The Iñke-sabě crier sat by the door, looking wistfully towards the food, and hoping almost against hope for some to be left for him.
These songs were very many, and lasted till daylight, according to An´ba-hébe, the tribal historian. From him the writer gained an incomplete description of them. First were the corn songs: 1. "I clear the land." 2. "I put in corn." 3. "The corn comes up." 4. "Ukít`ět`an, It has blades." 5. "Q¢á é¢anbe, The ears appear." 6. "Wahába najíha t`an, The ears have hair, i. e., silk." 7. "Égi¢e an´¢ispan, At length we try the ears, squeezing them with the fingers, to see if they are ripe." 8. "Égi¢e jút`an ʞĭ, At length it is ripe." 9. "Égi¢e wahába an´¢ija, At length we pull off the ears from the stalks." 10. "Égi¢e wahába an´¢iga, At length we husk the ears." 11. "Égi¢e wahába an´¢icpi, At length we shell the corn." 12. "Égi¢e wahába an´¢ate, At length we eat the corn."
Then followed the buffalo songs in similar order, of which were the following: "Síg¢e wadan´be, The tracks are seen." "[T]é wadan´be ag¢í, They have come back from seeing the buffalo." "[P]ahé ʇá[p]`ě a¢ai´, They have gone to the hill that is near by." * * * "[T]e win aú hă, I have wounded a buffalo." "Húqpaqpa man¢in´, He walks coughing repeatedly." This last refers to a habit of wounded buffaloes, they cough repeatedly as the blood pours forth.
La Flèche and Two Crows say that they never attended these feasts, so they cannot give the words of the songs. Frank La Flèche says, "None besides the Hañgas and chiefs can give you correctly all of the songs of the corn and buffalo, as it is looked upon as sacrilege to sing these songs. The young people are strictly forbidden to sing them. None of the young Omahas have taken any pains to learn them, although we have often been to listen to the singing of them while the Hañgas and the chiefs were performing the ceremonies of the pole. You may, but I very much doubt it, get it all from one of the Hañgas or chiefs by liberally compensating him for his patience (of which I fear he wouldn't have enough) in going through with it, as it takes three or four nights without stopping, lasting from sundown till sunrise; and even then they find, sometimes, that they have omitted some.[13] I myself would like to know it all, but I have never once heard it sung by any of the young men with whom I am accustomed to go, although they frequently have had the presumption to sing all other religious songs, such as the In´-kug¢i a¢in´, Wacícka a¢in´, Wasé a¢in´, etc., for amusement."
§ 144. Skill in archery.—So great is the skill of the Indians in archery, that they frequently sent their arrows completely through the bodies of the animals at which they shot, the arrowheads appearing in such cases on the opposite side. Dougherty heard that in some instances the arrows were sent with such force that they not only passed entirely through the bodies of the buffaloes, but even went flying through the air or fell to the ground beyond the animals.
§ 145. Sets of arrows.—As each man had his own set of arrows distinguished from those of other men by peculiar marks, he had no difficulty in recovering them after the slaughter of the herd, and by means of them he could tell which animals were killed by him. Hence quarrels respecting the right of property in game seldom occurred, and the carcass was awarded to the more fortunate person whose arrow pierced the most vital part.
§ 146. Frank La Flèche killed his first buffalo when he was but seventeen years of age. On such occasions the slayer cut open the body and ate the liver with the gall over it.
§ 147. Carving and division of a buffalo.—When plenty of buffalo had been killed, the slayer of one took but one man to aid him in cutting it up, and each man took half of the body as his share. All agree in saying that the hide was kept by the slayer, and some say that the choice pieces were also his. Sometimes the slayer gave pieces of the meat to those of his kindred who had no horses. All recognize the right of the slayer to give the pieces as he saw best. He was generally assisted in the cutting up by four or five men, and the body was divided into six portions, as follows: The ʇe-mañ´ge or chest, one share; the ʇe-nan´qa or hump, one share; the ʇe-ju´ or front portions of the body, two shares, with each of which was put a foreleg; the ʇe-jéga or thighs, the hinder portions of the body, two shares; with one was put the ʇe-níxa or paunch, with the other, the ʇe-cíbe or entrails. The men who assisted were not necessarily of the same gens or tribe. Sometimes the slayer took only the hide for his part and gave all the rest away. According to Frank La Flèche, "the first man who reached a slain buffalo had for his share, if the animal was fat, one of the ʇe-ju and the ʇe-nixa; but if it was lean, he took one of the ʇe-jega and the ʇe-nixa. The second man that reached there received the other ʇe-ju, and the third had the ʇe-mañge. The fourth one's share consisted of the ʇan´he or ʇe-cibe and the other ʇe-jega. But if the slayer of the animal wished any of these parts he could keep them. The ʇe-dí or liver was good for nothing."
Should only one buffalo be killed by a large party, say, thirty or more, the slayer always cut up the body in many pieces of equal size and divided among all the hunters. Sometimes two or three men came and helped the slayer to carve the body. Then he gave each a share. If a chief who had not been invited to sit down came and assisted in the carving, he too would get a share; but he had no right to demand a part, much less the whole body, for himself, as some writers assert. When a chief approached a carcass the slayer, if he chose, could tell him to sit down. Then the slayer, after cutting up the body, might give a piece to the chief, saying, "Take that and carry it on your back." Then the chief would thank the donor. If the chief could not tell in public of the kindness of his benefactor, the slayer would not give him a piece of the meat. When a man killed a buffalo, elk, deer, beaver, or otter, he might carry it to a chief, and say, "Wi´[p]ahan, I give it to you."
§ 148. The women never aided in the carving. Sometimes, when a man had no boy to take care of his extra horse, he let his wife ride it, and allowed her to take out the entrails, etc., after he had slit the belly. But if the slayer offered any objection the woman could not do that. As a rule the men took out "úgaqe¢a tě," or all the intestines, including the paunch, ʇe-cibe, etc., and put them aside for the women to uncoil and straighten.