228 DAKOTA GRAMMAR, TEXTS, AND ETHNOGRAPHY. 
Dakota themselves, however, claim that it was communicated to them by 
the great Unktehi or god of the waters. It is a form of religion which has 
doubtless largely supplanted older forms of worship. The badge of the 
order is the “waka” sack, or sack of mystery. The great water god 
ordained that this should be the skin of the otter, raccoon, weasel, squirrel, 
loon, or a species of fish and of snakes. It should contain four kinds of 
inedicine and represent fowls, quadrupeds, herbs, and trees. ‘Thus grass 
roots, the bark of tree roots, swan’s down, and buffalo hair are the symbols 
which are carefully preserved in the medicine sack. This combination is 
supposed to produce 
A charm of powerful trouble, 
Like a hellbroth, boil and bubble. 
Certain good rules, in the main, are laid down, which must govern the 
conduct of members of this organizaticn: They must revere the ‘wakan” 
sack; they must honor all who belong to the dance; they must make 
many ‘sacred feasts;” they must not steal nor listen to slander, and the 
women must not have more than one husband. The rewards promised to 
those who faithfully performed the duties were honor from their fellow 
members, frequent invitations to feasts, abundance of fowl and venison, 
with supernatural aid to consume it, long life here with a crown of silver 
hair, and a dish and spoon in the future life. 
After the proper instruction in the mysteries, the neophyte practiced 
watchings and fastings and was purified for four successive days by the 
vapor bath. Then came the great day of initiation. The ceremonies were 
public. A great deal of cooked provisions was prepared. At the sacred 
dance which I witnessed four decades ago, there were a half dozen large 
kettles of meat. The arrangements for the dance consisted of a large tent 
at one end, whose open front was extended by other tents stretched along 
the sides, making an oblong with the outer end open. Along the sides of 
this inclosure sat the members, perhaps a hundred in number, each one 
having his or her “sack of mystery.” At a given signal from the ofticiat- 
ing old men, all arose and danced inward until they became a solid mass, 
when the process was reversed and all returned to their seats. Near the 
close of the performance those who were to be initiated were shot by the 
“sacks of mystery,” and falling down they were covered with blankets. 
Then the mysterious bean or shell which they claimed had produced death 
was extracted by the same mysterious power of the sack of mystery, and 
