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[ Oonk-tó-mee—is a "bad spirit" in the form of a monstrous black spider. He inhabits fens and marshes and lies in wait for his prey. At night he often lights a torch (evidently the ignis fatuus or Jack-a-lantern) and swings it on the marshes to decoy the unwary into his toils.]
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[ The Dakotas have their stone idol, or god, called Toon-kan—or In-yan. This god dwells in stone or rocks and is they say, the oldest god of all—he is grandfather of all living things. I think, however that the stone is merely the symbol of the everlasting, all pervading, invisible Ta-ku Wa-kan—the essence of all life,—pervading all nature, animate and inanimate. The Rev. S. R. Riggs who, for forty years, has been a student of Dakota customs, superstitions etc., says, "Tâhkoo Wahkan," p. 55: et seq. "The religious faith of the Dakota is not in his gods as such. It is in an intangible, mysterious something of which they are only the embodiment, and that in such measure and degree as may accord with the individual fancy of the worshipper. Each one will worship some of these divinities, and neglect or despise others, but the great object of all their worship, whatever its chosen medium, is the Ta-koo Wa-kan, which is the supernatural and mysterious. No one term can express the full meaning of the Dakotas Wakan. It comprehends all mystery, secret power and divinity. Awe and reverence are its due, and it is as unlimited in manifestation as it is in idea. All life is Wakan; so also is everything which exhibits power, whether in action as the winds and drifting clouds; or in passive endurance, as the boulder by the wayside. For even the commonest sticks and stones have a spiritual essence which must be reverenced as a manifestation of the all-pervading mysterious power that fills the the universe.">[
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[ Wazi-kuté—Wah-ze-koo-tay; literally—Pine-shooter—he that shoots among the pines. When Father Hennepin was at Mille Lacs in 1679-80, Wazi-kuté was the head Chief (Itâncan) of the band of Isantees. Hennepin writes his name Ouasicoudé and translates it—the "Pierced Pine." See Shea's Hennepin p. 234, Minn. Hist. Coll. vol. I. p. 316.]
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[ When a Dakota brave wishes to "propose" to a "dusky maid", he visits her teepee at night after she has retired, or rather, laid down in her robe to sleep. He lights a splinter of wood and holds it to her face. If she blows out the light, he is accepted; if she covers her head and leaves it burning, he is rejected. The rejection however is not considered final till it has been thrice repeated. Even then the maiden is often bought of her parents or guardian, and forced to become the wife of the rejected suitor. If she accepts the proposal, still the suitor must buy her of her parents with suitable gifts.]
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[ The Dakotas called the Falls of St. Anthony the Ha-Ha—the loud laughing, or roaring. The Mississippi River they called Ha-Ha Wá-kpa—River of the Falls. The Ojibway name for the Falls is Ka-ká-bih-kúng. Minnehaha is a combination of two Dakota words—Mini—water and Ha-Ha—Falls; but it is not the name by which the Dakotas designated that cataract. Some authorities say they called it I-ha-ha pronounced E-rhah-rhah—lightly laughing. Rev. S. W. Pond, whose long residence as a missionary among the Dakotas in this immediate vicinity makes him an authority that can hardly be questioned, says "they called the Falls of Minnehaha "Mini-i-hrpâ-ya dan," and it had no other name in Dakota. It means Little Falls and nothing else." Letter to the author.]