He would take a spoonful of sugar, and the same quantity of whiskey, and make an offering to the spirits of their enemies; he would sing to them, and charm them so that they would come up so close to him that he would knock them on the head with his rattle, and kill them.

These spirits approach in the form of a bear.

After this is done, they soon find their enemies and conquer them.
The Dahcotahs think their medicine possesses supernatural powers; they burn incense,--leaves of the white cedar tree,--in order to destroy the supernatural powers of a person who dislikes them.

They consider the burning of incense a preventive of evil, and believe it wards off danger from lightning.

They say that the cedar tree is wahkun (spiritual) and on that account they burn its leaves to ward off danger.