INTRODTJCTION. XVU 



wai)s use d, some of the Mdewakai)tor)wai)s so modify the sound that it hecomes t ; and where the former 

 use h, the hitter sometimes employ n. As a matter of course, some few words have currency in one band 

 which are not used, perhaps not generally known, by the othere ; but none of the dialectical variations 

 are of such a kind as to impede the free intercourse of thought. The Sisitor)wai)s of Lake Traverse 

 and the prairies present more differences in their speech. One of the most marked of these is their use 

 of ' na ' for ' dai),' the diminutive termination. As there is less frequent intercourse between them and the 

 Isaqties, their provincialisms are more numerous ; and from their connexions with the Ihai)ktoi)wai)s of 

 the prairie, they have adopted some of their forms of speech. The chief peculiarity of the Ihaijktoijwai) 

 dialect, as compared with that of the Dakotas of the Minnesota, is the almost universal substitution of k 

 for h. The Titoqwai) dialect exhibits more striking differences. In it, g hard is used for h of the Isaqties 

 and k of the Ihaqktoijwaijs, and rejecting d altogether, they use I in its stead. ]5y the bands of Dakotas 

 east of James river, hard g is not heard except as final in some syllables where contraction has taken 

 place, and / does not occur. Thus, to illustrate the foregoing, ' daqpahmihma,' a cart or waggon, of the 

 Wahpetoqwai)s, becomes ' oaqpanminma ' in the mouth of a Mdewakaijtoqwai), ' caqpakmikma' in that 

 of an Ihaqktoqwai), and ' caqpagmigma' with a Titoqwaq. ' Hda,' to go home, of the Isaqties, is 'kda' 

 in the Ihaqktoqwaq dialect, and 'gla' in the Titoqwaq. Many words, too, are entirely different, as for 

 example, ' isaq,' a A;m/e ; the Titoqwaqs say ' milla,' and the Ihaqktoqwaqs, 'miqna.' Isaqtaqka, the 

 name by which the people of the United States are designated on the Mississippi and Minnesota, becomes 

 Miqnahaqska and Millahaqska on the Missouri. 



In the arrangement of words in a sentence, the Dakota language may be regarded as eminently primi- 

 tive and natural. The sentence, ' Give me bread,' a Dakota transposes to ' Aguyapi maku ye,' Bread me 

 give. Such is the genius of the language, that in translating a sentence or verse from the Bible, it is generally 

 necessary to commence, not at the beginning, but at the end ; and such, too, is the common practice of their 

 best interpreters. Where the person who is speaking leaves off, there they commence, and proceed 

 backwards to the beginning. In this way the connexion of the sentences is more easily retained in the 

 mind, and more naturally evolved. There are, however, some cases in which this method cannot be 

 followed. In a logical argument, if the conclusion is first translated, it will, in some cases, need to be 

 repeated after the premises', but the therefore which connects the conclusion to the premises, very 

 frequently, in Mr. Renville's translations, comes after the conclusion. This method of expressing ideas, so 

 entirely different from that to which our mirlds have been accustomed, makes it difficult ta learn to 

 thinkJu-JJakota. 



Sacred Language. — The Dakota conjurer, the war-prophet, and the dreamer, experience the same 

 need that is felt by more elaborate performers among other nations, of a language which is unintelligible 

 to the common people, for the purpose of impressing upon them the idea of their superiority. Their 

 dreams, according to their own account, are revelations made from the spirit-world, and their prophetic 

 visions are what they saw and knew in a former state of existence. It is, then, only natural that their 

 dreams and visions should be clothed in words many of which the multitude do not understand. This 

 sacred language is not very extensive, since the use of a few unintelligible words suffices to make 

 a whole speech incomprehensible. It may be said to consist, first, in employing words as the names 

 of things which seem to have been introduced from other Indian languages ; as, nide, water ; paza, wood, 

 &c. In the second place, it consists in employing descriptive expressions, instead of the ordinary names 

 of things ; as in calling a man a biped, and the wolf a quadruped. And thirdly, words which are 

 common in the language are used far out of their ordinary signification ; as, hepaq, the second child, if a 

 hoy, is used to designate the otter. When the Dakota braves ask a white man for an ox or cow, they 

 generally call it a dog ; and when a sachem begs a horse from a white chief, ho does it under the 

 designation of moccasins. This is the source of many of the figures of speech in Indian oratory ; but 

 they are sometimes too obscure to bo beautiful. 



The Dakotas can hardly bo said to know any thing about poetry. A few words make a long 

 song, for the ' Hi-hi-hi-hi-hi ' is only now and then interrupted by the enunciation of words. Sometimes 

 their war-songs are so highly figurative that their meaning is just the opposite of what the expressions 

 used would naturally convey. To a young man who has acted very bravely, by killing an enemy and 

 taking his scalp, they say, " Friend, thou art a fool : thou hast let the Ojibwas strike thee." This is 

 understood to be the highest form of eulogy. 



The mourning song of Black-hoy for his grandson, published in the Dakota Friend by Rev. G. H. Pond, 

 will illustrate the abounding repetition of the same thought expressed in the same words, in their songs. 

 " The unearthliness of the scene," says Mr. Pond, " cannot be described, as, in the twilight of the morning, 

 while the mother of the deceased boy, whose name was Makadutawiq, Red-Earth- Woman, was wailing 



