[Footnote 202: Western Missions and Missionaries, p. 204.] [Footnote 203: Am. Antiq., vol. V, 1883, p. 149.] [Footnote 204: Western Missions and Missionaries, p. 243.] [Footnote 205: Om. Sociology, Third Ann. Rept. Bur. Eth., p. 325.] [Footnote 206: Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. II, pt. 2, p. 70.] [Footnote 207: Pond, in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, vol. VI, pp. 652. 1857.] [Footnote 208: See Contr. to N. A. Ethn. vol. IX, pp. 146, 149.] [Footnote 209: Miss Fletcher: Elk Mystery of the Ogallala Sioux; in Ann. Rept. Peabody Museum, 1884, pp. 276, 277.] [Footnote 210: Miss Fletcher in Rept. Peabody Museum, Vol. II, pp. 260-275.] [Footnote 211: Western Missions and Missionaries, p. 136.] [Footnote 212: Ibid., p. 46.] [Footnote 213: Western Missions and Missionaries, p. 141.] [Footnote 214: Ibid., p. 143.] [Footnote 215: This is also an Omaha belief.] [Footnote 216: Miss Fletcher, “Elk Mystery of the Ogalalla Sioux,” in Rept. Peabody Museum, Vol. III, p. 281 note.] CHAPTER VI. CULTS OF THE MANDAN, HIDATSA, AND SAPONA. AUTHORITIES. § 310. This chapter contains no original material, but is a compilation made from the following works for the convenience of the reader: Byrd (Wm.), History of the Dividing line (1729), vol. I. Reprint: Richmond, Va., 1866. U. S. Geol. and Geogr. Surv., Miscell. Publ., No. 7, 1877: Ethnog. and Philol. of Hidatsa Indians. By Washington Matthews. James’s Account of Long’s Exped., to Rocky Mountains, Phil., 1823, vol. I. Lewis and Clarke’s Exped., ed. Allen, Dublin, 1817, vol. I. The George Catlin Indian Gallery * * * Thomas Donaldson: Smithson. Rept., 1885, pt. 2, appendix. Travels in * * * North America, by Maximilian, Prince of Wied. Trans. by H. Evans Lloyd, London, 1843. ALLEGED BELIEF IN A GREAT SPIRIT. § 311. As among the Dakota, so among the Mandan and Hidatsa, we find that some of the earlier writers assert that the religion of the Indians under consideration “consists in the belief in one Great Spirit.”[217] But such assertions are closely followed by admissions which explain the mistake of the writer: “Great Spirit” is synonymous with “Great Medicine,” a name applied to everything which they do not comprehend. Among the Mandan, “each individual selects for himself the particular object of his devotion, which is termed his medicine, and is either some visible being, or more commonly some animal.” THE GREAT MYSTERY A MODERN DEITY. Matthews states of the Hidatsa: