416 TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI [eth. ANN. 46 



They give each moon its name, beginning, say, with the March 

 moon whenever it appears either in February or March, when it 

 would be wee-che'-ish-ta-aza, sore eye moon; next would follow 

 Ta-pa'-ghe-na-ho-to, frog moon; next pe-tai-ehin-cha'-ton, buffalo 

 calf moon ; next wee-mush-tu, hot moon ; next wah-pa'-ze-ze, yellow- 

 leaf moon; next wah-pa-ich-pa'-ah, leaf-falling moon; next yo-ka'- 

 wah-how-wee, first snow moon; next we-cho-kun, middle moon; next 

 om-hos-ka-sun-ka-koo, lengthening days moon's brother; and next 

 om-has-ka, lengthening of days moon. Their year has no beginning 

 nor end. They count and name the moons as they come, and these 

 names are also varied. Any annual remarkably known fact respect- 

 ing the season can be applied to the name of the same moon. Thus 

 the sore-eyed moon can be called the snow-melting moon, and the 

 falling-leaf moon be termed the moon when the buffaloes become fat. 

 These moons suffer no divisions of time except their phases, viz, 

 new moon, increasing moon (first quarter), round moon (full moon), 

 eaten moon (second quarter), half moon, dead moon (invisible). 

 Among themselves they have no division of time equal to a week, 

 although they are aware that we count by weeks, or divining days 

 (Sundays), and will often ask how many divining days (or Sun- 

 days) there are to a given period. 



An Indian in counting any period less than a year will say 3 

 moons and a full (3y 2 moons), 4 moons and an eaten one 

 (i% moons), 6 moons and an increasing one (61/a moons), etc. 

 These serve all his purposes and when wishing to be more minute 

 and exact he must notch each day on a stick. For a year or four 

 seasons they say a winter. A man may say " I am 40 winters old 

 and one summer.'' Yet sometimes the same man will say, " I am 

 40 seasons old." This is still right. He will also say that he is 80 

 seasons old, or 160 seasons old. All of these are correct and under- 

 stood immediately, as in the one case you mentally take the half, and 

 in the other the quarter. This is often done among themselves, but 

 with whites they generally name the winter only to designate the 

 year, yet man-ko-cha (season) is the right name for a year and 

 would be received as such by all the Assiniboin. The day is divided 

 into the following parts: hi-ak-kane (daylight), umpa (morning), 

 wee-he-num-pa (sunrise), wee-wa-kan-too (forenoon), wi-cho-kun 

 (midday), we-coo-cha-nu (afternoon), we-coh-pa-ya (sunset), hhtie- 

 too (twilight), eoch-puz-za (dark), and haw-ha-pip-cho-kun (mid- 

 night). Any intermediate space of time would be indicated by point- 

 ing the finger to the place the sun is supposed to have been at that 

 time. They know nothing of the division of hours and minutes, 

 yet some of the squaws living a long time in the fort can tell the 

 hour and minute by the clock. 



