31d 
The Viards of California have an annual thanksgiving dance 
in the autumn, which is followed by an oration from an old 
man, who recounts the mercies of the year. The Wailiki 
have their black bear dance when they have killed one of 
these animals, and the clover dance when it gets juicy to eat; 
the Yukis, the green corn dance; the Kato Pomos, the acorn 
dance; the Wintuns, the pine-nut and clover dances; and 
other tribes the manzanita, first grass, second grass, and fish 
dances, because of the gifts of these kinds of food.* 
The tribes around the mouth of the Columbia River had a 
festival at the opening of the salmon season, and offered the 
first salmon to the Great Spirit as a thank-offering; and 
the Knistenaux have private feasts in acknowledgment of 
mercies.t 
‘The Omahas when the bison are discovered go through a 
ceremony, saying, “Thanks, Master of Life”;{ and among 
the Dakotas the feast of first fruits is the most common, in 
gratitude for the increase of the earth and the fruits of the 
hunt. On many occasions, even the most trivial, the gods 
are thanked, and a small thank-offering made.§ 
The Pottawottamies likewise had a day of thanksgiving, 
when they heard a speech from an old man, worshipped the 
Great Spirit and thanked him for his care.|| 
(2) Prayer—Man, as a weak being, should ask assistance 
from the more powerful. 
The Patagonians of southern, and the Araucanians of 
northern, South America prayed. 
The Peruvians implored the protection of their deity on a 
new-born child, and implored assistance at their second 
national feast in the autumn and at the third in winter for 
protection and aid.J 
Habel gives eight figures of sculptures on which are the 
Deity in the upper part, and in the lower part a person with 
upturned face, in adoration, while curved lines proceeding from 
_ the mouth of each supplicant show that they were praying.** 
Bancroft gives more than twenty-six octavo pages of 
Mexican prayers on various occasions, and also says that the 
* Contributions to N. A. Ethnology, pp. 105,118, 133, 155, 237, 324, 
354, 208. 
+ Dunn, On Oregon Territory, pp. 73, 87. 
{ Long’s Hxpedition, 1819-20, vol. i. p. 207. 
§ Gospel among Dakotas, pp. 77, 85. 
|| MeCoy’s Indian Missions. 
“| Tschudi's Peruvian Antiquities, pp. 158, 191, 192. 
** Habel’s Guatemala, pp. 64-86. 
