6*2 



THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION 



[ETH. ANN. 14 



addressed to Professor A. S. Gatschet, the well-known philologist, I 

 extract the following, which throws valuable light on the name system 

 and mythology of the Shawano, and shows also that the two render- 

 ings, apparently so dissimilar, have a common origin: 



Shawano personal names are nearly all clan names, and by tlieir interpretation 

 the clan to which the individual or his father or mother belongs may be discovered. 

 Thus, when a man is called " tight fitting " or "good tit,'' he is of the Habliit clan, 

 because the fur fits the rabbit very tightly and closely. The name of Tecuiutha is 



Fig. 58— Tecumtba. 



One of the finest looking men I ever saw — about fi IVet high, straight, with large, tine features, and 

 altogether a daring, bold-looking fellow. — Captain Floyd, 1810. 



One of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occasionally to produce revolutions and overturn 

 the established order of things. -Governor Harrison. 



derived from nila ni tka'mthka, " I cross the path or way of somebody, or of an ani- 

 mal." This indicates that the one so named belongs tothe clan of the round- foot or 

 claw-foot animals, as panther, lion, or even raccoon. Tecumtha and his brother 

 belonged to the clan of the manetwwi msipeasi or "miraculous panther" (m.ii, great, 

 big; pishiwi, abbreviated pessi, cat, both combined meaning the American lion). So 

 tin- translations " panther lying in wait," or "crouching lion," give only the sense 

 of the name, and no animal is named in it. But the msi-pessi, when the epithet 

 miraculous (manetuwi) is added to it, means a "celestial tiger," i. e., a meteor or 

 shooting star. The nuuutuui msi-pessi lives in water only and is visible not as an 



