b, Cat-tail.
The Sun.—They take the sun to be a large body of fire, making its daily journey across the plains for the purpose of giving light and heat to all, and admit it may be the residence of Wakoñda; consequently it is worshiped, venerated, smoked, and invocated on all solemn occasions. We have often endeavored to explain the diurnal revolution of the earth, representing the sun as stationary, but always failed. They must first be brought to understand the attractions of cohesion and gravitation, for, as a sensible Indian stated on one of these occasions, “If at midnight we are all on the under side, what is to hinder the Missouri from spilling out, and us from falling off the earth? Flies, spiders, birds, etc., have small claws by which they adhere to the ceiling and other places, though man and water have no such support.”
The Sky.—Those who take the trouble to explain state the sky to be a material mass of a blue color, the composition of which they do not pretend to say, and think it has an oval or convex form, as apparent to the eye, resting for its basis on the extreme boundaries of the great plain, the earth. Hence their drawing, which is almost the only form in which they could represent it. Stars are small suns set therein, though they think they may be large bodies appearing small by seeing through space. Space is the intervening distance between earthly and heavenly bodies.
The Indians can not rationally account for an eclipse, supposing it to be a cloud, hand, or some other thing shadowing the moon, caused by Wakoñda to intimate some great pending calamity. Many are the prophecies on these occasions of war, pestilence, or famine, and their predictions are often verified. Predicting an eclipse does not appear to excite their wonder as much as would be supposed. The writer predicted the eclipse of the moon on December 25, 1852, months before, but received no further credit than that of having knowledge enough from books to find out it was to take place.
Their year is composed of four man-ko´-cha or seasons, viz., wai-too (spring), min-do-ka´-too (summer), pe-ti-e-too (autumn), wah-nee-e-too (winter). These are only seasons and do not each contain a certain number of days, but times—a growing time, a hot time, a leaf-falling time, and a snow time. These four seasons make a year which again becomes man-ko´-cha or the same as a season. This is difficult to explain. They count by the moon itself and its different phases, not computing so many days to make a moon, nor so many moons to a year.
They give each moon its name, beginning, say, with the March moon whenever it appears either in February or March, when it would be wee-che´-ish-ta-aza, sore eye moon; next would follow Ta-pa´-ghe-na-ho-to, frog moon; next pe-tai-chin-cha´-ton, buffalo calf moon; next wee-mush-tu, hot moon; next wah-pa´-ze-ze, yellow-leaf moon; next wah-pa-ich-pa´-ah, leaf-falling moon; next yo-ka´-wah-how-wee, first snow moon; next we-cho-kun, middle moon; next om-hos-ka-sun-ka-koo, lengthening days moon’s brother; and next om-has-ka, lengthening of days moon. Their year has no beginning nor end. They count and name the moons as they come, and these names are also varied. Any annual remarkably known fact respecting the season can be applied to the name of the same moon. Thus the sore-eyed moon can be called the snow-melting moon, and the falling-leaf moon be termed the moon when the buffaloes become fat. These moons suffer no divisions of time except their phases, viz., new moon, increasing moon (first quarter), round moon (full moon), eaten moon (second quarter), half moon, dead moon (invisible). Among themselves they have no division of time equal to a week, although they are aware that we count by weeks, or divining days (Sundays), and will often ask how many divining days (or Sundays) there are to a given period.
An Indian in counting any period less than a year will say 3 moons and a full (3½ moons), 4 moons and an eaten one (4¾ moons), 6 moons and an increasing one (6½ moons), etc. These serve all his purposes and when wishing to be more minute and exact he must notch each day on a stick. For a year or four seasons they say a winter. A man may say “I am 40 winters old and one summer.” Yet sometimes the same man will say, “I am 40 seasons old.” This is still right. He will also say that he is 80 seasons old, or 160 seasons old. All of these are correct and understood immediately, as in the one case you mentally take the half, and in the other the quarter. This is often done among themselves, but with whites they generally name the winter only to designate the year, yet man-ko´-cha (season) is the right name for a year and would be received as such by all the Assiniboin. The day is divided into the following parts: hi-ak-kane (daylight), umpa (morning), wee-he-num-pa (sunrise), wee-wa-kan-too (forenoon), wi-cho-kun (midday), we-coo-cha-nu (afternoon), we-coh-pa-ya (sunset), hhtie-too (twilight), eoch-puz-za (dark), and haw-ha-pip-cho-kun (midnight). Any intermediate space of time would be indicated by pointing the finger to the place the sun is supposed to have been at that time. They know nothing of the division of hours and minutes, yet some of the squaws living a long time in the fort can tell the hour and minute by the clock.
They know that the minute hand makes the revolution of the dial plate before it strikes and know the figures from 1 to 12; also that each figure is five minutes apart, and will say it wants so many fives to strike 9, or it has struck 10 and is 5 fives past. This they pick up nearly of their own accord, which proves that some are susceptible of intelligence and education. They know nothing of the solstices nor have any period such as a cycle or century, neither do they believe the world will come to an end or that their priests or any others have the power to destroy or rebuild it.
They know and name the North Star the same as we do—wa-se-a-ure-chah-pe (north star)—and also know the Ursa Major, sometimes calling it the “seven stars” and “the wagon.” They are aware that it makes its revolution around the polar star, pointing toward it, and this is the secret of their traveling by night when there is no moon. They call no other stars by name. The Milky Way is said to be moch-pe-achan-ka-hoo (the backbone of the sky). It is known by them to be composed of clusters of small stars, but they suppose it to bear the same relative position to the arch of the heavens, and to be as necessary to its support as the backbone of any animal to its body. Meteors are falling stars which become extinguished as they fall. They attract but little attention as their effects are never perceived. Aurora borealis is believed to be clouds of fire or something the same as electricity. Being very common and brilliant it creates neither wonder nor inquiry.