478 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 92. 



Indian does not apparently think of Wa- 

 kan-da as apart from or outside of nature, 

 but rather as permeating it, and thus it is 

 that to him all things become anthropomor- 

 phized. 



In a Ponka ritual the following address 

 is made to the tree, as represented in the 

 framework of the lodge in which the cere- 

 mony takes place : 



" Oh ! Thou Pole of the Tent, Ethka ; 



" Along the banks of the streams, Ethka ; 



" With head drooping over, there Thou 

 sittest, Ethka ; 



" Thy topmost branches, Ethka ; 



" Dipping again and again, in very truth, 

 the water, Ethka ; 



'' Thou Pole of the Tent, Ethka ; (The 

 Tree now speaks.) 



" One of these little ones, Ethka; (That 

 is, the suppliant.) 



" I shall set upon one (of my branches), 

 Ethka; 



" The impurities, Ethka, 



"All I shall wash away, Ethka." 



The tree is supposed to take the man on 

 its branches, as in one's arms, and dip him 

 in the stream, where ' all within the body' 

 is 'cleansed.' 



Long life is desired, and the Eock is in- 

 voked ; 



"Oh! Aged One! Ethka; 



" Thou sittest a;s though longing for some- 

 thing, Ethka ; 



"Thou sittest like one with wrinkled 

 loins, Ethka ; 



"Thou sittest like one with furrowed 

 brow, Ethka ; 



" Thou sittest like one with flabby arms, 

 Ethka." (The Eock now speaks.) 



" The little ones (the people) shall be as I 

 am, whosoever shall pray to me properly" 

 (i. e., ceremonially). 



Many other illustrations could be given 

 to show the Siouan Indian's anthropomor- 

 phic conception of nature. 



With the acceptance of the idea that all 



things were quickened with the same life, 

 came the belief that a mysterious relation- 

 ship existed between man and his surround- 

 ings, and it naturally followed that, in his 

 struggle for food and safety, he should seek 

 to supplement his own strength by appeal- 

 ing to his kindred throughout nature ; 

 should ' send his prayers to reach the mys- 

 terious power where it has stopped.' Said 

 a venerable Indian to me one day, "the tree 

 is like a human being, for it has life and 

 grows, so we pray to it and put our offer- 

 ings on it, that the mysterious power may 

 help us." 



Coordinated with these ideas concerning 

 nature was that of the continuity of life, 

 which could not but lead to a belief in dual 

 worlds with interchanging relations; thus 

 we find that these Indians were firmly con- 

 vinced that the dead camp in the unseen 

 world, as they did while upon earth, each 

 gens having the same relative place in the 

 tribal circle, and each person at death going 

 to his own gens. 



Among the Ponkas the Ta-ha-u-to?i-a- 

 zhi division of the Ni-ka-pa-shna gens, 

 whose totem is the deer, put deer-skin moc- 

 casins upon their dead, that they may be 

 recognized by their kindred, and not lose 

 their way in the other world. Among the 

 Otoes, when an Indian dies his face is 

 painted in a manner peculiar to his gens, 

 by one having the hereditary right to per- 

 form this act, who says to the dead : "In 

 life you were with those you have now left 

 behind. Go forward ! Do not lookback? 

 You have met death. Those you have left 

 will come to you." 



The ancient chiefs, who ' first took upon 

 themselves the authority to govern the 

 people,' are still active, and through the 

 rituals chanted at the installation of tribal 

 officials, as through a medium, they con- 

 tinue to exercise their functions and to con- 

 fer authority on their successors. The 

 rituals call upon the animals which had 



