Yet Lynd is not always consistent, for he says on another page (71) of the same work: “No one deity is held by them all as a superior object of worship.” § 94. Pond writes: Evidence is also wanting to show that the Dakotas embraced in their religious tenents the idea of one supreme existence, whose existence is expressed by the term Great Spirit. If some clans at the present time entertain this idea it seems highly probable that it has been imparted to them by individuals of European extraction. No reference to such a being is found in their feasts, fasts, or sacrifices. Or if there is such a reference at the present time it is clear that it is of recent origin and does not belong to their system. It is indeed true that the Dakotas do sometimes appeal to the Great Spirit when in council with white men, but it is because they themselves have embraced the Christian doctrines. Still, it is generally the interpreter who makes the appeal to the Great Spirit, when the Indian speaker really appealed to the Taku Wakan, and not to the Wakantanka. It is true that * * * all the Dakota gods * * * are mortal. They are not thought of as being eternal, except it may be by succession.[88] The author agrees with Pond in what he says about the average Indian interpreter of early days, who seldom gave a correct rendering of what was spoken in council. But at the present time great improvement has doubtless been observed. It should be remembered that Messrs. Riggs and Pond were missionaries to the Dakotas, while Messrs. Say, Shea, and Lynd must be classed among the laity. Yet the missionaries, not the laymen, are the ones who make the positive statements about the absence of a belief in one Great Spirit. RIGGS ON THE TAKU WAKAN. § 95. Riggs remarks: The religious faith of the Dakota is not in his gods as such. It is an intangible, mysterious something of which they are only the embodiment, and that in such a measure and degree as may accord with the individual fancy of the worshiper. Each one will worship some of these divinities and neglect and despise others; but the great object of all their worship, whatever its chosen medium, is the TA-KOO WAH-KON, which is the supernatural and mysterious. No one term can express the full meaning of the Dakota’s Wakan. It comprehends all mystery, secret power, and divinity. * * * 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 bowlder by the wayside.[89] MEANING OF “WAKAN.”