i;i i.i QION \\l> CEREMl >NIES 107 



strated by Dr. J. R. Walker, thai the .Dakota do recog- 

 oize a kind of hierarchy in which the Sun stands first, or 

 as one of the wakan tanka. Of almost equal rank is the 

 Sky, the Karth, and the Rock. Next in older is another 

 »roup of four, the Moon (female), Winged-one, Wind 

 and the "Mediator" (female). Then come inferior- 

 beings, the buffalo, bear, the four winds and the whirl- 

 wind ; then come four classes or groups of beings and so 

 on in almost bewildering complexity. So far as we 

 know, no other Plains tribe has worked out quite so 

 complex a conception. The Omaha wakonda is in a 

 way like the Dakota wakan tanka. The Pawnee recog- 

 nized a dominating power spoken of as tirawa, or, 

 "father," under whom were the heavenly bodies, the 

 winds, the thunder, lightning, and rain; but they also 

 recognized a sacred quality, or presence, in the pheno- 

 mena of the world, spoken of as kawaharu, a term whose 

 neaning closely parallels the Dakota wakan. The 

 Blackfoot resolved the phenomena of the universe into 

 ''powers," the greatest and most universal of which is 

 natosiwa, or sun power. The sun was in a way a per- 

 sonal god having the moon for his wife and the morning- 

 star for his son. Unfortunately, we lack data for most 

 tribes, this being a point peculiarly difficult to investi- 

 gate. One thing, however, is suggested. There is 

 tendency here to conceive of some all-pervading force or 

 element in the universe that emanates from an indefinite 

 source to which a special name is given, which in turn 

 becomes an attribute applicable to each and every mani- 

 festation of this conceivedly divine element. Probably 



