FOOTNOTES:
PG Editor's Note:
There were two types of footnotes in this file, one with letters and the other numbers. Only the numbered footnotes have been linked and listed in this footnote section. A further problem was the unusual system of not using a unique footnote number for each tag--many of the tags recur over an over. To entirely renumber all footnote tags with a unique number was a task beyond the time constraints of this editor. Consequently in the cases of multiple tags of the same number the user will be taken to the reference in the footnote section but the return link takes one back to the first usage of this footnote number.
1 ([return])
[ Called in the Dakota tongue "Hok-sée-win-nâ-pee Wo-hàn-pee"—Virgins Dance (or Feast).]
2 ([return])
[ One of the favorite and most exciting games of the Dakotas is ball-playing. A smooth place on the prairie, or in winter, on a frozen lake or river, is chosen. Each player has a sort of bat, called "Tâ-kée-cha-psé-cha," about thirty two inches long with a hoop at the lower end four or five inches in diameter, interlaced with thongs of deer-skin, forming a sort of pocket. With these bats they catch and throw the ball. Stakes are set as bounds at a considerable distance from the centre on either side. Two parties are then formed, and each chooses a leader or chief. The ball (Tâ-pa) is then thrown up half way between the bounds, and the game begins, the contestants contending with their bats for the ball as it falls. When one succeeds in getting it fairly in the pocket of his bat he swings it aloft and throws it as far as he can towards the bound to which his party is working, taking care to send it, if possible, where some of his own side will take it up. Thus the ball is thrown and contended for till one party succeeds in casting it beyond the bound of the opposite party. A hundred players on a side are sometimes engaged in this exciting game. Betting on the result often runs high. Moccasins, pipes, knives, hatchets, blankets, robes and guns are hung on the prize-pole. Not unfrequently horses are staked on the issue, and sometimes even women. Old men and mothers are among the spectators praising their swift-footed sons, and young wives and maidens are there to stimulate their husbands and lovers. This game is not confined to the warriors, but is also a favorite amusement of the Dakota maidens who generally play for prizes offered by the chief or warriors. See Neill's Hist. Minn. pp 74-5; Riggs' "Tâkoo Wakân," pp 44-5, and Mrs Eastman's Dacotah, p 55.]