[75] When a Dakota brave wishes to “propose” to a “dusky maid,” he visits her teepee at night after she has retired, or rather, laid down in her robe to sleep.  He lights a splinter of wood and holds it to her face.  If she blows out the light, he is accepted; if she covers her head and leaves it burning he is rejected.  The rejection however is not considered final till it has been thrice repeated.  Even then the maiden is often bought of her parents or guardian, and forced to become the wife of the rejected suitor.  If she accepts the proposal, still the suitor must buy her of her parents with suitable gifts.

[76] The Dakotas called the falls of St. Anthony the Ha-Ha—­the loud laughing, or roaring.  The Mississippi River they called Ha-Ha Wa-kpa River of the Falls.  The Ojibway name for the Falls of St. Anthony is Ka-ka-bik-kung.  Minnehaha is a combination of two Dakota words—­Mini—­water and Ha-Ha, Falls; but it is not the name by which the Dakotas designated that cataract.  Some authorities say they called it I-ha-ha—­pronounced E-rhah-rhah—­lightly laughing.  Rev. S.W.  Pond, whose long residence as a missionary among the Dakotas in this immediate vicinity makes him an authority that can hardly be questioned, says they called the Falls of Minnehaha “Mini-i-hrpa-ya-dan,” and it had no other name in Dakota.  “It means Little Falls and nothing else.”  Letter to the author.

[77] The game of the Plum-stones is one of the favorite games of the Dakotas.  Hennepin was the first to describe this game, in his Description de la Louisiane, Paris, 1683, and he describes it very accurately.  See Shea’s translation p. 301.  The Dakotas call this game Kan-soo Koo-tay-pe—­shooting plum-stones.  Each stone is painted black on one side and red on the other; on one side they grave certain figures which make the stones Wakan.  They are placed in a dish and thrown up like dice.  Indeed, the game is virtually a game of dice.  Hennepin says:  “There are some so given to this game that they will gamble away even their great coat.  Those who conduct the game cry at the top of their voices when they rattle the platter, and they strike their shoulders so hard as to leave them all black with the blows.”

[78] Wa-tanka—­contraction of Wa-kan Tanka—­Great Spirit.  The Dakotas had no Wakan Tanka or Wakan-peta—­fire spirit—­till white men imported them.  There being no name for the Supreme Being in the Dakota tongue (except Taku Skan-skan.—­See note 51)—­and all their gods and spirits being Wakan—­the missionaries named God in Dakota—­“Wakan Tanka”—­which means Big Spirit, or The Big Mysterious.

[79] The Dakotas called Lake Calhoun, at Minneapolis, Minn.—­Mde-mdo-za—­Loon Lake.  They also called it Re-ya-ta-mde—­the lake back from the river.  They called Lake Harriet—­Mde-unma—­the other lake—­or (perhaps) Mde-uma—­Hazel-nut Lake.  The lake nearest Calhoun on the north—­Lake of the Isles—­they called Wi-ta Mde—­Island-Lake.  Lake Minnetonka they called Me-ne-a-tan-ka—­Broad Water.