When a Dakota is sick he thinks the spirit of an enemy or some animal has entered into his body, and the principal business of the "medicine-man"—Wicásta Wakân—is to cast out the "unclean spirit," with incantations and charms. See Neill's Hist. Minn., pp. 66-8. The Jews entertained a similar belief in the days of Jesus of Nazareth.
Wah-zeé-yah's star—The North-star. See note 3.
The Dakotas, like our forefathers and all other barbarians, believe in witches and witchcraft.