Murder is generally avenged by the kindred of the deceased, as among the Omaha and Ponka. Goods, horses, etc, may be offered to expiate the crime, when the murderer's friends are rich in these things, and sometimes they are accepted; but sooner or later the kindred of the murdered man will try to avenge him. Everything except loss of life or personal chastisement can be compensated among these Indians. Rape is nearly unknown, not that the crime is considered morally wrong, but the punishment would be death, as the price of the woman would be depreciated and the chances of marriage lessened. Besides, it would be an insult to her kindred, as implying contempt of their feelings and their power of protection. Marriage within the gens is regarded as incest and is a serious offense.
THE OMAHA
The gentes keeping the sacred pipes and those having the sacred tents are designated among the Omaha by appropriate designs. The sacred tent of the Wejincte was the tent of war, those of the Hañga were the tents associated with the buffalo hunt and the cultivation of the soil. The diameter of the circle (figure 34) represents the road traveled by the tribe when going on the buffalo hunt, numbers 1 and 10 being the gentes which were always in the van. The tribe was divided into half tribes, each half tribe consisting of five gentes. The sacred tents of the Omaha and all the objects that were kept in them are now in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
FIG. 34.—Omaha camping circle.
The two groups of gentes forming the half tribes or phratries, sometimes composed of subgentes or sections, are as follows:
Hañgacenu gentes—1, Wejincte, Elk. 2, Iñke-sabĕ, Black shoulder, a Buffalo gens; the custodian of the real pipes of peace. 3, Hañga or Ancestral, a Buffalo gens; the regulator of all the so-called pipes of peace and keeper of two sacred tents. 4, ¢atada, meaning uncertain; in four subgentes: a, Wasabe hit`ajĭ, Touch-not-the-skin-of-a-black-bear; b, Wajiñga ¢atajĭ, Eat-no-small-birds; Bird people; c, ʇe-da it`ajĭ, Touch-no-buffalo-head; Eagle people; d, ʞe-`in, Carry-a-turtle-on-the-back; Turtle people. 5, ʞanze, Wind people.
Ictasanda gentes—6, Man¢iñka-gaxe, Earth-lodge-makers; coyote and wolf people. 7, ʇe-sĭnde, Buffalo-tail; a Buffalo-calf people. 8, ʇa-da, Deer-head; Deer people. 9, Iñg¢e-jide, Red dung; a Buffalo-calf gens.[pg 227] 10, Icta-sanda, meaning uncertain ("gray eyes"?), said to refer to the effect of lightning on the eyes. This last gens consists of Thunder and Reptile people.
The Iñke-sabĕ formerly consisted of four subgentes. When the gens met as a whole, the order of sitting was that shown in figure 35. In the tribal circle the Wa¢igije camped next to the Hañga gens, and the other Iñke-sabĕ people came next to the Wejincte; but in the gentile "council fire" the first became last and the last first.