems probable that in former days there were subgentes in each gens, while in the course of time changes occurred, owing to decrease in numbers and the advent of the white men.
Taboo.—The members of this gens are afraid to touch any part of the male elk, or to eat its flesh; and they cannot eat the flesh of the male deer. Should they accidentally violate this custom they say that they are sure to break out in boils and white spots on different parts of the body. But when a member of this gens dies he is buried in moccasins made of deer skin.
Style of wearing the hair.—The writer noticed that Binze-tig¢e, a boy of this gens, had his hair next the forehead standing erect, and that back of it was brushed forward till it projected beyond the former. A tuft of hair at the back extended about 3 inches below the head. This style of wearing the hair prevails only among the smaller children as a rule; men and women do not observe it.
Some say that `An-wegan¢a is the head of those who join in the worship of the thunder, but his younger brother, Qaga-man¢in, being a more active man, is allowed to have the custody of the Iñg¢an¢ě and the Iñg¢anhañgac`a. J. La Flèche and Two Crows said that this might be so; but they did not know about it. Nor could they or my other informants tell the meaning of Iñg¢an¢ě and Iñg¢anhañgac`a. Perhaps they refer either to the wild-cat (iñg¢añga), or to the thunder (iñg¢an). Compare the Ictasanda "keepers of the claws of a wild-cat."
§ 22. The sacred tent.—The sacred tent of the Elk gens is consecrated to war, and scalps are given to it, but are not fastened to it, as some have asserted. B¢anti used to be the keeper of it, but he has resigned the charge of it to the ex-chief, Mahin-¢iñge.
The place of this sacred tent is within the tribal circle, and near the camping place of the gens. This tent contains one of the wa¢íxabe, a sacred bag, made of the feathers and skin of a bird, and consecrated to war. (See § [196].) There is also another sacred bag in this tent, that which holds the sacred ʇíhaba or clam shell, the bladder of a male elk filled with tobacco, and the sacred pipe of the gens, the tribal war-pipe, which is made of red pipe-stone. The ʇihaba is about nine inches in diameter, and about four inches thick. It is kept in a bag of buffalo hide which is never placed on the ground. In ancient days it was carried on the back of a youth, but in modern times, when a man could not be induced to carry it, it was put with its buffalo-skin bag into the skin of a coyote, and a woman took it on her back. When the tribe is not in motion the bag is hung on a cedar stick about five feet high, which had been planted in the ground. The bag is fastened with some of the sinew of a male elk, and cannot be opened except by a member of the Wasabe-hit`ajĭ sub-gens of the ₵atada. (See § [45], etc.)