denig] THE ASSINIBOIN 415 



have any reasonable idea of the field of space or other creations 

 therein further than superstitious notions according to the fancy of 

 the individual. 



The Sun. — They take the sun to be a large body of fire, making its 

 daily journey across the plains for the purpose of giving light and 

 heat to all, and admit it may be the residence of Wakonda; 

 consequently it is worshiped, venerated, smoked, and invocated on 

 all solemn occasions. We have often endeavored to explain the diur- 

 nal revolution of the earth, representing the sun as stationary, but 

 always failed. They must first be brought to understand the attrac- 

 tions of cohesion and gravitation, for, as a sensible Indian stated on 

 one of these occasions, " If at midnight we are all on the under side, 

 what is to hinder the Missouri from spilling out, and us from falling 

 off the earth? Flies, spiders, birds, etc., have small claws by which 

 they adhere to the ceiling and other places, though man and water 

 have no such support." 



The Skt. — Those who take the trouble to explain state the sky to 

 be a material mass of a blue color, the composition of which they do 

 not pretend to say, and think it has an oval or convex form, as 

 apparent to the eye, resting for its basis on the extreme boundaries 

 of the great plain, the earth. Hence their drawing, which is almost 

 the only form in which they could represent it. Stars are small suns 

 set therein, though they think they may be large bodies appearing 

 small by seeing through space. Space is the intervening distance 

 between earthly and heavenly bodies. 



The Indians can not rationally account for an eclipse, supposing 

 it to be a cloud, hand, or some other thing shadowing the moon, 

 caused by Wakonda to intimate some great pending calamity. 

 Many are the prophecies on these occasions of war, pestilence, or 

 famine, and their predictions are often verified. Predicting an 

 eclipse does not appear to excite their wonder as much as would be 

 supposed. The writer predicted the eclipse of the moon on Decem- 

 ber 25, 1852, months before, but received no further credit than that 

 of having knowledge enough from books to find out it was to take 

 place. 



Their year is composed of four man-ko'-cha or seasons, viz, wai-too 

 (spring), min-do-ka'-too (summer), pe-ti-e-too (autumn), wah-nee- 

 e-too (winter). These are only seasons and do not each contain a 

 certain number of days, but times — a growing time, a hot time, a 

 leaf-falling time, and a snow time. These four seasons make a year 

 which again becomes man-ko'-cha or the same as a season. This 

 is difficult to explain. They count by the moon itself and its different 

 phases, not computing so many days to make a moon, nor so many 

 moons to a year. 



