🧚 In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4 · page 2

[Footnote 73: The Dakotas have their stone idol, or god, called Toon-kan--or In-yan.100 This god dwells in stone or rocks and is they say, the _oldest god of all_--he is grandfather of all living things.101 I think, however that the stone is merely the symbol of the everlasting, all pervading, invisible _Ta-ku Wa-kan_--the essence of all life,--pervading all nature, animate and inanimate.102 The Rev. S. R. Riggs who, for forty years, has been a student of Dakota customs, superstitions etc., says, "Tâhkoo Wahkan," p. 55: et seq. "103 The religious faith of the Dakota is not in his gods as such.104 It is in an intangible, mysterious something of which they are only the embodiment, and that in such measure and degree as may accord with the individual fancy of the worshipper.105 Each one will worship some of these divinities, and neglect or despise others, but the great object of all their worship, whatever its chosen medium, is the _Ta-koo Wa-kan_, which is the _supernatural_ and _mysterious_.106 No one term can express the full meaning of the Dakotas _Wakan_.107 It comprehends all mystery, secret power and divinity.108 Awe and reverence are its due, and it is as unlimited in manifestation as it is in idea.109 All life is _Wakan_; so also is everything which exhibits power, whether in action as the winds and drifting clouds; or in passive endurance, as the boulder by the wayside.110 For even the commonest sticks and stones have a spiritual essence which must be reverenced as a manifestation of the all-pervading mysterious power that fills the the universe."]111

[Footnote 74: Wazi-kuté--Wah-ze-koo-tay; literally--Pine-shooter--he that shoots among the pines.112 When Father Hennepin was at Mille Lacs in 1679-80, Wazi-kuté was the head Chief (Itâncan) of the band of Isantees.113 Hennepin writes his name— Ouasicoudé and translates it--the "Pierced Pine."114 See Shea's Hennepin p. 234, Minn.115 Hist.116 Coll. vol. I. p. 316.]117

[Footnote 75: When a Dakota brave wishes to "propose" to a "dusky maid", he visits her teepee at night after she has retired, or rather, laid down in her robe to sleep.118 He lights a splinter of wood and holds it to her face.119 If she blows out the light, he is accepted; if she covers her head and leaves it burning, he is rejected.120 The rejection however is not considered final till it has been thrice repeated.121 Even then the maiden is often bought of her parents or guardian, and forced to become the wife of the rejected suitor.122 If she accepts the proposal, still the suitor must buy her of her parents with suitable gifts.]123

[Footnote 76: The Dakotas called the Falls of St. Anthony the Ha-Ha--the _loud laughing_, or _roaring_.124 The Mississippi River they called Ha-Ha Wá-kpa--River of the Falls.125 The Ojibway name for the Falls is Ka-ká-bih-kúng.126 Minnehaha is a combination of two Dakota words--Mini--water and Ha-Ha--Falls; but it is not the name by which the Dakotas designated that cataract.127 Some authorities say they called it I-ha-ha pronounced E-rhah-rhah--lightly laughing.128 Rev. S. W. Pond, whose long residence as a missionary among the Dakotas in this immediate vicinity makes him an authority that can hardly be questioned, says "they called the Falls of Minnehaha "Mini-i-hrpâ-ya dan," and it had no other name in Dakota.129 It means Little Falls and nothing else."130 Letter to the author.]131

[Footnote 77: The game of the Plum-stones is one of the favorite games of the Dakotas.132 Hennepin was the first to describe this game in his "Description de la Louisiane," Paris, 1683, and he describes it very accurately.133 See Shea's translation p. 301.134 The Dakotas call this game _Kan-soo Koo tay-pe_--shooting plum-stones.135 Each stone is painted black on one side and red on the other; on one side they grave certain figures which make the stones "Wakan."136 They are placed in a dish and thrown up like dice; indeed the game is virtually a game of dice.137 Hennepin says: "There are some so given to this game that they will gamble away even their great coat.138 Those who conduct the game cry at the top of their voices when they rattle the platter and they strike their shoulders so hard as to leave them all black with the blows."]139

[Footnote 78: Wa'tanka--contraction of Wa-kan Tanka--Great Spirit.140 The Dakotas had no Wakan Tanka--or Wakan-péta--fire spirit--till whitemen imported them.141 There being no name for the Supreme Being in the Dakota tongue (except Tá-ku Wakan--See note 73)--and all their gods and spirits being Wakan--the missionaries named God in Dakota--"_Wakan Tanka_"--which means _Big Spirit_, or _The Big Mysterious_.]142

[Footnote 79: The Dakotas called Lake Calhoun--Mdé-mdó-za--Loon Lake.143 They also called it--_Re-ya-ta-mde_--the lake back from the river.144 They called Lake Harriet--Mdé-únma--the other lake--or (perhaps) Mdé úma—Hazel-nut Lake.145 The lake nearest Calhoun on the north--Lake of the Isles--they called Wí-ta Mdé--Island-Lake.146 Lake Minnetonka they called Me-me-a-tán-ka--_Broad Water_.]147

[Footnote 80: The animal called by the French _voyageurs_ the _cabri_ (the kid) is found only on the prairies.148 It is of the goat kind, smaller than a deer, and so swift that neither horse nor dog can overtake it.149 (Snelling's) "Tales of the Northwest," p. 286. note 15.150 It is the gazelle, or prairie antelope, called by the Dakotas Tato-ka-dan--little antelope.151 It is the _Pish-tah-te-koosh_ of the Algonkin tribes, "reckoned the fleetest animal in the prairie country about the Assinneboin."152 Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner, p. 301.]153

[Footnote 81: The Wicâstâpi Wakânpi (literally, _men supernatural_) are the "Medicine-men" or Magicians of the Dakotas.154 They call themselves the sons, or disciples of Unktéhee.155 In their rites, ceremonies, tricks and pretensions they closely resemble the Dactyli, Idæ and Curetes of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Magi of the Persians, and the Druids of Britain.156 Their pretended intercourse with spirits, their powers of magic and divination, and their rites are substantially the same, and point unmistakably to a common origin.157 The Dakota "Medicine-Man" can do the "rope-trick" of the Hindoo magician to perfection.158 The teepee used for the _Wakan Wacipee_--or Sacred Dance--is called the _Wakan Teepee_--the Sacred Teepee.159 Carver's Cave at St. Paul was also called Wakan Teepee, because the Medicine-men or magicians often held their dances and feasts in it.160 For a full account of the rites, etc., see Riggs' "Tâhkoo Wahkan", Chapter VI.161 The _Ta-sha-ke_--literally, "Deer-hoofs"--is a rattle made by hanging the hard segments of deer-hoofs to a wooden rod a foot long--about an inch in diameter at the handle end, and tapering to a point at the other.162 The clashing of these horny bits makes a sharp, shrill sound something like distant sleigh-bells.163 In their incantations over the sick they sometimes use the gourd-shell rattle.]164

The Chân-che-ga--is a drum or "Wooden Kettle."165 The hoop of the drum is from a foot to eighteen inches in diameter, and from three to ten inches deep.166 The skin covering is stretched over one end making a drum with one end only.167 The magical drum sticks are ornamented with down, and heads of birds or animals are carved on them.168 This makes them Wakan.]169

The flute called _Cho-tanka_ (big pith) is of two varieties--one made of sumac, the pith of which is punched out, etc. The second variety is made of the long bone of the wing or thigh of the swan or crane.170 They call the first the _bubbling chotanka_ from the tremulous note it gives when blown with all the holes stopped.171 Riggs' Tahkoo Wahkan, p. 476, et seq.]172