probation, his dreams would give him an insight into the mysterious conditions of life and nature that appeared to be supernatural, and that he would discover the god, animal or other object to which he was especially linked and which he was to propitiate by sacrifices. It was an essential part of this early endurance of trial and abstinence, that it not only should be performed in secret, but that for the remainder of his life the Indian should hold his faith in silence, and never communicate to others what his dreams had revealed to him. Thus far this early initiation into the mysteries of the unknown world had practically the effect of establishing the mental character, and was a form of training which impressed upon each Indian a separate individuality. Upon the conclusion of the probation of fasting and solitude, the youths had each to pass through trials of their physical endurance, and had to suffer various tortures to prove themselves to be capable of becoming warriors, and to show their manhood by their power of bearing pain with unflinching fortitude. When I was in that part of the continent which for long periods of time had been occupied by the branch of the Dakota race called Sioux, I endeavoured to ascertain the nature and practice of these customs as far as they were known by the existing Indians. In prosecuting these researches into a subject so interesting and exclusive, I was fortunate in meeting with a man so well informed upon all matters connected with these Indians as the half-breed Faribault. He had lived with the Sioux for many years at the time when they had possession of lands bordering upon the banks of the Mississippi, and had been present, on several occasions, when their most serious superstitious ceremonies were performed. Amongst these were the propitiations made to the sun, a form of worship which was more rigidly and earnestly practised by the Dakotas than by any other nation in North America.