Dahkotah land and Dahkotah life

Front matter

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DAHKOTAH LAND

Chapter I

Minnesota is the "land of the Dahkotahs." Long before their existence was known to civiUzed men, they wandered through the forests, between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, in quest of the bounding deer, and over the prairies beyond in search of the ponderous buffalo.

They are an entirely different group from the Algonquin and Iroquois, who were found by the early settlers of the Atlantic States, on the banks of the Connecticut, Mohawk, and Susquehanna rivers. Their language is much more difficult to comprehend; and, while they have many customs in common with the tribes who once dwelt in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, they have peculiarities which mark them as belonging to a distinct family of the aborigines of America.

Winona, Wapashaw, Mendota, Anoka, Kasota, Mahkahto, and other names designating the towns, hamlets, and streams of Minnesota, are words derived from the Dahkotah vocabulary.

Between the head of Lake Superior and the Missis-

4 (49)

sippi river, above the Falls of Saint Anthony, is a country of many lakes. So numerous are they, and interlaced by clear and sparkling brooks, to an aeronaut they would appear like a necklace of diamonds, on silver filaments, gracefully thrown upon the bosom of Earth.

Surrounded by forests of the sugar maple — the neighbouring marshes fertile in the growth of wild rice — the waters abounding in fish — the shores once alive with the beaver, the otter, the bear, and the fox — they were sites just adapted for the residence of an Indian population.

When the Dahkotahs were first noticed by the European adventurer, large numbers were occupjdng this region of country, and appropriately called by the voyageur, " People of the Lakes." ^ And tradition, asserts that here, was the ancient centre of this tribe. Though we have traces of their warring and hunting on the shores of Lake Superior, there is no satisfactory evidence of their residence, east of the Mille Lac region.^

The word Dahkotah, by which they love to be designated, signifies allied or joined together in friendly compact, and is equivalent to " E pluribus unum," the motto on the seal of the United States.

In the history of the mission at La Pointe, Wisconsin, published nearly two centuries ago, a writer, referring to the Dahkotahs, remarks : —

" For sixty leagues from the extremity of the Upper Lake, toward sunset; and, as it were in the centre of the western nations, they have all united their force hy a general league."

^ Gens du Lac.

^ They have no name for Lake Superior. — G. H. Pond, in " Dahkotah Tawaxiiku Kin."

THE NAMES SIOUX, AND DAHKOTAH. 51

The Dahkotahs in the earliest documents, and even until the present day, are called Sioux, Scioux, or Soos. The name originated with the early " voyageurs." For centuries the Ojibways of Lake Superior waged war against the Dahkotahs ; and, whenever they spoke of them, called them Nadowaysioux, which signifies enemies.

The French traders, to avoid exciting the attention of Indians, while conversing in their presence, were accustomed to designate them by names, which would not be recognised.

The Dahkotahs were nicknamed Sioux, a word composed, of the two last syllables, of the Ojibway word, for foes.

Charlevoix, who visited Wisconsin in 1721, in his history of New France says : " The name of Sioux, that we give to these Indians, is entirely of our own making, or rather it is the last two syllables of the name of Nadouessioux, as many nations call them."

From an early period, there have been three great divisions of this people, which have been subdivided into smaller bands. The first are called the Isanyati, the Issati of Hennepin, after one of the many lakes at the head Avaters of the river, marked on modern maps, by the unpoetic name of Rum. It is asserted by Dahkotah missionaries now living, that this name was given to the lake because the stone from which they manufactured the knife (isan) was here obtained. The principal band of the Isanti was the M'dewakantonwan.^ In the journal of Le Sueur, they are spoken of as residing on a lake east of the Mississippi. Tra-

^ Pronounced as if written Medday-wawkawn-twawn.

dition says that it was a day's walk from Isantamde or Knife Lake.

On a map prepared in Paris in 1703, Rmn River is called the river of the M'dewakantonwans, and the Spirit Lake on which they dwelt, was, without doubt, Mille Lac of modern charts.

The second great division is the Ihanktonwan, commonly called Yankton. They appear to have occupied the region west of the M'dewakantonwan, and north of the Minnesota river. The geographer De Lisle places their early residence in the vicinity of Traverse des Sioux, extending northward.

The last division, the Titonwan, hunted west of the Ihanktons, and all the early maps mark their villages at Lac-qui-parle and Big Stone Lake.

Hennepin, in August, 1679, in the vicinity of the Falls of Niagara, met the Senecas returning from war with the Dahkotahs, and with them some captive Tintonwans (Teetwawns) .

This division is now the most numerous, and comprises about one-half of the whole nation. They have wandered to the plains beyond the Missouri, and are the plundering Arabs of America. Whenever they apj)ear in sight of the emigrant train, journeying to the Pacific coast, the hearts of the company are filled with painful apprehensions.

North of the Dahkotahs, on Lake of the Woods and the watercourses connecting it with Lake Superior, were the Assiniboine. These were once a portion of the nation. Before the other divisions of the Dahkotahs had traded with the French, they had borne their peltries to the English post, Fort Nelson, on Hudson's Bay, and had received in return British manufactures. By

DIFFERENT DAHKOTAH BANDS. 53

association with the English, they learned to look upon the French with distrust, and in time to be hostile towards those who had formed alHances with the French.

Le Sueur writes, in relation to their separation from the rest of the nation, in these words : —

" The Assinipoils speak Scioux, and are certainly of that nation. It is only a feio years since they became enemies. It thus originated : The Christianaux having the use of arms before the Scioux, through the English at Hudson's Bay, they constantly warred upon the Asssinipoils, who were their nearest neighbours. The latter being weak sued for peace, and, to render it more lasting, married the Christianaux women. The other Scioux, who had not made the compact, continued to war, and seeing some Christianaux with the Assinipoils, broke their heads." After this there was aUenation. A letter, however, written at Fort Bourbon, on Hudson's Bay, about 1695, remarks : " It is said that the Assiniboins are a nation of the Sioux, which separated from them a long time ago."

The Dahkotahs call these alienated tribes Hohays, and make woman the cause of the separation. They are said to have belonged to the Ihanktonwan (Yankton) division of the nation. A quarrel, tradition asserts, occurred between two famihes hunting at the time in the vicinity of Lake Traverse. A young man seduced the wife of one of the warriors. The injured husband, in attempting to rescue his wife, was killed in the tent of the seducer. His father and some relatives wanted to secure the corpse. On the road, they were met, by some of the friends of the guilty youth, and three of their number were killed. The father then turned back and raised a party of sixty warriors, who waged war against the seducer and his friends, which continued until the whole band were involved, and ended in a revolt upon the part of the aggressor and his friends, who in time became a separate people.

In the valleys of the Blue Earth, the Des Moines, and the eastern tributaries of the Missouri, within the limits of the territory of Minnesota, there also dwelt in ancient days bands of the loways, Ottoes, Cheyennes, Aricarees, and Omahaws, who sought other hunting-grounds as the Dahkotahs advanced westward.

The Dahkotahs, like all ignorant and barbarous people, have but Uttle reflection beyond that necessary to gratify the pleasure of revenge and of the appetite.

It would be strange to find heroes among skulking savages, or maidens hke "Minnehaha" of the poet, among those whose virtue can be easily purchased. While there are exceptions, the general characteristics of the Dahkotahs, and all Indians, are indolence, impurity, and indifference to the future.

The rehgion of this people is exceedingly indistinct, and with reluctance do they converse on the subject. That a nation so low in the scale of humanity should have preserved the idea of one great spirit, the father of all spirits, the supreme and most perfect of beings, is not to be supposed. To attribute to them more elevated conceptions than those of the cultivated Athenians, is perfect absurdity. The Dahkotahs, in their reUgious belief, are polytheists. The hunter, as he passes over the plains, finds a granite boulder : he stops and prays to it, for it is " Wawhawn'' — mysterious or supernatural. At another time, he will pray to his dog; and at another time, to the sun, moon, or stars.

DAHKOTAH WORSHIP AND GODS. 55

In every leaf, in every stone, in every shrub, there is a spirit. It may be said of them, as Cotton Mather said of the Massachusetts Indians, in his Life of Ehot : " All the religion they have amounts to thus much : they believe that there are many gods, who made and own the several nations of the world. They believe that every remarkable creature has a peculiar god within or about it ; there is with them a sun god or a moon god and the like ; and they cannot conceive but that the fire must be a kind of god, inasmuch as a spark of it will soon produce very strange effects. They believe that when any good or ill happens to them, there is the favour or anger of a god expressed in it."

The Dahkotahs have greater and minor deities, and they are supposed to multiply as men and animals, and the superior to have power to exterminate the inferior.

The Jupiter Maximus of the Dahkotahs is styled Oanktayhee. As the ancient Hebrews avoided speaking the name of Jehovah, so they dishke to speak the name of tliis deity, but call him " Taku-wakan," or " That which is supernatural." This mighty god manifests himself as a large ox. His eyes are as large as the moon. He can haul in his horns and tail, or he can lengthen them, as he pleases. From him proceed in- \dsible influences. In his extremities reside mighty powers.

He is said to have created the earth. Assembling in grand conclave all of the aquatic tribes, he ordered them to bring up dirt from beneath the water, and proclaimed death to the disobedient. The beaver and others forfeited their hves. At last the muskrat went beneath the waters, and, after a long time, appeared at the surface nearly exhausted, with some dirt. From this,

Oanktayhee fashioned the earth into a large circular plain.

The earth being finished, he took a deity, one of his own offspring, and grinding him to powder, sprinkled it upon the earth, and this produced many worms. The worms were then collected and scattered again. They matured into infants ; and these were then collected and scattered and became full-grown Dahkotahs.

The bones of the mastodon, the Dahkotahs think, are those of Oanktayhee, and they preserve them with the greatest care in the medicine bag. It is the belief of the Dahkotahs that the Rev. R. Hopkins, who was drowned at Traverse des Sioux, on July 4th, 1851, was killed by Oanktayhee, who dwells in the waters, because he had preached against him.

This deity is supposed to have a dwelhng-place beneath the Falls of Saint Anthony. A few years ago, by the sudden breaking up of a gorge of ice, a cabin near Fort Snelling, containing a soldier, was swept off by the flood. The Dahkotahs supposed that this great god was descending the river at the time, and, being hungry, devoured the man.

Hay-o-kah [the anti-natural god) . — There are four persons in this godhead. The first appears like a tall and slender man with two faces, like the Janus of ancient mythology. Apollo-like, he holds a bow in his hand streaked with red lightning, also a rattle of deer claws. The second is a little old man with a cocked hat and enormous ears, holding a yellow bow. The third, a man with a flute suspended from his neck. The fourth is invisible and mysterious, and is the gentle zephyr which bends the grass and causes the ripple of the water.

Hayokah is a perfect paradox. He calls bitter sweet,

HATOKAH, AND OTHER DEITIES. 57

and sweet bitter ; lie groans when he is full of joy ; ho laughs when he is in distress ; he calls black, white, and white, black ; when he wishes to tell the truth he speaks a lie, and when he desires to lie, he speaks the truth ; in winter he goes naked, and in summer he wraps up in buffalo robes. The little hills on the prairies are called Hay-o-kah-tee, or the house of Hay-o-kah, Those whom he inspires, can make the winds blow ajid the rain fall, the grass to grow and wither.

There is said to exist a clan who especially adore this deity, and at times dance in his honour. At dawn of day they assemble within a teepee, in the centre of which is a fire, over which are suspended kettles. With coneshaped hats and ear-rings, both made of bark, and loins girded with the same material, they look like incarnate demons. On their hats are zigzag streaks of paint — representations of lightning.

The company remain seated and smoking around the fire, until the water in the kettle begins to boil, which is a signal for the commencement of the dance. The excitement now becomes intense. They jump, shout, and sing around the fire, and at last plunge their hands into the cauldron, seize and eat the boiled meat. Then they throw the scalding water, on each others backs, the sufferers never wincing, but insisting that it is cold.

Taku-shkan-shkan. — This deity is supposed to be invisible, yet everywhere present. He is full of revenge, exceedingly wrathful, very deceitful, and a searcher of hearts. His favourite haunts are the four winds, and the granite boulders strewn on the plains of Minnesota. He is never so happy as when he beholds scalps, warm and reeking with blood.

The object of that strange ceremony of the Dahkotalis, in wMch the performer being bound hand and foot with the greatest care, is suddenly unbound by an invisible agent, is to obtain an interview with Taku-shkanshkan.

The name of another one of the superior divinities is Wahkeenyan. His teepee is supposed to be on a mound on the top of a high mountain, in the far West. The teepee or tent has four openings, with sentinels clothed in red down. A butterfly is stationed at the east, a bear at the west, a fawn at the south, and a reindeer at the north entrance. He is supposed to be a gigantic bird, the flapping of whose wings makes thunder. He has a bitter enmity against Oanktayhee, and attempts to kill his ofispring. The high water a few years ago was supposed to be caused by his shooting through the earth, and allowing the water to flow out. When the lightning strikes their teepees or the ground, they think that Oanktayhee was near the surface of the earth, and that Wahkeenyan, in great rage, fired a hot thunderbolt at him.

By him wild rice, is said to have been created, also the spear, and tomahawk.

A bird of thunder was once killed, the Indians assert, near Kaposia. Its face resembled the human countenance. Its nose was hooked like the bill of an eagle. Its wings had four joints, and zigzag like the lightning.

About thirty miles from Big Stone Lake, near the head waters of the Minnesota, there are several small lakes bordered with oak-trees. This is the supposed birth-place of the Thunder Bird, and is called the Nest of Thunder. The first step the spirit ever took in this world was equal to that of the hero, in the child's story, who wore seven-league boots, being twenty-five miles in length. A rock is pointed out which has a foot-like

WAHKEENY AN.— THUNDER BIRD. 59

impression, whicli they say is his track ; and the hill is called Thunder Tracks.

A son of Colonel Snelling, the first commander of the fort of that name, in a poem, which is pubhshed in Griswold's collection of American poetry, alludes to the foregoing incidents : —

" The moon that night withheld her light. By fits, instead, a lurid glare Illumed the skies ; while mortal eyes

Were closed, and voices rose in prayer While the revolving sun Three times his course might run,

The dreadful darkness lasted ; And all that time the red man's eye A sleeping spirit might espy, Upon a tree-top cradled high,

Whose trunk his breath had blasted. So long he slept, he grew so fast,

Beneath his weight the gnarlfed oak Snapped, as the tempest snaps the mast :

It fell, and Thunder woke !

The world to its foundation shook.

The grizzly bear his prey forsook, The scowling heaven an aspect bore That man had never seen before ; The wolf in terror fled away.

And shone at last the light of day.

" 'Twas here he stood ; these lakes attest Where first Waw-kee-an's footsteps press'd. About his burning brow a cloud.

Black as the raven's wing, he wore ; Thick tempests wrapt him like a shroud,

Red lightnings in his hand he bore ; Like two bright suns his eyeballs shone, His voice was like the cannon's tone ; And, where he breathed, the land became, Prairie and wood, one sheet of flame.

*' Not long upon this mountain height The first and worst of storms abode.

Tor, moving in his fearful might,

Afar, on yonder faint blue mound, In the horizon's utmost bound, At the first stride his foot he set ;

The jarring world confessed the shock. Stranger ! the track of Thunder yet

Remains upon the living rock.

" The second step, he gained the sand On far Superior's storm-beat strand : Then with his shout the concave rung, As up to heaven the giant sprung

On high, beside his sire to dwell ; But still, of all the spots on earth. He loves the woods that gave him birth. —

Such is the tale our fathers tell."

After an individual has dreamed in relation to the sun, there are sacred ceremonies. Two persons are the participants, who assume a peculiar attitude. Almost naked, holding a small whistle in their mouths, they look towards the sun, and dance with a strange and awkward step. One of their interpreters remarks, " The nearest and best comparison I can make of them when worshipping, is a frog held up by the middle with its legs half drawn up."

During the continuance of the ceremony, which may last two or three days, the parties fast.

When a Dahkotah is troubled in spirit, and desires to be delivered from real or imaginary danger, he will select a stone that is round and portable, and, placing it in a spot free from grass and underbrush, he will streak it with red paint, and, offering to it some feathers, he will pray to it for help. The stone, after the ceremony is over, does not appear to be regarded with veneration. K visitors request them, they can be obtained.

SACRED MEN INITIATED. 61

CHAPTER 11.

In all nations where the masses are unenlightened, their spiritual nature is uncultivated, and they beheve whatever a class of men pretending to have authority from the spirit world, may impose upon them. All ignorant communities are superstitious and easily priestridden. The early Britons looked upon the Druids, as a supernatural, and wonder-working class, and they fed, and feared them. The Wawkawn, or medicine men, hold the same relation to the Dahkotahs as the Druids to the ancient Britons. They are the most powerful and influential of the tribe. They are looked upon as a species of demi-gods. They assert their origin to be miraculous. At first they are spiritual existences, encased in a seed of some description of a winged nature, like the thistle. Wafted by the breeze to the dwelling-place of the gods, they are received to intimate communion. After being instructed in relar tion to the mysteries of the spirit world, they go forth to study the character of all tribes. After deciding upon a residence, they enter the body of some one about to become a mother, and are ushered by her into the world. A great majority of the M'dewakantonwans are medicine men.

When an individual desires to belong to this priesthood, he is initiated by what is termed a "medicine dance." This dance is said to have been instituted by Oanktayhee, the patron of medicine men. The editor of the "Dahkotah Friend," in a description of this dance, remarks : —

" When a member is to be received into this society, it is his duty, to take the hot bath, four days in succession. In the mean time, some of the elders of the society instruct him in the mysteries of the medicine, and Wahmnoo-^ah — shell in the throat. He is also provided with a dish (wojute) and spoon. On the side of the dish is sometimes carved the head of some voracious animal, in which resides the spirit of Eeyah (glutton god). This dish is always carried by its owner to the medicine feast, and it is his duty, ordinarily, to eat all which is served up in it. Gray Iron has a dish which was given him at the time of his initiation, on the bottom of which is carved, a bear complete. The candidate is also instructed with what paints, and in what manner, he shall paint himself, which must always be the same, when he appears in the dance. There is supernatural virtue in this paint, and the manner in which it is applied ; and those who have not been furnished with a better, by the regular war prophets, wear it into battle, as a life-preserver. The bag contains besides, the claws of animals, with the toanwan of which they can, it is behoved, inflict painful diseases and death on whomsoever, and whenever, they desire.

" The candidate being thus duly prepared for initiation, and having made the necessary offerings for the benefit of the institution, on the evening of the day previous to the dance a lodge is prepared, and from ten to twenty of the more substantial members pass the night

MEDICINE DANCE AND SONGS. 63

in singing, dancing, and feasting. In the morning, the tent is opened for the dance. After a few appropriate ceremonies preliminary to the grand operation, the candidate takes his place on a pile of blankets which he has contributed for the occasion, naked, except the breech-cloth and moccasins, duly painted and prepared for the mysterious operation. An elder having been stationed in the rear of the novice, the master of the ceremonies, with his knee and hip joints bent to an angle of about forty-five degrees, advances, with an unsteady, unnatural step, with his bag in his hand, uttermg, " Heen^ heen, heen,^^ with great energy, and raising the bag near a painted spot on the breast of the candidate, gives the discharge, the person stationed in the rear gives him a push forward at the same instant, and as he falls headlong throws the blankets over him. Then, while the dancers gather around him and chant, the master throws off the covering, and, chewing a piece of the bone of the Oanktay^ee, spirts it over him, and he revives, and resumes a sitting posture. All then return to their seats except the master ; he approaches, and, making indescribable noises, pats upon the breast of the novice, till the latter, in agonizing throes, heaves up the Wahmnoo-Aah or shell, which falls from his mouth upon the bag which had been previously spread before him for that purpose. Life being now completely restored, and with the mysterious shell in his open hand, the new-made member passes around and exhibits it to all the members and to the wondering bystanders, and the ceremonies of initiation are closed. The dance continues, interspersed with shooting each other, rests, smoking, and taking refreshments, till they have jumped to the music of four sets of singers. Besides vocal music, they make use of the drum and the gourd-shell rattle. The following chants, which are used in the dance, will best exhibit the character of this mysterious institution of the Oanktay/^ee : —

" Waduta ohna micage.

Waduta ohna micage.

Miniyata ite wakan de maqu, Tunkanixdan.

" He created it for me enclosed in red down. He created it for me enclosed in red down. He in the water with a mysterious visage gave me this, My grandfather.

" Tunkanixdan pejihuta wakan micage, •

He wicake.

Miniyata oicage wakan kin maqu ye,

Tunkanixdan ite kin yuwinta wo.

" My grandfather created for me mysterious medicine, That is true.

The mysterious being in the water gave it to me.

Stretch out your hand before the face of my grandfather. Having a quadruped, stretch out your hand before him."

The medicine pouch is the skin of an otter, fox, or similar animal, containing certain articles which are held sacred.

A warrior leaving his village to hunt, gave his pouch to a friend of the writer, who had dwelt as a missionary among the Dahkotahs for a score of years. The owner having died, he retained it, and, being at his house one day, it was, at my request, opened. The contents were some dried mud, a dead beetle, a few roots, and a scrap of an old letter, which had probably been picked up about the walls of Fort Snelling.

Where the science of medicine is not understood, the

PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.— VAPOUR BATH. 60

inhabitants are very superstitious concerning the sick. Those who are prominent in their devotion to the sacred rites of a heathen tribe, generally act as physicians. The Druids of the early Britons performed the duties of doctors, and the conjurers, or medicine men, as they are generally termed, are called to attend the sick Dahkotahs. This tribe of Indians are well acquainted with the bones of the body ; but no Dr. Hvmter has yet risen among them to explain the circulation of the blood, and therefore they have but a single word for nerves, arteries, and veins. When a young man is sick, he is generally well watched; but old persons, and those that have some deformity, are often neglected. To effect a cure, they often practise what is called steaming. They erect a small tent covered with thick buffalo robes, in which they place some hot stones. Stripping the sick person of his blanket, they place him in the tent. Water is then thrown upon the hot stones, which creates considerable vapour. After the patient has been confined in this close tent for some time, and has perspired profusely, they occasionally take him out and plunge him into the waters of an adjacent river or lake.

This custom is very ancient. One of the first white men who appear to have resided amongst them, was a Franciscan priest, named Hennepin. He was made their prisoner in the year 1680, while travelling on the Mississippi, above the Wisconsin river. The Dahkotahs took him to their villages on the shores of Rum river, at Mille Lac, where he was quartered in a chief's lodge, whose name was Aquipaguetin. The chief observing that Hennepin was much fatigued, ordered an oven to be made, which, to use the words of the Franciscan, " he ordered me to enter, stark naked, with four savages. The oven was covered with buffalo hides, and in it they placed red-hot flint and other stones. They ordered me to hold my breath as long as I could. As soon as the savages that were with me let go their breath, which they did with a great force, Aquipaguetin began to sing. The others seconded him ; and laying their hands on my body began to rub, and at the same time cry bitterly. I was near faulting, and forced to leave the oven. At my coming out, I could scarcely take up my cloak. However, they continued to make me sweat thrice a week, which at last restored me to my former vigour."

When a Dahkotah is very sick, the friends call in a conjurer or medicine man. Before we proceed, it is proper to explain the meaning of the term " medicine man." Anything that is mysterious or wonderful, the Dahkotahs call " Wawkawn." The early explorers and traders in Minnesota were French, and they always call a doctor "medecin." As the Indian doctors are all dealers in mysteries, the word "medicine" has at last obtained a local signification, meaning anything that is mysterious or unaccountable. A "medicine man" meanfe, then, a doctor who calls to his aid charms and incantations. The medicine men are divided into war prophets, and conjurers or doctors.

A Dahkotah, when he is sick, believes that he is possessed by the spirit of some animal, or insect, or enemy. The medicine men, are supposed to have great power of suction in their jaws, by which they can draw out the spirit that afflicts the patient, and thus restore him to health. They are much feared by all the tribe. The doctor is called to see a sick person by sending some one with a present of a horse or blankets, or something as