l investigations
among the Omaha of Nebraska and cognate tribes of Indians, beginning in
1878 and continued from time to time during late years.

While the paper treats of the Omaha tribe, much that is said is
applicable to the Ponka, as the two tribes have long had similar
environments and a common dialect, for, until 1877, their habitats were
almost contiguous, and since 1880 about one-third of the Ponka tribe has
been dwelling on its former reservation near the town of Niobrara,
Nebraska.

Acknowledgments are due Dr. O. T. Mason for many valuable suggestions
early in the progress of the work.

DWELLINGS.

The primitive domiciles of the Omaha were chiefly (1) lodges of earth
or, more rarely, of bark or mats, and (2) skin lodges or tents. It may
be observed that there were no sacred rites connected with the earth
lodge-building or tent-making among the Omaha and Ponka.

Earth Lodges.

When earth lodges were built, the people did not make them in a tribal
circle, each man erecting his lodge where he wished; yet kindred
commonly built near one another.

The earth lodges were made by the women, and were intended principally
for summer use, when the people were not migrating or going on the hunt.
Those built by the Omaha and Ponka were constructed in the following
manner: The roof was supported by two series of vertical posts, forked
at the top for the reception of the transverse connecting pieces of each
series. The number in each series varied according to the size of the
lodge; for a small lodge only four posts were erected in the inner
series, for an ordinary lodge eight were required, and ten generally
constituted the maximum. When Mr. Say[1] visited the Kansa Indians, he
occupied a lodge in which twelve of these posts placed in a circle
formed the outer series, and eight longer ones constituted the inner
series, also describing a circle. The wall was formed by setting upright
slabs of wood back of the outer posts all around the circumference of
the lodge. These slabs were not over 6 feet in height, and their tops
met the cross timbers on which the willow posts rested. Stocks of hard
willow about 2 inches in diameter rested with their butts on the tops of
the upright slabs and extended on the cross timbers nearly to the
summit. These poles were very numerous, touching one another and
extending all around in a radiating manner, supporting the roof like
rafters. The rafters were covered with grass abo