§ 6. In considering the subject from an Indian’s point of view, one must avoid speaking of the supernatural as distinguished from the natural. It is safer to divide phenomena as they appear to the Indian mind into the human and the superhuman, as many, if not most natural phenomena are mysterious to the Indian. Nay, even man himself may become mysterious by fasting, prayer, and vision. One fruitful source of error has been a misunderstanding of Indian terms and phrases. It is very important to attempt to settle the exact meanings of certain native words and phrases ere we proceed further with the consideration of the subject. TERMS FOR “MYSTERIOUS,” “LIGHTNING,” ETC. § 7. The attention of the author having been called to the article on “Serpent Symbolism” of the Iroquoian languages, by Mr. Hewitt[1] of the Bureau of Ethnology, a similar investigation of the Siouan terms was made, the results of which are now presented. In connection with the terms for “serpent,” Mr. Hewitt showed how they are related in the languages with which he was familiar with other terms, such as “demon,” “devil,” “wizard,” “witch,” “subtile,” “occult,” “mysterious,” and “supernatural.” In Dakota we find the following: Wakaⁿ, mysterious, wonderful, incomprehensible, often rendered “holy” by the missionaries; wakaⁿ-hdi (in Santee), wakaⁿ-kdi (in Yankton), lightning, perhaps containing a reference to a zigzag line or forked lightning; wakaⁿ etcoⁿ, to practice sleight of hand; and waⁿmducka, serpent. There are many derivatives of wakaⁿ, among which are, Taku Wakaⁿ, literally “something mysterious,” rendered “some one mysterious,” or “holy being,” and Wakaⁿ-tañka, literally, “Great mysterious (one),” both of which terms are now applied to God by the missionaries and their converts, though Wakaⁿ-tañka is a name for the Thunder-being. In Riggs’s alphabet (Contr. N. A. Ethn., Vol. VII), these words are thus written: Wakaŋ, wakaŋhdi, wakaŋkdi, wakaŋ ećoŋ, waŋmduśka, Taku Wakaŋ, and Wakaŋtaŋka. One of the Dakota words for “aged” is kaⁿ (kaŋ in Riggs’s alphabet); but though this refers to persons we can not tell whether it is related to wakaⁿ (or wakaŋ).