CHATTER VI. 



CULTS OF THE MANDAN, HIDATSA, AND SAPONA. 



AUTHORITIES. 



§ 310. This chapter contains no original material, but is a compilation 

 made from the following works for the convenience of the reader: 



Byid (Wm.), History of tbe Dividing liue (1729), vol. i. Reprint: Richmond, 

 Va.^ 1866. 



U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Surv., Miseell. Publ., No. 7, 1877: Ethuog. and Pbilol. of 

 Hidatsa Indians. By Wasliington Matthews. 



James's Account of Long's Exped., to Rocky Mountains, Phil., 1823, vol. i. 



Lewis and Clarke's Exped., ed. Allen, Dublin, 1817, vol. i. 



Tbe George Catlin Indian Gallery * * » ThomasDoualdson: Smithson. Rept., 

 1885, pt. 2, appendix. 



Travels in ' - » North America, by Maximilian, Prince of Wied. Trans, by 

 H. Evans Lloyd, London, 1843. 



ALLEGED BELIEF IN A GREAT SPIRIT. 



§ 311. As among the Dakota, so among theMandan and Hidatsa, we 

 find that some of the earlier writers assert that the religion of the 

 Indians under consideration " consists in the belief in one Great 

 Spirit.'" 



But such assertions are closely followed by admis.sions which explain 

 the mistake of the writer: "Great Spirit" is synonymous with "Great 

 Medicine," a name applied to everything which they do not compre- 

 hend. Among the Mandan,. " each individual selects for himself the 

 particular object of his devotion, wliich is termed his medicine, and is 

 either some visible being, or more commonly some animal." 



THE GREAT MYSTERY A MODERN DEITY. 



Matthews states of the Hidatsa : 



Many claim that the Great Spirit, or, more properly, the Great Mystery, is a deity 

 of the modern Indian only. I have certainly heard some old and very conservative 

 Miunetarees speak of Mahopa as if they meant thereby an influence or power above 

 all other things, but not att.achiug to it any ideas of personality. It would now be 

 perhaps impossible to make a just analysis of their original conceptions in this 

 matter.^ 



' Lewis and Clarke's Exped., ed., AUeD, vol. I, ]t. 174. 



2 V. S. Geol. and Geogr. Surv., Hayden. Misiell. Publ., No. 7, 1877: Ethnog. and Pliilol. of Hidatsa 

 Indians, p. 48. 



501 



