The vague feeling after unity is here discernible, but it is like the cry of a child rather than the articulate speech of a man. To the Indian mind the life of the universe has not been analyzed, classified, and a great synthesis formed of the parts. To him the varied forms are equally important and noble. A devout old Indian said: “The tree is like a human being, for it has life and grows; so we pray to it and put our offerings on it that the god may help us.” In the same spirit the apology is offered over a slaughtered animal, for the life of the one is taken to supplement the life of the other, “that it may cause us to live,” one formula expresses it. These manifestations of life, stopping places of the god, can not therefore be accurately called objects of worship or symbols; they appear to be more like media of communication with the permeating occult force which is vaguely and fearfully apprehended. As a consequence, the Indian stands abreast of nature. He does not face it, and hence can not master or coerce it, or view it scientifically and apart from his own mental and emotional life. He appeals to it, but does not worship it.[98] PRAYER. § 100. Every power is prayed to by some of the Dakota and Assiniboin. Among the accessories of prayer the Dakota reckons the following: (_a_) Ceremonial wailing or crying (ćéya, to weep, wail; whence, ćékiya, to cry, to pray, and woćékiye, prayer), sometimes accompanied by articulate speech (§§ 177, 208); (_b_) the action called yuwiⁿtapi (yuwiŋ´tapi) described in § 24; (_c_) holding the pipe with the mouthpiece toward the power invoked, as the Heyoka devotees sometimes do (§§ 223, 224); (_d_) the use of smoke from the pipe or the odor of burning cedar needles (§§ 159, 168); (_e_) the application of the kinship terms, “grandfather” (or its alternative, “venerable man”) to a male power, and “grandmother” to a female one (§§ 99, 107, 239); (_f_) sacrifice, or offering of goods, animals, or pieces of one’s own flesh, etc. (see § 185). SACRIFICE.