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Show DANCE OF THE OMAHA INDIANS. 131 them was a Joway, called Nih-Yu-Mah-Ni (lapluie qui marche), who sold us several articles of his dress. Mr. Bodmer made a sketch of the boy of an Omaha, whom the father first daubed with red paint. He took vermilion in the palm of his hand, spat upon it, and then rubbed it in the boy's face. The head of this boy was shaved quite smooth, excepting a tuft of hair in front, and another at the back. (See the wood-cut.) A number of men and women stood round, looking on with eager curiosity. I showed the Indians a rattlesnake in brandy, and they gave me to understand that a child had lately been bitten by one of these animals, and died in consequence. The little child, lately wounded by the Joways, was brought to us; the wounds? though they had not been dressed and covered, were almost healed. We spent a very pleasant evening with Mr. Cabanne ; sitting in the balcony of his house, we enjoyed the delightful temperature and the fine scene around us. The splendid sky was illumined by the full moon; silence reigned around, interrupted only by the noise of the frogs, and the incessant cry of the whip-poor-will, in the neighbouring woods, till the Indians assembled round the house, and, at the request of Mr. Cabanne, performed a dance. About twenty Omahas joined in it; the principal dancer, a tall man, wore on his head an immense feather cap, like those of the Camacans in Brazil, but larger and of less elaborate workmanship, composed of long tail and wing feathers of owls and birds of prey ;* in his hand he held his bow and arrows. The upper part of his body was covered only with a whitish skin, which fell over the right shoulder and breast, and was adorned with bunches of feathers ; his arms, face, and the uncovered parts of his body, were painted with white stripes and spots. His trousers were marked with dark cross stripes, and trimmed at the ankles with a great quantity of fringe. He also wore an apron. He had a savage and martial appearance, to which his athletic figure greatly contributed. Another man, * Not only these feather caps are pretty similar to those in Brazil, but also the chief instrument of the conjurors, or physicians (medicine men)-schischikue, as it is called-a calabash with a handle, in which there are small stones to rattle. The Omahas, and all the other North American tribes, use it exactly in the same manner as the Brazilians. |