| Page. |
| CHAPTER I.—Introduction | [361] |
| Definitions of “Cult” and “Siouan” | [361] |
| Siouan Family | [361] |
| Authorities | [361] |
| Alphabet | [363] |
| Abbreviations | [364] |
| CHAPTER II.—Definitions | [365] |
| Alleged belief in a Great Spirit | [365] |
| Phenomena divided into human and superhuman | [365] |
| Terms for “mysterious,” “lightning,” etc. | [366] |
| Other Omaha and Ponka terms | [367] |
| Significance of personal names and kinship terms | [368] |
| Myth and legend distinguished from the superhuman | [368] |
| CHAPTER III.—Cults of the Omaha, Ponka, Kansa, and Osage | [371] |
| Beliefs and practices not found | [371] |
| Omaha, Ponka, and Kansa belief in a wakanda | [372] |
| Seven great wakandas | [372] |
| Invocation of warmth and streams | [372] |
| Prayer to wakanda | [373] |
| Accessories of prayer | [373] |
| Omaha and Kansa expressions about wakanda | [374] |
| Ponka belief about malevolent spirits | [374] |
| An old Omaha custom | [375] |
| The sun a wakanda | [376] |
| Invocations | [376] |
| The offering of tobacco | [377] |
| The Ponka sun dance of 1873 | [378] |
| The moon a wakanda | [378] |
| Berdaches | [378] |
| Stars as wakandas | [379] |
| The winds as wakandas | [380] |
| Invocation | [380] |
| Kansa sacrifice to the winds | [380] |
| Osage consecration of mystic fireplaces | [380] |
| The thunder-being a wakanda | [381] |
| Omaha and Ponka invocation of the thunder-being | [381] |
| Thunder-being invoked by warriors | [382] |
| Ictasanda custom | [383] |
| Kansa worship of the thunder-being | [385] |
| Subterranean and subaquatic wakandas | [386] |
| The indaȼiñga | [386] |
|
| Other Kansa wakandas | [387] |
| Omaha invocations of the trap, etc. | [387] |
| Fasting | [390] |
| Mystic trees and plants | [390] |
| Iȼa‘eȼĕ | [392] |
| Personal mystery decorations | [394] |
| Order of thunder shamans | [395] |
| Generic forms of decoration | [397] |
| Specific forms of decoration | [398] |
| Corn and the buffalo | [403] |
| Other Omaha mystery decorations | [403] |
| Kansa mystery decorations | [405] |
| Omaha nikie decorations | [407] |
| Omaha nikie customs | [410] |
| Governmental instrumentalities | [411] |
| Omaha and Ponka taboos | [411] |
| Fetichism | [412] |
| Fetiches of the tribe and gens | [413] |
| Omaha tribal fetiches | [413] |
| Osage tribal fetiches | [414] |
| Kansa tribal fetiches | [415] |
| Personal fetiches | [415] |
| Sorcery | [416] |
| Jugglery | [417] |
| Omaha and Ponka belief as to a future life | [419] |
| Kansa beliefs respecting death and a future life | [421] |
| CHAPTER IV.—┴ciwere and Winnebago cults | [423] |
| Authorities | [423] |
| Term “Great Spirit” never heard among the Iowa | [423] |
| The sun a wakanta | [423] |
| The winds as wakantas | [423] |
| The thunder-being a wakanta | [424] |
| Subterranean powers | [424] |
| Subaquatic powers | [424] |
| Animals as wakantas | [425] |
| Apotheoses | [425] |
| Dwellings of gods | [425] |
| Worship | [425] |
| Taboos | [426] |
| Public or tribal fetiches | [427] |
| Private or personal fetiches | [427] |
| Symbolic earth formations of the Winnebago | [427] |
| Personal fetiches | [428] |
| Dancing societies | [428] |
| The Otter dancing society | [429] |
| The Red Medicine dancing society | [429] |
| The Green Corn dance | [429] |
| The Buffalo dancing society | [429] |
| ┴ɔiwere traditions | [430] |
| Belief in a future life | [430] |
| CHAPTER V.—Dakota and Assiniboin cults | [431] |
| Alleged Dakota belief in a Great Spirit | [431] |
| Riggs on the Taku wakan | [432] |
| Meaning of wakan | [433] |
| Daimonism | [433] |
|
| Animism | [433] |
| Principal Dakota gods | [434] |
| Miss Fletcher on Indian religion | [434] |
| Prayer | [435] |
| Sacrifice | [435] |
| Use of paint in worship | [438] |
| The unkteḣi, or subaquatic and subterranean powers | [438] |
| Character of the unkteḣi | [438] |
| Power of the unkteḣi | [439] |
| Subordinates of the unkteḣi | [439] |
| The mystery dance | [440] |
| The miniwatu | [440] |
| The Wakiⁿyaⁿ, or thunder-beings | [441] |
| The armor gods | [443] |
| The war prophet | [444] |
| The spirits of the mystery sacks | [445] |
| Takuśkaŋśkaŋ, the Moving deity | [445] |
| Tunkan or Inyan, the Stone god or Lingam | [447] |
| Iŋyaŋ śa | [448] |
| Mato tipi | [448] |
| The sun and moon | [449] |
| Nature of concepts | [449] |
| The sun dance | [450] |
| A Dakota’s account of the sun dance | [450] |
| Object of the sun dance | [451] |
| Rules observed by households | [451] |
| The “u-ma-ne” | [451] |
| Rules observed by the devotee | [452] |
| Tribes invited to the sun dance | [452] |
| Discipline maintained | [452] |
| Camping circle formed | [453] |
| Men selected to seek the mystery tree | [453] |
| Tent of preparation | [454] |
| Expedition to the mystery tree | [455] |
| Felling the tree | [456] |
| Tree taken to camp | [457] |
| Raising the sun pole | [457] |
| Building of dancing lodge | [458] |
| The Uuȼita | [458] |
| Decoration of candidates or devotees | [458] |
| Offerings of candidates | [459] |
| Ceremonies at the dancing lodge | [460] |
| The dance | [460] |
| Candidates scarified | [460] |
| Pieces of flesh offered | [462] |
| Torture of owner of horse | [462] |
| End of the dance | [462] |
| Intrusive dances | [463] |
| Captain Bourke on the sun dance | [464] |
| Berdaches | [467] |
| Astronomical lore | [467] |
| Day and night | [467] |
| The dawn | [468] |
| Weather spirit | [468] |
|
| Heyoka | [468] |
| The concepts of Heyoka | [468] |
| Heyoka feast | [469] |
| Story of a Heyoka man | [469] |
| Heyoka women | [471] |
| Iya, the god of gluttony | [471] |
| Ikto, Iktomi, or Unktomi | [471] |
| Ćaŋotidaŋ and Hoḣnoġića | [473] |
| Anuŋg-ite | [473] |
| Penates | [475] |
| Guardian spirits | [475] |
| Beliefs about the buffalo | [475] |
| Prevalence of the beliefs | [475] |
| Origin of the buffalo | [476] |
| The Tataŋgnaśkiŋyaŋ, or Mythic buffalo | [477] |
| The bear | [477] |
| The wolf | [477] |
| Horses | [479] |
| Spiders | [479] |
| Snake lore | [479] |
| The double woman | [480] |
| Deer women | [480] |
| Dwarfs or elves | [481] |
| Bogs | [481] |
| Trees | [482] |
| Customs relating to childhood | [482] |
| Puberty | [483] |
| Ghost lore and the future life | [484] |
| Meaning of wanaġi | [484] |
| Assiniboin beliefs about the dead | [485] |
| Ghosts not always visible | [485] |
| Death and burial lore | [485] |
| Why the Teton stopped burying in the ground | [486] |
| Importance of tattooing | [486] |
| Ceremonies at the ghost lodge | [487] |
| Good and bad ghosts | [489] |
| Intercourse with ghosts | [489] |
| Ghost stories | [489] |
| The ghost husband | [489] |
| The solitary traveler | [489] |
| The ghost on the hill | [489] |
| The Indian who wrestled with a ghost | [489] |
| The man who shot a ghost | [492] |
| Assiniboin beliefs about ghosts | [492] |
| Prayers to the dead, including ancestors | [493] |
| Metamorphoses and transmigration of souls | [493] |
| Exhortations to absent warriors | [493] |
| Mysterious men and women | [493] |
| Gopher lore | [496] |
| Causes of boils and sores | [496] |
| Results of lying, stealing, etc. | [497] |
| Secret societies | [497] |
| Fetichism | [498] |
| Public or tribal fetiches | [498] |
|
| Ordeals, or modes of swearing | [499] |
| Sorcery and jugglery | [499] |
| Omens | [500] |
| Bodily omens | [500] |
| Animal omens | [500] |
| Omens from dreams | [500] |
| CHAPTER VI.—Cults of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Sapona | [501] |
| Authorities | [501] |
| Alleged belief in a Great Spirit | [501] |
| The great mystery a modern deity | [501] |
| Polytheism | [502] |
| Worship | [502] |
| Fasting | [502] |
| Sacrifice | [502] |
| The Okipa | [502] |
| The Daḣpike | [503] |
| Cult of the Yoni | [505] |
| Absaroka fear of a white buffalo cow | [505] |
| Mandan cults | [506] |
| Mandan divinities | [506] |
| Guardian spirits | [507] |
| Mandan belief about serpents and giants | [507] |
| Thunder lore of the Mandan | [508] |
| Astronomical lore | [508] |
| Mystery objects and places of the Mandan and Hidatsa | [508] |
| The mystery rock | [508] |
| Dreams | [510] |
| Oracles | [510] |
| Fetiches | [510] |
| Folklore | [511] |
| Sorcery | [511] |
| Jugglery | [512] |
| Ghost lore | [512] |
| The future life | [512] |
| Four as a mystic number among the Mandan | [513] |
| Hidatsa cults | [513] |
| Hidatsa divinities | [513] |
| Animism | [514] |
| Worship of the elements, etc. | [514] |
| Serpent worship | [514] |
| Fetiches | [515] |
| Tribal fetiches | [515] |
| Personal fetiches | [515] |
| Oracles | [516] |
| Dreams | [516] |
| Berdaches | [516] |
| Astronomical lore | [517] |
| Food lore | [517] |
| Four souls in each human being | [517] |
| Sorcery | [517] |
| Disposal of the dead | [518] |
| Hidatsa belief as to future existence | [518] |
| Sapona cults | [518] |
|
| CHAPTER VII.—Concluding remarks | [520] |
| Peet on Indian religions | [520] |
| The author’s reply | [521] |
| Cults of the elements | [522] |
| The four quarters | [524] |
| Symbolic colors | [527] |
| Colors in personal names | [533] |
| The earth powers | [534] |
| Earth gentes | [534] |
| The fire powers | [534] |
| Fire gentes | [536] |
| The wind-makers | [536] |
| Wind gentes | [537] |
| Each quarter reckoned as three | [537] |
| Names referring to other worlds | [537] |
| The water powers | [537] |
| Water people | [538] |
| Cautions and queries | [538] |
| Composite names | [539] |
| Personal names from horned beings | [541] |
| Names derived from several homogeneous objects or beings | [542] |
| Return of the spirit to the eponym | [542] |
| Functions of gentes and subgentes | [542] |
| The “Messiah craze” | [544] |
| Epilogue | [544] |
|