with a
view to a gift in return. Property obtained by gambling is held by a very
indefinite tenure.

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 Hanga 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.

[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Omaha camping circle.]

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:

_Hangacenu gentes_--1, Wejincte, Elk. 2, Inke-sabe, Black shoulder, a
Buffalo gens; the custodian of the real pipes of peace. 3, Hanga or
Ancestral, a Buffalo gens; the regulator of all the so-called pipes of
peace and keeper of two sacred tents. 4, catada, meaning uncertain; in
four subgentes: _a_, Wasabe hit'aji, Touch-not-the-skin-of-a-black-bear;
_b_, Wajinga cataji, Eat-no-small-birds; Bird people; _c_, {~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}e-*d*a it'aji,
Touch-no-buffalo-head; Eagle people; _d_, {~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e-'in,
Carry-a-turtle-on-the-back; Turtle people. 5, {~LATIN SMALL LETTER