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Show 138 BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1700 ment of primitive art. 1 Almost always symbolic, it has been found that these patterns and types of patterns are widely distributed, but that the interpretation differs, and differs sharply; and that while designs are readily adopted from foreign soil, the natives in all cases read a meaning into them. The religious conceptions were based upon a belief in " Wakanda" or " Manitou"- or " mystery," as it is best translated- an all- pervading spiritual entity, differentiated in an indefinite number of individual forms, in the cult of which the various religious and shamanistic ceremonials developed. These ceremonials are particularly elaborate among Siouan tribes, and consisted of dancing and chanting, feasting and fasting, and in tests of physical endurance which sometimes reached degrees of bodily torture, as in the of ten - described " sun-dance," which have called forth ill- advised interference by the government authorities. In the mythology of the group the sun is a prominent element, and in addition there are innumerable tales of mythical monsters, usually with animal or bird characteristics, and the atmosphere of the whole is tinged by the hunting and military habits of the tribes. The most distinctive of the ceremonials of the entire region is the sun- dance just mentioned. It is found under one name or 1 Kroeber," Decorative Symbolism of the Arapaho " { American Anthropologist, N. S., III., 308)- |