HABITAT

HABITATExcepting the Asiniboin, who are chiefly in Canada, nearly all of the Siouan Indians are now gathered on the reservations indicated on earlier pages, most of these reservations lying within the aboriginal territory of the stock.At the advent of white men, the Siouan territory was vaguely defined, and its limits were found to vary somewhat from exploration to exploration. This vagueness and variability of habitat grew out of the characteristics of the tribesmen. Of all the great stocks south of the Arctic, the Siouan was perhaps least given to agriculture, most influenced by hunting, and most addicted to warfare; thus most of the tribes were but feebly attached to the soil, and freely followed the movements of the feral fauna as it shifted with climatic vicissitudes or was driven from place to place by excessive hunting or by fires set to destroy the undergrowth in the interests of the chase; at the same time, the borderward tribes were alternately driven and led back and forth through strife against the tribes of neighboring stocks. Accordingly the Siouan habitat can be outlined only in approximate and somewhat arbitrary fashion.The difficulty in defining the priscan home of the Siouan tribes is increased by its vast extent and scant peopling, by the length of the period intervening between discovery in the east and complete exploration in the west, and by the internal changes and migrations which occurred during this period. The task of collating the records of exploration and pioneer observation concerning the Siouan and other stocks was undertaken by Powell a few years ago, and was found to be of great magnitude. It was at length successfully accomplished, and the respective areas occupied by the several stocks were approximately mapped.51As shown on Powell's map, the chief part of the Siouan area comprised a single body covering most of the region of the Great plains,[pg 187]stretching from the Rocky mountains to the Mississippi and from the Arkansas-Red river divide nearly to the Saskatchewan, with an arm crossing the Mississippi and extending to Lake Michigan. In addition there were a few outlying bodies, the largest and easternmost bordering the Atlantic from Santee river nearly to Capes Lookout and Hatteras, and skirting the Appalachian range northward to the Potomac; the next considerable area lay on the Gulf coast about Pascagoula river and bay, stretching nearly from the Pearl to the Mobile; and there were one or two unimportant areas on Ohio river, which were temporarily occupied by small groups of Siouan Indians during recent times.There is little probability that the Siouan habitat, as thus outlined, ran far into the prehistoric age. As already noted, the Siouan Indians of the plains were undoubtedly descended from the Siouan tribes of the east (indeed the Mandan had a tradition to that effect); and reason has been given for supposing that the ancestors of the prairie hunters followed the straggling buffalo through the cis-Mississippi forests into his normal trans-Mississippi habitat and spread over his domain save as they were held in check by alien huntsmen, chiefly of the warlike Caddoan and Kiowan tribes; and the buffalo itself was a geologically recent—indeed essentially post-glacial—animal. Little if any definite trace of Siouan occupancy has been found in the more ancient prehistoric works of the Mississippi valley. On the whole it appears probable that the prehistoric development of the Siouan stock and habitat was exceptionally rapid, that the Siouan Indians were a vigorous and virile people that arose quickly under the stimulus of strong vitality (the acquisition of which need not here be considered), coupled with exceptionally favorable opportunity, to a power and glory culminating about the time of discovery.ORGANIZATIONThe demotic organization of the Siouan peoples, so far as known, is set forth in considerable detail in Mr Dorsey's treatises52and in the foregoing enumeration of tribes, confederacies, and other linguistic groups.Like the other aborigines north of Mexico, the Siouan Indians were organized on the basis of kinship, and were thus in the stage of tribal society. All of the best-known tribes had reached that plane in organization characterized by descent in the male line, though many vestiges and some relatively unimportant examples of descent in the female line have been discovered. Thus the clan system was obsolescent and the gentile system fairly developed; i. e., the people were practically out of the stage of savagery and well advanced in the stage of barbarism.[pg 188]Confederation for defense and offense was fairly defined and was strengthened by intermarriage between tribes and gentes and the prohibition of marriage within the gens; yet the organization was such as to maintain tribal autonomy in considerable degree; i.e., the social structure was such as to facilitate union in time of war and division into small groups adapted to hunting in times of peace. No indication of feudalism has been found in the stock.The government was autocratic, largely by military leaders sometimes (particularly in peace) advised by the elders and priests; the leadership was determined primarily by ability—prowess in war and the chase and wisdom in the council,—and was thus hereditary only a little further than characteristics were inherited; indeed, excepting slight recognition of the divinity that doth hedge about a king, the leaders were practically self-chosen, arising gradually to the level determined by their abilities. The germ of theocracy was fairly developed, and apparently burgeoned vigorously during each period of peace, only to be checked and withered during the ensuing war when the shamans and their craft were forced into the background.During recent years, since the tribes began to yield to the domination of the peace-loving whites, the government and election are determined chiefly by kinship, as appears from Dorsey's researches; yet definite traces of the militant organization appear, and any man can win name and rank in his gens, tribe, or confederacy by bravery or generosity.The institutional connection between the Siouan tribes of the plains and those of the Atlantic slope and the Gulf coast is completely lost, and it is doubtful whether the several branches have ever been united in a single confederation (or "nation," in the language of the pioneers), at least since the division in the Appalachian region perhaps five or ten centuries ago. Since this division the tribes have separated widely, and some of the bloodiest wars of the region in the historic period have been between Siouan tribes; the most extensive union possessing the slightest claim to federal organization was the great Dakota confederacy, which was grown into instability and partial disruption; and most of the tribal unions and coalitions were of temporary character.Although highly elaborate (perhaps because of this character), the Siouan organization was highly unstable; with every shock of conflict, whether intestine or external, some autocrats were displaced or slain; and after each important event—great battle, epidemic, emigration, or destructive flood—new combinations were formed. The undoubtedly rapid development of the stock, especially after the passage of the Mississippi, indicates growth by conquest and assimilation as well as by direct propagation (it is known that the Dakota and perhaps other groups adopted aliens regularly); and, doubtless for this reason in part, there was a strong tendency toward differentiation and dichotomy in the demotic growth. In some groups the history is too vague to indicate this tendency with certainty; in others the tendency is clear.[pg 189]Perhaps the best example is found in the Cegiha, which divided into two great branches, the stronger of which threw off minor branches in the Osage and Kansa, and afterward separated into the Omaha and Ponka, while the feebler branch also ramified widely; and only less notable is the example of the Winnebago trunk, with its three great branches in the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri. This strong divergent tendency in itself suggests rapid, perhaps abnormally rapid, growth in the stock; for it outran and partially concealed the tendency toward convergence and ultimate coalescence which characterizes demotic phenomena.The half-dozen eastern stocks occupying by far the greater part of North America contrast strongly with the half-hundred local stocks covering the Pacific coast; and none of the strong Atlantic stocks is more characteristic, more sharply contrasted with the limited groups of the western coast, or better understood as regards organization and development, than the great Siouan stock of the northern interior. There is promise that, as the demology of aboriginal America is pushed forward, the records relating to the Siouan Indians and especially to their structure and institutions will aid in explaining why some stocks are limited and others extensive, why large stocks in general characterize the interior and small stocks the coasts, and why the dominant peoples of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were successful in displacing the preexistent and probably more primitive peoples of the Mississippi valley. While the time is not yet ripe for making final answer to these inquiries, it is not premature to suggest a relation between a peculiar development of the aboriginal stocks and a peculiar geographic conformation: In general the coastward stocks are small, indicating a provincial shoreland habit, yet their population and area commonly increase toward those shores indented by deep bays, along which maritime and inland industries naturally blend; so (confining attention to eastern United States) the extensive Muskhogean stock stretches inland from the deep-bayed eastern Gulf coast; and so, too, three of the largest stocks on the continent (Algonquian, Iroquoian, Siouan) stretch far into the interior from the still more deeply indented Atlantic coast. In two of these cases (Iroquoian and Siouan) history and tradition indicate expansion and migration from the land of bays between Cape Lookout and Cape May, while in the third there are similar (though perhaps less definite) indications of an inland drift from the northern Atlantic bays and along the Laurentian river and lakes.HISTORY53DAKOTA-ASINIBOINThe Dakota are mentioned in the Jesuit Relations as early as 1639-40; the tradition is noted that the Ojibwa, on arriving at the Great Lakes in an early migration from the Atlantic coast, encountered representatives[pg 190]of the great confederacy of the plains. In 1641 the French voyageurs met the Potawatomi Indians flying from a nation called Nadawessi (enemies); and the Frenchmen adopted the alien name for the warlike prairie tribes. By 1658 the Jesuits had learned of the existence of thirty Dakota villages west-northwest from the Potawatomi mission St Michel; and in 1689 they recorded the presence of tribes apparently representing the Dakota confederacy on the upper Mississippi, near the mouth of the St Croix. According to Croghan's History of Western Pennsylvania, the "Sue" Indians occupied the country southwest of Lake Superior about 1759; and Dr T.S. Williamson, "the father of the Dakota mission," states that the Dakota must have resided about the confluence of the Mississippi and the Minnesota or St Peters for at least two hundred years prior to 1860.According to traditions collected by Dorsey, the Teton took possession of the Black Hills region, which had previously been occupied by the Crow Indians, long before white men came; and the Yankton and Yanktonnai, which were found on the Missouri by Lewis and Clark, were not long removed from the region about Minnesota river. In 1862 the Santee and other Dakota tribes united in a formidable outbreak in which more than 1,000 whites were massacred or slain in battle. Through this outbreak and the consequent governmental action toward the control and settlement of the tribes, much was learned concerning the characteristics of the people, and various Indian leaders became known; Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, American Horse, and Even-his-horse-is-feared (commonly miscalled Man-afraid-of-his-horses) were among the famous Dakota chiefs and warriors, notable representatives of a passing race, whose names are prominent in the history of the country. Other outbreaks occurred, the last of note resulting from the ghost-dance fantasy in 1890-91, which fortunately was quickly suppressed. Yet, with slight interruptions, the Dakota tribes in the United States were steadily gathered on reservations. Some 800 or more still roam the prairies north of the international boundary, but the great body of the confederacy, numbering nearly 28,000, are domiciled on reservations (already noted) in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.The separation of the Asiniboin from the Wazi-kute gens of the Yanktonai apparently occurred before the middle of the seventeenth century, since the Jesuit relation of 1658 distinguishes between the Poualak or Guerriers (undoubtedly the Dakota proper) and the Assiuipoualak or Guerriers de pierre. The Asiniboin are undoubtedly the Essanape (Essanapi or Assinapi) who were next to the Makatapi (Dakota) in the Walam-Olum record of the Lenni-Lenape or Delaware. In 1680 Hennepin located the Asiniboin northeast of the Issati (Isanyati or Santee) who were on Knife lake (Minnesota); and the Jesuit map of 1681 placed them on Lake-of-the-Woods, then called "L. Assinepoualacs." La Hontan claimed to have visited the Eokoro (Arikara)[pg 191]in 1689-90, when the Essanape were sixty leagues above; and Perrot's Mémoire refers to the Asiniboin as a Sioux tribe which, in the seventeenth century, seceded from their nation and took refuge among the rocks of Lake-of-the-Woods. Chauvignerie located some of the tribe south of Ounipigan (Winnipeg) lake in 1736, and they were near Lake-of-the-Woods as late as 1766, when they were said to have 1,500 warriors. It is well known that in 1829 they occupied a considerable territory west of the Dakota and north of Missouri river, with a population estimated at 8,000; and Drake estimated their number at 10,000 before the smallpox epidemic of 1838, which is said to have carried off 4,000. From this blow the tribe seems never to have fully recovered, and now numbers probably no more than 3,000, mostly in Canada, where they continue to roam the plains they have occupied for half a century.¢EGIHAAccording to tribal traditions collected by Dorsey, the ancestors of the Omaha, Ponka, Elwapa, Osage, and Kansa were originally one people dwelling on Ohio and Wabash rivers, but gradually working westward. The first separation took place at the mouth of the Ohio, when those who went down the Mississippi became the Kwapa or Downstream People, while those who ascended the great river became the Omaha or Up-stream People. This separation must have occurred at least as early as 1500, since it preceded De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi.The Omaha group (from whom the Osage, Kansa, and Ponka were not yet separated) ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, where they remained for some time, though war and hunting parties explored the country northwestward, and the body of the tribe gradually followed these pioneers, though the Osage and Kansa were successively left behind. Some of the pioneer parties discovered the pipestone quarry, and many traditions cling about this landmark. Subsequently they were driven across the Big Sioux by the Yankton Indians, who then lived toward the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi. The group gradually differentiated and finally divided through the separation of the Ponka, probably about the middle of the seventeenth century. The Omaha gathered south of the Missouri, between the mouths of the Platte and Niobrara, while the Ponka pushed into the Black Hills country.The Omaha tribe remained within the great bend of the Missouri, opposite the mouth of the Big Sioux, until white men came. Their hunting ground extended westward and southwestward, chiefly north of the Platte and along the Elkhorn, to the territory of the Ponka and the Pawnee (Caddoan); and in 1766 Carver met their hunting parties on Minnesota river. Toward the end of the eighteenth century they were nearly destroyed by smallpox, their number having been reduced from about 3,500 to but little over 300 when they were visited by Lewis[pg 192]and Clark, their famous chief Blackbird being one of those carried off by the epidemic. Subsequently they increased in numbers; in 1890 their population was about 1,200. They are now on reservations, mostly owning land in severalty, and are citizens of the United States and of the state of Nebraska.Although the name Ponka did not appear in history before 1700 it must have been used for many generations earlier, since it is an archaic designation connected with the social organization of several tribes and the secret societies of the Osage and Kansa, as well as the Ponka. In 1700 the Ponka were indicated on De l'Isle's map, though they were not then segregated territorially from the Omaha. They, too, suffered terribly from the smallpox epidemic, and when met by Lewis and Clark in 1804 numbered only about 200. They increased rapidly, reaching about 600 in 1829 and some 800 in 1842; in 1871, when they were first visited by Dorsey, they numbered 747. Up to this time the Ponka and Dakota were amicable; but a dispute grew out of the cession of lands, and the Teton made annual raids on the Ponka until the enforced removal of the tribe to Indian Territory took place in 1877. Through this warfare, more than a quarter of the Ponka lost their lives. The displacement of this tribe from lands owned by them in fee simple attracted attention, and a commission was appointed by President Hayes in 1880 to inquire into the matter; the commission, consisting of Generals Crook and Miles and Messrs William Stickney and Walter Allen, visited the Ponka settlements in Indian Territory and on the Niobrara and effected a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of the tribe, through which the greater portion (some 600) remained in Indian Territory, while some 225 kept their reservation in Nebraska.When the ¢egiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors of the Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the Mississippi to the mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated from the group, ascending the river which bears their name. They were distinguished by Marquette in 1673 as the "Ouchage" and "Autrechaha," and by Penicaut in 1719 as the "Huzzau," "Ous," and "Wawha." According to Croghan, they were, in 1759, on "White creek, a branch of the Mississippi," with the "Grand Tuc;" but"White creek" (or White water) was an old designation for Osage river, and "Grand Tuc" is, according to Mooney, a corruption of "Grandes Eaux," or Great Osage; and there is accordingly no sufficient reason for supposing that they returned to the Mississippi. Toward the close of the eighteenth century the Osage and Kansa encountered the Comanche and perhaps other Shoshonean peoples, and their course was turned southward; and in 1817, according to Brown, the Great Osage and Little Osage were chiefly on Osage and Arkansas rivers, in four villages. In 1829 Porter described their country as beginning 25 miles west of the Missouri line and running to the Mexican line of that date, being 50 miles wide; and he gave their number as 5,000. According to[pg 193]Schoolcraft, they numbered 3,758 in April, 1853, but this was after the removal of an important branch known as Black Dog's band to a new locality farther down Verdigris river. In 1850 the Osage occupied at least seven large villages, besides numerous small ones, on Neosho and Verdigris rivers. In 1873, when visited by Dorsey, they were gathered on their reservations in what is now Oklahoma. In 1890 they numbered 158.The Kansa remained with the Up-stream People in their gradual ascent of the Missouri to the mouth of the Kaw or Kansas, when they diverged westward; but they soon came in contact with inimical peoples, and, like the Osage, were driven southward. The date of this divergence is not fixed, but it must have been after 1723, when Bourgmont mentioned a large village of "Quans" located on a small river flowing northward thirty leagues above Kaw river, near the Missouri. After the cession of Louisiana to the United States, a treaty was made with the Kansa Indians, who were then on Kaw river, at the mouth of the Saline, having been forced back from the Missouri by the Dakota; they then numbered about 1,500 and occupied about thirty earth lodges. In 1825 they ceded their lands on the Missouri to the Government, retaining a reservation on the Kaw, where they were constantly subjected to attacks from the Pawnee and other tribes, through which large numbers of their warriors were slain. In 1846 they again ceded their lands and received a new reservation on Neosho river in Kansas. This was soon overrun by settlers, when another reservation was assigned to them in Indian Territory, near the Osage country. By 1890 their population was reduced to 214.The Kwapa were found by De Soto in 1541 on the Mississippi above the mouth of the St Francis, and, according to Marquette's map, they were partly east of the Mississippi in 1673. In 1681 La Salle found them in three villages distributed along the Mississippi, and soon afterward Tonty mentioned four villages, one (Kappa = Uʞaqpaqti, "Real Kwapa") on the Mississippi and three (Toyengan = Tanwan-jiʞa, "Small Village"; Toriman = Ti-uad¢iman, and Osotonoy = Uzutiuwe) inland; this observation was verified by Dorsey in 1883 by the discovery that these names are still in use. In early days the Kwapa were known as "Akansa," or Arkansa, first noted by La Metairie in 1682. It is probable that this name was an Algonquian designation given because of confusion with, or recognition of affinity to, the Kansa or Kanze, the prefix "a" being a common one in Algouquian appellations. In 1687 Joutel located two of the villages of the tribe on the Arkansas and two on the Mississippi, one of the latter being on the eastern side. According to St Cosme, the greater part of the tribe died of smallpox in October, 1699. In 1700 De l'Isle placed the principal "Acansa" village on the southern side of Arkansas river; and, according to Gravier, there were in 1701 five villages, the largest, Imaha (Omaha), being highest on the Arkansas. In 1805 Sibley placed the "Arkensa"[pg 194]in three villages on the southern side of Arkansas river, about 12 miles above Arkansas post. They claimed to be the original proprietors of the country bordering the Arkansas for 300 miles, or up to the confluence of the Cadwa, above which lay the territory of the Osage. Subsequently the Kwapa affiliated with the Caddo Indians, though of another stock; according to Porter they were in the Caddo country in 1829. As reservations were established, the Kwapa were re-segregated, and in 1877 were on their reservation in northwestern Indian Territory; but most of them afterward scattered, chiefly to the Osage country, where in 1890 they were found to number 232.ʇƆIWE'REThe ancestry and prehistoric movements of the tribes constituting this group are involved in considerable obscurity, though it is known from tradition as well as linguistic affinity that they sprung from the Winnebago.Since the days of Marquette (1673) the Iowa have ranged over the country between the Mississippi and Missouri, up to the latitude of Oneota (formerly upper Iowa) river,- and even across the Missouri about the mouth of the Platte. Chauvignerie located them, in 1736 west of the Mississippi and (probably through error in identification of the waterway) south of the Missouri; and in 1761 Jefferys placed them between Missouri river and the headwaters of Des Moines river, above the Oto and below the Maha (Omaha). In 1805, according to Drake, they dwelt on Des Moines river, forty leagues above its mouth, and numbered 800. In 1811 Pike found them in two villages on Des Moines and Iowa rivers. In 1815 they were decimated by smallpox, and also lost heavily through war against the tribes of the Dakota confederacy. In 1829 Porter placed them on the Little Platte, some 15 miles from the Missouri line, and about 1853 Schoolcraft located them on Nemaha river, their principal village being near the mouth of the Great Nemaha. In 1848 they suffered another epidemic of smallpox, by which 100 warriors, besides women and children, were carried off. As the country settled, the Iowa, like the other Indians of the stock, were collected on reservations which they still occupy in Kansas and Oklahoma. According to the last census their population was 273.The Missouri were first seen by Tonty about 1670; they were located near the Mississippi on Marquette's map (1673) under the name of Ouemessourit, probably a corruption of their name by the Illinois tribe, with the characteristic Algonquian prefix. The name Missouri was first used by Joutel in 1687. In 1723 Bourgmont located their principal village 30 leagues below Kaw river and 60 leagues below the chief settlement of the Kansa; according to Groghan, they were located on Mississippi river opposite the Illinois country in 1759. Although the early locations are somewhat indefinite, it seems certain that the tribe formerly dwelt on the Mississippi about the mouth of[pg 195]the Missouri, and that they gradually ascended the latter stream, remaining for a time between Grand and Chariton rivers and establishing a town on the left bank of the Missouri near the mouth of the Grand. There they were found by French traders, who built a fort on an island quite near their village about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Soon afterward they were conquered and dispersed by a combination of Sac, Fox, and other Indians; they also suffered from smallpox. On the division, five or six lodges joined the Osage, two or three took refuge with the Kansa, and most of the remainder amalgamated with the Oto. In 1805 Lewis and Clark found a part of the tribe, numbering about 300, south of Platte river. The only known survivors in 1829 were with the Oto, when they numbered no more than 80. In 1842 their village stood on the southern bank of Platte river near the Oto settlement, and they followed the latter tribe to Indian Territory in 1882.According to Winnebago tradition, the ʇɔiwe're tribes separated from that "People of the parent speech" long ago, the Iowa being the first and the Oto the last to leave. In 1673 the Oto were located by Marquette west of Missouri river, between the fortieth and fortyfirst parallels; in 1680 they were 130 leagues from the Illinois, almost opposite the mouth of the Miskoncing (Wisconsin), and in 1687 they were on Osage river. According to La Hontan they were, in 1690, on Otontas (Osage) river; and in 1698 Hennepin placed them ten days' journey from Fort Crève Cœur. Iberville, in 1700, located the Iowa and Oto with the Omaha, between Wisconsin and Missouri rivers, about 100 leagues from the Illinois tribe; and Charlevoix, in 1721, fixed the Oto habitat as below that of the Iowa and above that of the Kansa on the western side of the Missouri. Dupratz mentions the Oto as a small nation on Missouri river in 1758, and Jefferys (1761) described them as occupying the southern bank of the Panis (Platte) between its mouth and the Pawnee territory; according to Porter, they occupied the same position in 1829. The Oto claimed the land bordering the Platte from their village to the mouth of the river, and also that on both sides of the Missouri as far as the Big Nemaha. In 1833 Catlin found the Oto and Missouri together in the Pawnee country; about 1841 they were gathered in four villages on the southern side of the Platte, from 5 to 18 miles above its mouth. In 1880 a part of the tribe removed to the Sac and Fox reservation in Indian Territory, where they still remain; in 1882 the rest of the tribe, with the remnant of the Missouri, emigrated to the Pouka, Pawnee, and Oto reservation in the present Oklahoma, where, in 1890 they were found to number 400.WINNEBAGOLinguistically the Winnebago Indians are closely related to the ʇɔiwe're on the one side and to the Mandan on the other. They were first mentioned in the Jesuit Relation of 1636, though the earliest[pg 196]known use of the name Winnebago occurs in the Relation of 1640; Nicollet found them on Green bay in 1639. According to Shea, the Winnebago were almost annihilated by the Illinois (Algonquian) tribe in early days, and the historical group was made up of the survivors of the early battles. Cbauvignerie placed the Winnebago on Lake Superior in 1736, and Jefferys referred to them and the Sac as living near the head of Green bay in 1761; Carver mentions a Winnebago village on a small island near the eastern end of Winnebago lake in 1778. Pike enumerated seven Winnebago villages existing in 1811; and in 1822 the population of the tribe was estimated at 5,800 (including 900 warriors) in the country about Winnebago lake and extending thence southwestward to the Mississippi. By treaties in 1825 and 1832 they ceded their lands south of Wisconsin and Fox rivers for a reservation on the Mississippi above the Oneota; one of their villages in 1832 was at Prairie la Grosse. They suffered several visitations of smallpox; the third, which occurred in 1836, carried off more than a quarter of the tribe. A part of the people long remained widely distributed over their old country east of the Mississippi and along that river in Iowa and Minnesota; in 1840 most of the tribe removed to the neutral ground in the then territory of Iowa; in 1846 they surrendered their reservation for another above the Minnesota, and in 1856 they were removed to Blue Earth, Minnesota. Here they were mastering agriculture, when the Sioux war broke out and the settlers demanded their removal. Those who had taken up farms, thereby abandoning tribal rights, were allowed to remain, but the others were transferred to Crow creek, on Missouri river, whence they soon escaped. Their privations and sufferings were terrible; out of 2,000 taken to Crow creek only 1,200 reached the Omaha reservation, whither most of them fled. They were assigned a new reservation on the Omaha lands, where they now remain, occupying lands allotted in severalty. In 1890 there were 1,215 Winnebago on the reservation, but nearly an equal number were scattered over Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where they now live chiefly by agriculture, with a strong predilection for hunting.MANDANThe Mandan had a vague tradition of emigration from the eastern part of the country, and Lewis and Clark, Prince Maximilian, and others found traces of Mandan house-structures at various points along the Missouri; thus they appear to have ascended that stream before the advent of the ¢egiha. During the historical period their movements were limited; they were first visited in the upper Missouri country by Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. About 1750 they established two villages on the eastern side and seven on the western side of the Missouri, near the mouth of Heart river. Here they were assailed by the Asiniboin and Dakota and attacked by smallpox, and were greatly reduced; the two eastern villages consolidated, and the people[pg 197]migrated up the Missouri to a point 1,430 miles above its mouth (as subsequently determined by Lewis and Clark); the seven villages were soon reduced to five, and these people also ascended the river and formed two villages in the Arikara country, near the Mandan of the eastern side, where they remained until about 1766, when they also consolidated. Thus the once powerful and populous tribe was reduced to two villages which, in 1804, were found by Lewis and Clark on opposite banks of the Missouri, about 4 miles below Knife river. Here for a time the tribe waxed and promised to regain the early prestige, reaching a population of 1,600 in 1837; but in that year they were again attacked by smallpox and almost annihilated, the survivors numbering only 31 according to one account, or 125 to 145 according to others. After this visitation they united in one village. When the Hidatsa removed from Knife river in 1845, some of the Mandan accompanied them, and others followed at intervals as late as 1858, when only a few still remained at their old home. In 1872 a reservation was set apart for the Hidatsa and Arikara and the survivors of the Mandan on Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Dakota and Montana, but in 1886 the reservation was reduced. According to the census returns, the Mandan numbered 252 in 1890.HIDATSAThere has been much confusion concerning the definition and designation of the Hidatsa Indians. They were formerly known as Minitari or Gros Ventres of the Missouri, in distinction from the Gros Ventres of the plains, who belong to another stock. The origin of the term Gros Ventres is somewhat obscure, and various observers have pointed out its inapplicability, especially to the well-formed Hidatsa tribesmen. According to Dorsey, the French pioneers probably translated a native term referring to a traditional buffalo paunch, which occupies a prominent place in the Hidatsa mythology and which, in early times, led to a dispute and the separation of the Crow from the main group some time in the eighteenth century.The earlier legends of the Hidatsa are vague, but there is a definite tradition of a migration northward, about 1765, from the neighborhood of Heart river, where they were associated with the Mandan, to Knife river. At least as early as 1796, according to Matthews, there were three villages belonging to this tribe on Knife river—one at the mouth, another half a mile above, and the third and largest 3 miles from the mouth. Here the people were found by Lewis and Clark in 1804, and here they remained until 1837, when the scourge of smallpox fell and many of the people perished, the survivors uniting in a single village. About 1845 the Hidatsa and a part of the Mandan again migrated up the Missouri, and established a village 30 miles by land and 60 miles by water above their old home, within what is now Fort Berthold reservation. Their population has apparently varied greatly, partly by[pg 198]reason of the ill definition of the tribe by different enumerators, partly by reason of the inroads of smallpox. In 1890 they numbered 522.The Crow people are known by the Hidatsa as Kihatsa (They-refused-the-paunch), according to Matthews; and Dorsey points out that their own name, Absaruke, does not mean " crow," but refers to a variety of hawk. Lewis and Clark found the tribe in four bands. In 1817 Brown located them on Yellowstone river. In 1829 they were described by Porter as ranging along Yellowstone river on the eastern side of the Bocky mountains, and numbered at 4,000; while in 1834, according to Drake, they occupied the southern branch of the Yellowstone, about the fortysixth parallel and one hundred and fifth meridian, with a population of 4,500. In 1842 their number was estimated at 4,000, and they were described as inhabiting the headwaters of the Yellowstone. They have since been duly gathered on the Crow reservation in Montana, and are slowly adopting civilization. In 1890 they numbered 2,287.THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN TRIBESThe history of the Monakan, Oatawba, Sara, Pedee, and Santee, and incidentally that of the Biloxi, has been carefully reviewed in a recent publication by Mooney54, and does not require repetition.GENERAL MOVEMENTSOn reviewing the records of explorers and pioneers and the few traditions which have been preserved, the course of Siouan migration and development becomes clear. In general the movements were westward and northwestward. The Dakota tribes have not been traced far, though several of them, like the Yanktonnai, migrated hundreds of miles from the period of first observation to the end of the eighteenth century; then came the Mandan, according to their tradition, and as they ascended the Missouri left traces of their occupancy scattered over 1,000 miles of migration; next the ¢egiha descended the Ohio and passed from the cis-Mississippi forests over the trans-Mississippi plains—the stronger branch following the Mandan, while the lesser at first descended the great river and then worked up the Arkansas into the buffalo country until checked and diverted by antagonistic tribes. So also the ʇɔiwe're, first recorded near the Mississippi, pushed 300 miles westward; while the Winnebago gradually emigrated from the region of the Great Lakes into the trans-Mississippi country even before their movements were affected by contact with white men. In like manner the Hidatsa are known to have flowed northwestward many scores of miles; and the Asiniboin swept more rapidly across the plains from the place of their rebellion against the Yanktonnai, on the Mississippi, before they found final resting place on the Saskatchewan[pg 199]plains 500 or 800 miles away. All of the movements were consistent and, despite intertribal friction and strife, measurably harmonious. The lines of movement, so far as they can be restored, are in full accord with the lines of linguistic evolution traced by Hale and Dorsey and Gatschet, and indicate that some five hundred or possibly one thousand years ago the tribesmen pushed over the Appalachians to the Ohio and followed that stream and its tributaries to the Mississippi (though there are faint indications that some of the early emigrants ascended the northern tributaries to the region of the Great Lakes); and that the human flood gained volume as it advanced and expanded to cover the entire region of the plains. The records concerning the movement of this great human stream find support in the manifest reason for the movement; the reason was the food quest by which all primitive men are led, and its end was the abundant fauna of the prairieland, with the buffalo at its head.While the early population of the Siouan stock, when first the huntsmen crossed the Appalachians, may not be known, the lines of migration indicate that the people increased and multiplied amain during their long journey, and that their numbers culminated, despite external conflict and internal strife, about the beginning of written history, when the Siouan population may have been 100,000 or more. Then came war against the whites and the still more deadly smallpox, whereby the vigorous stock was checked and crippled and the population gradually reduced; but since the first shock, which occurred at different dates in different parts of the great region, the Siouan people have fairly held their own, and some branches are perhaps gaining in strength.

HABITATExcepting the Asiniboin, who are chiefly in Canada, nearly all of the Siouan Indians are now gathered on the reservations indicated on earlier pages, most of these reservations lying within the aboriginal territory of the stock.At the advent of white men, the Siouan territory was vaguely defined, and its limits were found to vary somewhat from exploration to exploration. This vagueness and variability of habitat grew out of the characteristics of the tribesmen. Of all the great stocks south of the Arctic, the Siouan was perhaps least given to agriculture, most influenced by hunting, and most addicted to warfare; thus most of the tribes were but feebly attached to the soil, and freely followed the movements of the feral fauna as it shifted with climatic vicissitudes or was driven from place to place by excessive hunting or by fires set to destroy the undergrowth in the interests of the chase; at the same time, the borderward tribes were alternately driven and led back and forth through strife against the tribes of neighboring stocks. Accordingly the Siouan habitat can be outlined only in approximate and somewhat arbitrary fashion.The difficulty in defining the priscan home of the Siouan tribes is increased by its vast extent and scant peopling, by the length of the period intervening between discovery in the east and complete exploration in the west, and by the internal changes and migrations which occurred during this period. The task of collating the records of exploration and pioneer observation concerning the Siouan and other stocks was undertaken by Powell a few years ago, and was found to be of great magnitude. It was at length successfully accomplished, and the respective areas occupied by the several stocks were approximately mapped.51As shown on Powell's map, the chief part of the Siouan area comprised a single body covering most of the region of the Great plains,[pg 187]stretching from the Rocky mountains to the Mississippi and from the Arkansas-Red river divide nearly to the Saskatchewan, with an arm crossing the Mississippi and extending to Lake Michigan. In addition there were a few outlying bodies, the largest and easternmost bordering the Atlantic from Santee river nearly to Capes Lookout and Hatteras, and skirting the Appalachian range northward to the Potomac; the next considerable area lay on the Gulf coast about Pascagoula river and bay, stretching nearly from the Pearl to the Mobile; and there were one or two unimportant areas on Ohio river, which were temporarily occupied by small groups of Siouan Indians during recent times.There is little probability that the Siouan habitat, as thus outlined, ran far into the prehistoric age. As already noted, the Siouan Indians of the plains were undoubtedly descended from the Siouan tribes of the east (indeed the Mandan had a tradition to that effect); and reason has been given for supposing that the ancestors of the prairie hunters followed the straggling buffalo through the cis-Mississippi forests into his normal trans-Mississippi habitat and spread over his domain save as they were held in check by alien huntsmen, chiefly of the warlike Caddoan and Kiowan tribes; and the buffalo itself was a geologically recent—indeed essentially post-glacial—animal. Little if any definite trace of Siouan occupancy has been found in the more ancient prehistoric works of the Mississippi valley. On the whole it appears probable that the prehistoric development of the Siouan stock and habitat was exceptionally rapid, that the Siouan Indians were a vigorous and virile people that arose quickly under the stimulus of strong vitality (the acquisition of which need not here be considered), coupled with exceptionally favorable opportunity, to a power and glory culminating about the time of discovery.ORGANIZATIONThe demotic organization of the Siouan peoples, so far as known, is set forth in considerable detail in Mr Dorsey's treatises52and in the foregoing enumeration of tribes, confederacies, and other linguistic groups.Like the other aborigines north of Mexico, the Siouan Indians were organized on the basis of kinship, and were thus in the stage of tribal society. All of the best-known tribes had reached that plane in organization characterized by descent in the male line, though many vestiges and some relatively unimportant examples of descent in the female line have been discovered. Thus the clan system was obsolescent and the gentile system fairly developed; i. e., the people were practically out of the stage of savagery and well advanced in the stage of barbarism.[pg 188]Confederation for defense and offense was fairly defined and was strengthened by intermarriage between tribes and gentes and the prohibition of marriage within the gens; yet the organization was such as to maintain tribal autonomy in considerable degree; i.e., the social structure was such as to facilitate union in time of war and division into small groups adapted to hunting in times of peace. No indication of feudalism has been found in the stock.The government was autocratic, largely by military leaders sometimes (particularly in peace) advised by the elders and priests; the leadership was determined primarily by ability—prowess in war and the chase and wisdom in the council,—and was thus hereditary only a little further than characteristics were inherited; indeed, excepting slight recognition of the divinity that doth hedge about a king, the leaders were practically self-chosen, arising gradually to the level determined by their abilities. The germ of theocracy was fairly developed, and apparently burgeoned vigorously during each period of peace, only to be checked and withered during the ensuing war when the shamans and their craft were forced into the background.During recent years, since the tribes began to yield to the domination of the peace-loving whites, the government and election are determined chiefly by kinship, as appears from Dorsey's researches; yet definite traces of the militant organization appear, and any man can win name and rank in his gens, tribe, or confederacy by bravery or generosity.The institutional connection between the Siouan tribes of the plains and those of the Atlantic slope and the Gulf coast is completely lost, and it is doubtful whether the several branches have ever been united in a single confederation (or "nation," in the language of the pioneers), at least since the division in the Appalachian region perhaps five or ten centuries ago. Since this division the tribes have separated widely, and some of the bloodiest wars of the region in the historic period have been between Siouan tribes; the most extensive union possessing the slightest claim to federal organization was the great Dakota confederacy, which was grown into instability and partial disruption; and most of the tribal unions and coalitions were of temporary character.Although highly elaborate (perhaps because of this character), the Siouan organization was highly unstable; with every shock of conflict, whether intestine or external, some autocrats were displaced or slain; and after each important event—great battle, epidemic, emigration, or destructive flood—new combinations were formed. The undoubtedly rapid development of the stock, especially after the passage of the Mississippi, indicates growth by conquest and assimilation as well as by direct propagation (it is known that the Dakota and perhaps other groups adopted aliens regularly); and, doubtless for this reason in part, there was a strong tendency toward differentiation and dichotomy in the demotic growth. In some groups the history is too vague to indicate this tendency with certainty; in others the tendency is clear.[pg 189]Perhaps the best example is found in the Cegiha, which divided into two great branches, the stronger of which threw off minor branches in the Osage and Kansa, and afterward separated into the Omaha and Ponka, while the feebler branch also ramified widely; and only less notable is the example of the Winnebago trunk, with its three great branches in the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri. This strong divergent tendency in itself suggests rapid, perhaps abnormally rapid, growth in the stock; for it outran and partially concealed the tendency toward convergence and ultimate coalescence which characterizes demotic phenomena.The half-dozen eastern stocks occupying by far the greater part of North America contrast strongly with the half-hundred local stocks covering the Pacific coast; and none of the strong Atlantic stocks is more characteristic, more sharply contrasted with the limited groups of the western coast, or better understood as regards organization and development, than the great Siouan stock of the northern interior. There is promise that, as the demology of aboriginal America is pushed forward, the records relating to the Siouan Indians and especially to their structure and institutions will aid in explaining why some stocks are limited and others extensive, why large stocks in general characterize the interior and small stocks the coasts, and why the dominant peoples of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were successful in displacing the preexistent and probably more primitive peoples of the Mississippi valley. While the time is not yet ripe for making final answer to these inquiries, it is not premature to suggest a relation between a peculiar development of the aboriginal stocks and a peculiar geographic conformation: In general the coastward stocks are small, indicating a provincial shoreland habit, yet their population and area commonly increase toward those shores indented by deep bays, along which maritime and inland industries naturally blend; so (confining attention to eastern United States) the extensive Muskhogean stock stretches inland from the deep-bayed eastern Gulf coast; and so, too, three of the largest stocks on the continent (Algonquian, Iroquoian, Siouan) stretch far into the interior from the still more deeply indented Atlantic coast. In two of these cases (Iroquoian and Siouan) history and tradition indicate expansion and migration from the land of bays between Cape Lookout and Cape May, while in the third there are similar (though perhaps less definite) indications of an inland drift from the northern Atlantic bays and along the Laurentian river and lakes.HISTORY53DAKOTA-ASINIBOINThe Dakota are mentioned in the Jesuit Relations as early as 1639-40; the tradition is noted that the Ojibwa, on arriving at the Great Lakes in an early migration from the Atlantic coast, encountered representatives[pg 190]of the great confederacy of the plains. In 1641 the French voyageurs met the Potawatomi Indians flying from a nation called Nadawessi (enemies); and the Frenchmen adopted the alien name for the warlike prairie tribes. By 1658 the Jesuits had learned of the existence of thirty Dakota villages west-northwest from the Potawatomi mission St Michel; and in 1689 they recorded the presence of tribes apparently representing the Dakota confederacy on the upper Mississippi, near the mouth of the St Croix. According to Croghan's History of Western Pennsylvania, the "Sue" Indians occupied the country southwest of Lake Superior about 1759; and Dr T.S. Williamson, "the father of the Dakota mission," states that the Dakota must have resided about the confluence of the Mississippi and the Minnesota or St Peters for at least two hundred years prior to 1860.According to traditions collected by Dorsey, the Teton took possession of the Black Hills region, which had previously been occupied by the Crow Indians, long before white men came; and the Yankton and Yanktonnai, which were found on the Missouri by Lewis and Clark, were not long removed from the region about Minnesota river. In 1862 the Santee and other Dakota tribes united in a formidable outbreak in which more than 1,000 whites were massacred or slain in battle. Through this outbreak and the consequent governmental action toward the control and settlement of the tribes, much was learned concerning the characteristics of the people, and various Indian leaders became known; Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, American Horse, and Even-his-horse-is-feared (commonly miscalled Man-afraid-of-his-horses) were among the famous Dakota chiefs and warriors, notable representatives of a passing race, whose names are prominent in the history of the country. Other outbreaks occurred, the last of note resulting from the ghost-dance fantasy in 1890-91, which fortunately was quickly suppressed. Yet, with slight interruptions, the Dakota tribes in the United States were steadily gathered on reservations. Some 800 or more still roam the prairies north of the international boundary, but the great body of the confederacy, numbering nearly 28,000, are domiciled on reservations (already noted) in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.The separation of the Asiniboin from the Wazi-kute gens of the Yanktonai apparently occurred before the middle of the seventeenth century, since the Jesuit relation of 1658 distinguishes between the Poualak or Guerriers (undoubtedly the Dakota proper) and the Assiuipoualak or Guerriers de pierre. The Asiniboin are undoubtedly the Essanape (Essanapi or Assinapi) who were next to the Makatapi (Dakota) in the Walam-Olum record of the Lenni-Lenape or Delaware. In 1680 Hennepin located the Asiniboin northeast of the Issati (Isanyati or Santee) who were on Knife lake (Minnesota); and the Jesuit map of 1681 placed them on Lake-of-the-Woods, then called "L. Assinepoualacs." La Hontan claimed to have visited the Eokoro (Arikara)[pg 191]in 1689-90, when the Essanape were sixty leagues above; and Perrot's Mémoire refers to the Asiniboin as a Sioux tribe which, in the seventeenth century, seceded from their nation and took refuge among the rocks of Lake-of-the-Woods. Chauvignerie located some of the tribe south of Ounipigan (Winnipeg) lake in 1736, and they were near Lake-of-the-Woods as late as 1766, when they were said to have 1,500 warriors. It is well known that in 1829 they occupied a considerable territory west of the Dakota and north of Missouri river, with a population estimated at 8,000; and Drake estimated their number at 10,000 before the smallpox epidemic of 1838, which is said to have carried off 4,000. From this blow the tribe seems never to have fully recovered, and now numbers probably no more than 3,000, mostly in Canada, where they continue to roam the plains they have occupied for half a century.¢EGIHAAccording to tribal traditions collected by Dorsey, the ancestors of the Omaha, Ponka, Elwapa, Osage, and Kansa were originally one people dwelling on Ohio and Wabash rivers, but gradually working westward. The first separation took place at the mouth of the Ohio, when those who went down the Mississippi became the Kwapa or Downstream People, while those who ascended the great river became the Omaha or Up-stream People. This separation must have occurred at least as early as 1500, since it preceded De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi.The Omaha group (from whom the Osage, Kansa, and Ponka were not yet separated) ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, where they remained for some time, though war and hunting parties explored the country northwestward, and the body of the tribe gradually followed these pioneers, though the Osage and Kansa were successively left behind. Some of the pioneer parties discovered the pipestone quarry, and many traditions cling about this landmark. Subsequently they were driven across the Big Sioux by the Yankton Indians, who then lived toward the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi. The group gradually differentiated and finally divided through the separation of the Ponka, probably about the middle of the seventeenth century. The Omaha gathered south of the Missouri, between the mouths of the Platte and Niobrara, while the Ponka pushed into the Black Hills country.The Omaha tribe remained within the great bend of the Missouri, opposite the mouth of the Big Sioux, until white men came. Their hunting ground extended westward and southwestward, chiefly north of the Platte and along the Elkhorn, to the territory of the Ponka and the Pawnee (Caddoan); and in 1766 Carver met their hunting parties on Minnesota river. Toward the end of the eighteenth century they were nearly destroyed by smallpox, their number having been reduced from about 3,500 to but little over 300 when they were visited by Lewis[pg 192]and Clark, their famous chief Blackbird being one of those carried off by the epidemic. Subsequently they increased in numbers; in 1890 their population was about 1,200. They are now on reservations, mostly owning land in severalty, and are citizens of the United States and of the state of Nebraska.Although the name Ponka did not appear in history before 1700 it must have been used for many generations earlier, since it is an archaic designation connected with the social organization of several tribes and the secret societies of the Osage and Kansa, as well as the Ponka. In 1700 the Ponka were indicated on De l'Isle's map, though they were not then segregated territorially from the Omaha. They, too, suffered terribly from the smallpox epidemic, and when met by Lewis and Clark in 1804 numbered only about 200. They increased rapidly, reaching about 600 in 1829 and some 800 in 1842; in 1871, when they were first visited by Dorsey, they numbered 747. Up to this time the Ponka and Dakota were amicable; but a dispute grew out of the cession of lands, and the Teton made annual raids on the Ponka until the enforced removal of the tribe to Indian Territory took place in 1877. Through this warfare, more than a quarter of the Ponka lost their lives. The displacement of this tribe from lands owned by them in fee simple attracted attention, and a commission was appointed by President Hayes in 1880 to inquire into the matter; the commission, consisting of Generals Crook and Miles and Messrs William Stickney and Walter Allen, visited the Ponka settlements in Indian Territory and on the Niobrara and effected a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of the tribe, through which the greater portion (some 600) remained in Indian Territory, while some 225 kept their reservation in Nebraska.When the ¢egiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors of the Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the Mississippi to the mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated from the group, ascending the river which bears their name. They were distinguished by Marquette in 1673 as the "Ouchage" and "Autrechaha," and by Penicaut in 1719 as the "Huzzau," "Ous," and "Wawha." According to Croghan, they were, in 1759, on "White creek, a branch of the Mississippi," with the "Grand Tuc;" but"White creek" (or White water) was an old designation for Osage river, and "Grand Tuc" is, according to Mooney, a corruption of "Grandes Eaux," or Great Osage; and there is accordingly no sufficient reason for supposing that they returned to the Mississippi. Toward the close of the eighteenth century the Osage and Kansa encountered the Comanche and perhaps other Shoshonean peoples, and their course was turned southward; and in 1817, according to Brown, the Great Osage and Little Osage were chiefly on Osage and Arkansas rivers, in four villages. In 1829 Porter described their country as beginning 25 miles west of the Missouri line and running to the Mexican line of that date, being 50 miles wide; and he gave their number as 5,000. According to[pg 193]Schoolcraft, they numbered 3,758 in April, 1853, but this was after the removal of an important branch known as Black Dog's band to a new locality farther down Verdigris river. In 1850 the Osage occupied at least seven large villages, besides numerous small ones, on Neosho and Verdigris rivers. In 1873, when visited by Dorsey, they were gathered on their reservations in what is now Oklahoma. In 1890 they numbered 158.The Kansa remained with the Up-stream People in their gradual ascent of the Missouri to the mouth of the Kaw or Kansas, when they diverged westward; but they soon came in contact with inimical peoples, and, like the Osage, were driven southward. The date of this divergence is not fixed, but it must have been after 1723, when Bourgmont mentioned a large village of "Quans" located on a small river flowing northward thirty leagues above Kaw river, near the Missouri. After the cession of Louisiana to the United States, a treaty was made with the Kansa Indians, who were then on Kaw river, at the mouth of the Saline, having been forced back from the Missouri by the Dakota; they then numbered about 1,500 and occupied about thirty earth lodges. In 1825 they ceded their lands on the Missouri to the Government, retaining a reservation on the Kaw, where they were constantly subjected to attacks from the Pawnee and other tribes, through which large numbers of their warriors were slain. In 1846 they again ceded their lands and received a new reservation on Neosho river in Kansas. This was soon overrun by settlers, when another reservation was assigned to them in Indian Territory, near the Osage country. By 1890 their population was reduced to 214.The Kwapa were found by De Soto in 1541 on the Mississippi above the mouth of the St Francis, and, according to Marquette's map, they were partly east of the Mississippi in 1673. In 1681 La Salle found them in three villages distributed along the Mississippi, and soon afterward Tonty mentioned four villages, one (Kappa = Uʞaqpaqti, "Real Kwapa") on the Mississippi and three (Toyengan = Tanwan-jiʞa, "Small Village"; Toriman = Ti-uad¢iman, and Osotonoy = Uzutiuwe) inland; this observation was verified by Dorsey in 1883 by the discovery that these names are still in use. In early days the Kwapa were known as "Akansa," or Arkansa, first noted by La Metairie in 1682. It is probable that this name was an Algonquian designation given because of confusion with, or recognition of affinity to, the Kansa or Kanze, the prefix "a" being a common one in Algouquian appellations. In 1687 Joutel located two of the villages of the tribe on the Arkansas and two on the Mississippi, one of the latter being on the eastern side. According to St Cosme, the greater part of the tribe died of smallpox in October, 1699. In 1700 De l'Isle placed the principal "Acansa" village on the southern side of Arkansas river; and, according to Gravier, there were in 1701 five villages, the largest, Imaha (Omaha), being highest on the Arkansas. In 1805 Sibley placed the "Arkensa"[pg 194]in three villages on the southern side of Arkansas river, about 12 miles above Arkansas post. They claimed to be the original proprietors of the country bordering the Arkansas for 300 miles, or up to the confluence of the Cadwa, above which lay the territory of the Osage. Subsequently the Kwapa affiliated with the Caddo Indians, though of another stock; according to Porter they were in the Caddo country in 1829. As reservations were established, the Kwapa were re-segregated, and in 1877 were on their reservation in northwestern Indian Territory; but most of them afterward scattered, chiefly to the Osage country, where in 1890 they were found to number 232.ʇƆIWE'REThe ancestry and prehistoric movements of the tribes constituting this group are involved in considerable obscurity, though it is known from tradition as well as linguistic affinity that they sprung from the Winnebago.Since the days of Marquette (1673) the Iowa have ranged over the country between the Mississippi and Missouri, up to the latitude of Oneota (formerly upper Iowa) river,- and even across the Missouri about the mouth of the Platte. Chauvignerie located them, in 1736 west of the Mississippi and (probably through error in identification of the waterway) south of the Missouri; and in 1761 Jefferys placed them between Missouri river and the headwaters of Des Moines river, above the Oto and below the Maha (Omaha). In 1805, according to Drake, they dwelt on Des Moines river, forty leagues above its mouth, and numbered 800. In 1811 Pike found them in two villages on Des Moines and Iowa rivers. In 1815 they were decimated by smallpox, and also lost heavily through war against the tribes of the Dakota confederacy. In 1829 Porter placed them on the Little Platte, some 15 miles from the Missouri line, and about 1853 Schoolcraft located them on Nemaha river, their principal village being near the mouth of the Great Nemaha. In 1848 they suffered another epidemic of smallpox, by which 100 warriors, besides women and children, were carried off. As the country settled, the Iowa, like the other Indians of the stock, were collected on reservations which they still occupy in Kansas and Oklahoma. According to the last census their population was 273.The Missouri were first seen by Tonty about 1670; they were located near the Mississippi on Marquette's map (1673) under the name of Ouemessourit, probably a corruption of their name by the Illinois tribe, with the characteristic Algonquian prefix. The name Missouri was first used by Joutel in 1687. In 1723 Bourgmont located their principal village 30 leagues below Kaw river and 60 leagues below the chief settlement of the Kansa; according to Groghan, they were located on Mississippi river opposite the Illinois country in 1759. Although the early locations are somewhat indefinite, it seems certain that the tribe formerly dwelt on the Mississippi about the mouth of[pg 195]the Missouri, and that they gradually ascended the latter stream, remaining for a time between Grand and Chariton rivers and establishing a town on the left bank of the Missouri near the mouth of the Grand. There they were found by French traders, who built a fort on an island quite near their village about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Soon afterward they were conquered and dispersed by a combination of Sac, Fox, and other Indians; they also suffered from smallpox. On the division, five or six lodges joined the Osage, two or three took refuge with the Kansa, and most of the remainder amalgamated with the Oto. In 1805 Lewis and Clark found a part of the tribe, numbering about 300, south of Platte river. The only known survivors in 1829 were with the Oto, when they numbered no more than 80. In 1842 their village stood on the southern bank of Platte river near the Oto settlement, and they followed the latter tribe to Indian Territory in 1882.According to Winnebago tradition, the ʇɔiwe're tribes separated from that "People of the parent speech" long ago, the Iowa being the first and the Oto the last to leave. In 1673 the Oto were located by Marquette west of Missouri river, between the fortieth and fortyfirst parallels; in 1680 they were 130 leagues from the Illinois, almost opposite the mouth of the Miskoncing (Wisconsin), and in 1687 they were on Osage river. According to La Hontan they were, in 1690, on Otontas (Osage) river; and in 1698 Hennepin placed them ten days' journey from Fort Crève Cœur. Iberville, in 1700, located the Iowa and Oto with the Omaha, between Wisconsin and Missouri rivers, about 100 leagues from the Illinois tribe; and Charlevoix, in 1721, fixed the Oto habitat as below that of the Iowa and above that of the Kansa on the western side of the Missouri. Dupratz mentions the Oto as a small nation on Missouri river in 1758, and Jefferys (1761) described them as occupying the southern bank of the Panis (Platte) between its mouth and the Pawnee territory; according to Porter, they occupied the same position in 1829. The Oto claimed the land bordering the Platte from their village to the mouth of the river, and also that on both sides of the Missouri as far as the Big Nemaha. In 1833 Catlin found the Oto and Missouri together in the Pawnee country; about 1841 they were gathered in four villages on the southern side of the Platte, from 5 to 18 miles above its mouth. In 1880 a part of the tribe removed to the Sac and Fox reservation in Indian Territory, where they still remain; in 1882 the rest of the tribe, with the remnant of the Missouri, emigrated to the Pouka, Pawnee, and Oto reservation in the present Oklahoma, where, in 1890 they were found to number 400.WINNEBAGOLinguistically the Winnebago Indians are closely related to the ʇɔiwe're on the one side and to the Mandan on the other. They were first mentioned in the Jesuit Relation of 1636, though the earliest[pg 196]known use of the name Winnebago occurs in the Relation of 1640; Nicollet found them on Green bay in 1639. According to Shea, the Winnebago were almost annihilated by the Illinois (Algonquian) tribe in early days, and the historical group was made up of the survivors of the early battles. Cbauvignerie placed the Winnebago on Lake Superior in 1736, and Jefferys referred to them and the Sac as living near the head of Green bay in 1761; Carver mentions a Winnebago village on a small island near the eastern end of Winnebago lake in 1778. Pike enumerated seven Winnebago villages existing in 1811; and in 1822 the population of the tribe was estimated at 5,800 (including 900 warriors) in the country about Winnebago lake and extending thence southwestward to the Mississippi. By treaties in 1825 and 1832 they ceded their lands south of Wisconsin and Fox rivers for a reservation on the Mississippi above the Oneota; one of their villages in 1832 was at Prairie la Grosse. They suffered several visitations of smallpox; the third, which occurred in 1836, carried off more than a quarter of the tribe. A part of the people long remained widely distributed over their old country east of the Mississippi and along that river in Iowa and Minnesota; in 1840 most of the tribe removed to the neutral ground in the then territory of Iowa; in 1846 they surrendered their reservation for another above the Minnesota, and in 1856 they were removed to Blue Earth, Minnesota. Here they were mastering agriculture, when the Sioux war broke out and the settlers demanded their removal. Those who had taken up farms, thereby abandoning tribal rights, were allowed to remain, but the others were transferred to Crow creek, on Missouri river, whence they soon escaped. Their privations and sufferings were terrible; out of 2,000 taken to Crow creek only 1,200 reached the Omaha reservation, whither most of them fled. They were assigned a new reservation on the Omaha lands, where they now remain, occupying lands allotted in severalty. In 1890 there were 1,215 Winnebago on the reservation, but nearly an equal number were scattered over Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where they now live chiefly by agriculture, with a strong predilection for hunting.MANDANThe Mandan had a vague tradition of emigration from the eastern part of the country, and Lewis and Clark, Prince Maximilian, and others found traces of Mandan house-structures at various points along the Missouri; thus they appear to have ascended that stream before the advent of the ¢egiha. During the historical period their movements were limited; they were first visited in the upper Missouri country by Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. About 1750 they established two villages on the eastern side and seven on the western side of the Missouri, near the mouth of Heart river. Here they were assailed by the Asiniboin and Dakota and attacked by smallpox, and were greatly reduced; the two eastern villages consolidated, and the people[pg 197]migrated up the Missouri to a point 1,430 miles above its mouth (as subsequently determined by Lewis and Clark); the seven villages were soon reduced to five, and these people also ascended the river and formed two villages in the Arikara country, near the Mandan of the eastern side, where they remained until about 1766, when they also consolidated. Thus the once powerful and populous tribe was reduced to two villages which, in 1804, were found by Lewis and Clark on opposite banks of the Missouri, about 4 miles below Knife river. Here for a time the tribe waxed and promised to regain the early prestige, reaching a population of 1,600 in 1837; but in that year they were again attacked by smallpox and almost annihilated, the survivors numbering only 31 according to one account, or 125 to 145 according to others. After this visitation they united in one village. When the Hidatsa removed from Knife river in 1845, some of the Mandan accompanied them, and others followed at intervals as late as 1858, when only a few still remained at their old home. In 1872 a reservation was set apart for the Hidatsa and Arikara and the survivors of the Mandan on Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Dakota and Montana, but in 1886 the reservation was reduced. According to the census returns, the Mandan numbered 252 in 1890.HIDATSAThere has been much confusion concerning the definition and designation of the Hidatsa Indians. They were formerly known as Minitari or Gros Ventres of the Missouri, in distinction from the Gros Ventres of the plains, who belong to another stock. The origin of the term Gros Ventres is somewhat obscure, and various observers have pointed out its inapplicability, especially to the well-formed Hidatsa tribesmen. According to Dorsey, the French pioneers probably translated a native term referring to a traditional buffalo paunch, which occupies a prominent place in the Hidatsa mythology and which, in early times, led to a dispute and the separation of the Crow from the main group some time in the eighteenth century.The earlier legends of the Hidatsa are vague, but there is a definite tradition of a migration northward, about 1765, from the neighborhood of Heart river, where they were associated with the Mandan, to Knife river. At least as early as 1796, according to Matthews, there were three villages belonging to this tribe on Knife river—one at the mouth, another half a mile above, and the third and largest 3 miles from the mouth. Here the people were found by Lewis and Clark in 1804, and here they remained until 1837, when the scourge of smallpox fell and many of the people perished, the survivors uniting in a single village. About 1845 the Hidatsa and a part of the Mandan again migrated up the Missouri, and established a village 30 miles by land and 60 miles by water above their old home, within what is now Fort Berthold reservation. Their population has apparently varied greatly, partly by[pg 198]reason of the ill definition of the tribe by different enumerators, partly by reason of the inroads of smallpox. In 1890 they numbered 522.The Crow people are known by the Hidatsa as Kihatsa (They-refused-the-paunch), according to Matthews; and Dorsey points out that their own name, Absaruke, does not mean " crow," but refers to a variety of hawk. Lewis and Clark found the tribe in four bands. In 1817 Brown located them on Yellowstone river. In 1829 they were described by Porter as ranging along Yellowstone river on the eastern side of the Bocky mountains, and numbered at 4,000; while in 1834, according to Drake, they occupied the southern branch of the Yellowstone, about the fortysixth parallel and one hundred and fifth meridian, with a population of 4,500. In 1842 their number was estimated at 4,000, and they were described as inhabiting the headwaters of the Yellowstone. They have since been duly gathered on the Crow reservation in Montana, and are slowly adopting civilization. In 1890 they numbered 2,287.THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN TRIBESThe history of the Monakan, Oatawba, Sara, Pedee, and Santee, and incidentally that of the Biloxi, has been carefully reviewed in a recent publication by Mooney54, and does not require repetition.GENERAL MOVEMENTSOn reviewing the records of explorers and pioneers and the few traditions which have been preserved, the course of Siouan migration and development becomes clear. In general the movements were westward and northwestward. The Dakota tribes have not been traced far, though several of them, like the Yanktonnai, migrated hundreds of miles from the period of first observation to the end of the eighteenth century; then came the Mandan, according to their tradition, and as they ascended the Missouri left traces of their occupancy scattered over 1,000 miles of migration; next the ¢egiha descended the Ohio and passed from the cis-Mississippi forests over the trans-Mississippi plains—the stronger branch following the Mandan, while the lesser at first descended the great river and then worked up the Arkansas into the buffalo country until checked and diverted by antagonistic tribes. So also the ʇɔiwe're, first recorded near the Mississippi, pushed 300 miles westward; while the Winnebago gradually emigrated from the region of the Great Lakes into the trans-Mississippi country even before their movements were affected by contact with white men. In like manner the Hidatsa are known to have flowed northwestward many scores of miles; and the Asiniboin swept more rapidly across the plains from the place of their rebellion against the Yanktonnai, on the Mississippi, before they found final resting place on the Saskatchewan[pg 199]plains 500 or 800 miles away. All of the movements were consistent and, despite intertribal friction and strife, measurably harmonious. The lines of movement, so far as they can be restored, are in full accord with the lines of linguistic evolution traced by Hale and Dorsey and Gatschet, and indicate that some five hundred or possibly one thousand years ago the tribesmen pushed over the Appalachians to the Ohio and followed that stream and its tributaries to the Mississippi (though there are faint indications that some of the early emigrants ascended the northern tributaries to the region of the Great Lakes); and that the human flood gained volume as it advanced and expanded to cover the entire region of the plains. The records concerning the movement of this great human stream find support in the manifest reason for the movement; the reason was the food quest by which all primitive men are led, and its end was the abundant fauna of the prairieland, with the buffalo at its head.While the early population of the Siouan stock, when first the huntsmen crossed the Appalachians, may not be known, the lines of migration indicate that the people increased and multiplied amain during their long journey, and that their numbers culminated, despite external conflict and internal strife, about the beginning of written history, when the Siouan population may have been 100,000 or more. Then came war against the whites and the still more deadly smallpox, whereby the vigorous stock was checked and crippled and the population gradually reduced; but since the first shock, which occurred at different dates in different parts of the great region, the Siouan people have fairly held their own, and some branches are perhaps gaining in strength.

HABITATExcepting the Asiniboin, who are chiefly in Canada, nearly all of the Siouan Indians are now gathered on the reservations indicated on earlier pages, most of these reservations lying within the aboriginal territory of the stock.At the advent of white men, the Siouan territory was vaguely defined, and its limits were found to vary somewhat from exploration to exploration. This vagueness and variability of habitat grew out of the characteristics of the tribesmen. Of all the great stocks south of the Arctic, the Siouan was perhaps least given to agriculture, most influenced by hunting, and most addicted to warfare; thus most of the tribes were but feebly attached to the soil, and freely followed the movements of the feral fauna as it shifted with climatic vicissitudes or was driven from place to place by excessive hunting or by fires set to destroy the undergrowth in the interests of the chase; at the same time, the borderward tribes were alternately driven and led back and forth through strife against the tribes of neighboring stocks. Accordingly the Siouan habitat can be outlined only in approximate and somewhat arbitrary fashion.The difficulty in defining the priscan home of the Siouan tribes is increased by its vast extent and scant peopling, by the length of the period intervening between discovery in the east and complete exploration in the west, and by the internal changes and migrations which occurred during this period. The task of collating the records of exploration and pioneer observation concerning the Siouan and other stocks was undertaken by Powell a few years ago, and was found to be of great magnitude. It was at length successfully accomplished, and the respective areas occupied by the several stocks were approximately mapped.51As shown on Powell's map, the chief part of the Siouan area comprised a single body covering most of the region of the Great plains,[pg 187]stretching from the Rocky mountains to the Mississippi and from the Arkansas-Red river divide nearly to the Saskatchewan, with an arm crossing the Mississippi and extending to Lake Michigan. In addition there were a few outlying bodies, the largest and easternmost bordering the Atlantic from Santee river nearly to Capes Lookout and Hatteras, and skirting the Appalachian range northward to the Potomac; the next considerable area lay on the Gulf coast about Pascagoula river and bay, stretching nearly from the Pearl to the Mobile; and there were one or two unimportant areas on Ohio river, which were temporarily occupied by small groups of Siouan Indians during recent times.There is little probability that the Siouan habitat, as thus outlined, ran far into the prehistoric age. As already noted, the Siouan Indians of the plains were undoubtedly descended from the Siouan tribes of the east (indeed the Mandan had a tradition to that effect); and reason has been given for supposing that the ancestors of the prairie hunters followed the straggling buffalo through the cis-Mississippi forests into his normal trans-Mississippi habitat and spread over his domain save as they were held in check by alien huntsmen, chiefly of the warlike Caddoan and Kiowan tribes; and the buffalo itself was a geologically recent—indeed essentially post-glacial—animal. Little if any definite trace of Siouan occupancy has been found in the more ancient prehistoric works of the Mississippi valley. On the whole it appears probable that the prehistoric development of the Siouan stock and habitat was exceptionally rapid, that the Siouan Indians were a vigorous and virile people that arose quickly under the stimulus of strong vitality (the acquisition of which need not here be considered), coupled with exceptionally favorable opportunity, to a power and glory culminating about the time of discovery.ORGANIZATIONThe demotic organization of the Siouan peoples, so far as known, is set forth in considerable detail in Mr Dorsey's treatises52and in the foregoing enumeration of tribes, confederacies, and other linguistic groups.Like the other aborigines north of Mexico, the Siouan Indians were organized on the basis of kinship, and were thus in the stage of tribal society. All of the best-known tribes had reached that plane in organization characterized by descent in the male line, though many vestiges and some relatively unimportant examples of descent in the female line have been discovered. Thus the clan system was obsolescent and the gentile system fairly developed; i. e., the people were practically out of the stage of savagery and well advanced in the stage of barbarism.[pg 188]Confederation for defense and offense was fairly defined and was strengthened by intermarriage between tribes and gentes and the prohibition of marriage within the gens; yet the organization was such as to maintain tribal autonomy in considerable degree; i.e., the social structure was such as to facilitate union in time of war and division into small groups adapted to hunting in times of peace. No indication of feudalism has been found in the stock.The government was autocratic, largely by military leaders sometimes (particularly in peace) advised by the elders and priests; the leadership was determined primarily by ability—prowess in war and the chase and wisdom in the council,—and was thus hereditary only a little further than characteristics were inherited; indeed, excepting slight recognition of the divinity that doth hedge about a king, the leaders were practically self-chosen, arising gradually to the level determined by their abilities. The germ of theocracy was fairly developed, and apparently burgeoned vigorously during each period of peace, only to be checked and withered during the ensuing war when the shamans and their craft were forced into the background.During recent years, since the tribes began to yield to the domination of the peace-loving whites, the government and election are determined chiefly by kinship, as appears from Dorsey's researches; yet definite traces of the militant organization appear, and any man can win name and rank in his gens, tribe, or confederacy by bravery or generosity.The institutional connection between the Siouan tribes of the plains and those of the Atlantic slope and the Gulf coast is completely lost, and it is doubtful whether the several branches have ever been united in a single confederation (or "nation," in the language of the pioneers), at least since the division in the Appalachian region perhaps five or ten centuries ago. Since this division the tribes have separated widely, and some of the bloodiest wars of the region in the historic period have been between Siouan tribes; the most extensive union possessing the slightest claim to federal organization was the great Dakota confederacy, which was grown into instability and partial disruption; and most of the tribal unions and coalitions were of temporary character.Although highly elaborate (perhaps because of this character), the Siouan organization was highly unstable; with every shock of conflict, whether intestine or external, some autocrats were displaced or slain; and after each important event—great battle, epidemic, emigration, or destructive flood—new combinations were formed. The undoubtedly rapid development of the stock, especially after the passage of the Mississippi, indicates growth by conquest and assimilation as well as by direct propagation (it is known that the Dakota and perhaps other groups adopted aliens regularly); and, doubtless for this reason in part, there was a strong tendency toward differentiation and dichotomy in the demotic growth. In some groups the history is too vague to indicate this tendency with certainty; in others the tendency is clear.[pg 189]Perhaps the best example is found in the Cegiha, which divided into two great branches, the stronger of which threw off minor branches in the Osage and Kansa, and afterward separated into the Omaha and Ponka, while the feebler branch also ramified widely; and only less notable is the example of the Winnebago trunk, with its three great branches in the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri. This strong divergent tendency in itself suggests rapid, perhaps abnormally rapid, growth in the stock; for it outran and partially concealed the tendency toward convergence and ultimate coalescence which characterizes demotic phenomena.The half-dozen eastern stocks occupying by far the greater part of North America contrast strongly with the half-hundred local stocks covering the Pacific coast; and none of the strong Atlantic stocks is more characteristic, more sharply contrasted with the limited groups of the western coast, or better understood as regards organization and development, than the great Siouan stock of the northern interior. There is promise that, as the demology of aboriginal America is pushed forward, the records relating to the Siouan Indians and especially to their structure and institutions will aid in explaining why some stocks are limited and others extensive, why large stocks in general characterize the interior and small stocks the coasts, and why the dominant peoples of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were successful in displacing the preexistent and probably more primitive peoples of the Mississippi valley. While the time is not yet ripe for making final answer to these inquiries, it is not premature to suggest a relation between a peculiar development of the aboriginal stocks and a peculiar geographic conformation: In general the coastward stocks are small, indicating a provincial shoreland habit, yet their population and area commonly increase toward those shores indented by deep bays, along which maritime and inland industries naturally blend; so (confining attention to eastern United States) the extensive Muskhogean stock stretches inland from the deep-bayed eastern Gulf coast; and so, too, three of the largest stocks on the continent (Algonquian, Iroquoian, Siouan) stretch far into the interior from the still more deeply indented Atlantic coast. In two of these cases (Iroquoian and Siouan) history and tradition indicate expansion and migration from the land of bays between Cape Lookout and Cape May, while in the third there are similar (though perhaps less definite) indications of an inland drift from the northern Atlantic bays and along the Laurentian river and lakes.HISTORY53DAKOTA-ASINIBOINThe Dakota are mentioned in the Jesuit Relations as early as 1639-40; the tradition is noted that the Ojibwa, on arriving at the Great Lakes in an early migration from the Atlantic coast, encountered representatives[pg 190]of the great confederacy of the plains. In 1641 the French voyageurs met the Potawatomi Indians flying from a nation called Nadawessi (enemies); and the Frenchmen adopted the alien name for the warlike prairie tribes. By 1658 the Jesuits had learned of the existence of thirty Dakota villages west-northwest from the Potawatomi mission St Michel; and in 1689 they recorded the presence of tribes apparently representing the Dakota confederacy on the upper Mississippi, near the mouth of the St Croix. According to Croghan's History of Western Pennsylvania, the "Sue" Indians occupied the country southwest of Lake Superior about 1759; and Dr T.S. Williamson, "the father of the Dakota mission," states that the Dakota must have resided about the confluence of the Mississippi and the Minnesota or St Peters for at least two hundred years prior to 1860.According to traditions collected by Dorsey, the Teton took possession of the Black Hills region, which had previously been occupied by the Crow Indians, long before white men came; and the Yankton and Yanktonnai, which were found on the Missouri by Lewis and Clark, were not long removed from the region about Minnesota river. In 1862 the Santee and other Dakota tribes united in a formidable outbreak in which more than 1,000 whites were massacred or slain in battle. Through this outbreak and the consequent governmental action toward the control and settlement of the tribes, much was learned concerning the characteristics of the people, and various Indian leaders became known; Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, American Horse, and Even-his-horse-is-feared (commonly miscalled Man-afraid-of-his-horses) were among the famous Dakota chiefs and warriors, notable representatives of a passing race, whose names are prominent in the history of the country. Other outbreaks occurred, the last of note resulting from the ghost-dance fantasy in 1890-91, which fortunately was quickly suppressed. Yet, with slight interruptions, the Dakota tribes in the United States were steadily gathered on reservations. Some 800 or more still roam the prairies north of the international boundary, but the great body of the confederacy, numbering nearly 28,000, are domiciled on reservations (already noted) in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.The separation of the Asiniboin from the Wazi-kute gens of the Yanktonai apparently occurred before the middle of the seventeenth century, since the Jesuit relation of 1658 distinguishes between the Poualak or Guerriers (undoubtedly the Dakota proper) and the Assiuipoualak or Guerriers de pierre. The Asiniboin are undoubtedly the Essanape (Essanapi or Assinapi) who were next to the Makatapi (Dakota) in the Walam-Olum record of the Lenni-Lenape or Delaware. In 1680 Hennepin located the Asiniboin northeast of the Issati (Isanyati or Santee) who were on Knife lake (Minnesota); and the Jesuit map of 1681 placed them on Lake-of-the-Woods, then called "L. Assinepoualacs." La Hontan claimed to have visited the Eokoro (Arikara)[pg 191]in 1689-90, when the Essanape were sixty leagues above; and Perrot's Mémoire refers to the Asiniboin as a Sioux tribe which, in the seventeenth century, seceded from their nation and took refuge among the rocks of Lake-of-the-Woods. Chauvignerie located some of the tribe south of Ounipigan (Winnipeg) lake in 1736, and they were near Lake-of-the-Woods as late as 1766, when they were said to have 1,500 warriors. It is well known that in 1829 they occupied a considerable territory west of the Dakota and north of Missouri river, with a population estimated at 8,000; and Drake estimated their number at 10,000 before the smallpox epidemic of 1838, which is said to have carried off 4,000. From this blow the tribe seems never to have fully recovered, and now numbers probably no more than 3,000, mostly in Canada, where they continue to roam the plains they have occupied for half a century.¢EGIHAAccording to tribal traditions collected by Dorsey, the ancestors of the Omaha, Ponka, Elwapa, Osage, and Kansa were originally one people dwelling on Ohio and Wabash rivers, but gradually working westward. The first separation took place at the mouth of the Ohio, when those who went down the Mississippi became the Kwapa or Downstream People, while those who ascended the great river became the Omaha or Up-stream People. This separation must have occurred at least as early as 1500, since it preceded De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi.The Omaha group (from whom the Osage, Kansa, and Ponka were not yet separated) ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, where they remained for some time, though war and hunting parties explored the country northwestward, and the body of the tribe gradually followed these pioneers, though the Osage and Kansa were successively left behind. Some of the pioneer parties discovered the pipestone quarry, and many traditions cling about this landmark. Subsequently they were driven across the Big Sioux by the Yankton Indians, who then lived toward the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi. The group gradually differentiated and finally divided through the separation of the Ponka, probably about the middle of the seventeenth century. The Omaha gathered south of the Missouri, between the mouths of the Platte and Niobrara, while the Ponka pushed into the Black Hills country.The Omaha tribe remained within the great bend of the Missouri, opposite the mouth of the Big Sioux, until white men came. Their hunting ground extended westward and southwestward, chiefly north of the Platte and along the Elkhorn, to the territory of the Ponka and the Pawnee (Caddoan); and in 1766 Carver met their hunting parties on Minnesota river. Toward the end of the eighteenth century they were nearly destroyed by smallpox, their number having been reduced from about 3,500 to but little over 300 when they were visited by Lewis[pg 192]and Clark, their famous chief Blackbird being one of those carried off by the epidemic. Subsequently they increased in numbers; in 1890 their population was about 1,200. They are now on reservations, mostly owning land in severalty, and are citizens of the United States and of the state of Nebraska.Although the name Ponka did not appear in history before 1700 it must have been used for many generations earlier, since it is an archaic designation connected with the social organization of several tribes and the secret societies of the Osage and Kansa, as well as the Ponka. In 1700 the Ponka were indicated on De l'Isle's map, though they were not then segregated territorially from the Omaha. They, too, suffered terribly from the smallpox epidemic, and when met by Lewis and Clark in 1804 numbered only about 200. They increased rapidly, reaching about 600 in 1829 and some 800 in 1842; in 1871, when they were first visited by Dorsey, they numbered 747. Up to this time the Ponka and Dakota were amicable; but a dispute grew out of the cession of lands, and the Teton made annual raids on the Ponka until the enforced removal of the tribe to Indian Territory took place in 1877. Through this warfare, more than a quarter of the Ponka lost their lives. The displacement of this tribe from lands owned by them in fee simple attracted attention, and a commission was appointed by President Hayes in 1880 to inquire into the matter; the commission, consisting of Generals Crook and Miles and Messrs William Stickney and Walter Allen, visited the Ponka settlements in Indian Territory and on the Niobrara and effected a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of the tribe, through which the greater portion (some 600) remained in Indian Territory, while some 225 kept their reservation in Nebraska.When the ¢egiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors of the Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the Mississippi to the mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated from the group, ascending the river which bears their name. They were distinguished by Marquette in 1673 as the "Ouchage" and "Autrechaha," and by Penicaut in 1719 as the "Huzzau," "Ous," and "Wawha." According to Croghan, they were, in 1759, on "White creek, a branch of the Mississippi," with the "Grand Tuc;" but"White creek" (or White water) was an old designation for Osage river, and "Grand Tuc" is, according to Mooney, a corruption of "Grandes Eaux," or Great Osage; and there is accordingly no sufficient reason for supposing that they returned to the Mississippi. Toward the close of the eighteenth century the Osage and Kansa encountered the Comanche and perhaps other Shoshonean peoples, and their course was turned southward; and in 1817, according to Brown, the Great Osage and Little Osage were chiefly on Osage and Arkansas rivers, in four villages. In 1829 Porter described their country as beginning 25 miles west of the Missouri line and running to the Mexican line of that date, being 50 miles wide; and he gave their number as 5,000. According to[pg 193]Schoolcraft, they numbered 3,758 in April, 1853, but this was after the removal of an important branch known as Black Dog's band to a new locality farther down Verdigris river. In 1850 the Osage occupied at least seven large villages, besides numerous small ones, on Neosho and Verdigris rivers. In 1873, when visited by Dorsey, they were gathered on their reservations in what is now Oklahoma. In 1890 they numbered 158.The Kansa remained with the Up-stream People in their gradual ascent of the Missouri to the mouth of the Kaw or Kansas, when they diverged westward; but they soon came in contact with inimical peoples, and, like the Osage, were driven southward. The date of this divergence is not fixed, but it must have been after 1723, when Bourgmont mentioned a large village of "Quans" located on a small river flowing northward thirty leagues above Kaw river, near the Missouri. After the cession of Louisiana to the United States, a treaty was made with the Kansa Indians, who were then on Kaw river, at the mouth of the Saline, having been forced back from the Missouri by the Dakota; they then numbered about 1,500 and occupied about thirty earth lodges. In 1825 they ceded their lands on the Missouri to the Government, retaining a reservation on the Kaw, where they were constantly subjected to attacks from the Pawnee and other tribes, through which large numbers of their warriors were slain. In 1846 they again ceded their lands and received a new reservation on Neosho river in Kansas. This was soon overrun by settlers, when another reservation was assigned to them in Indian Territory, near the Osage country. By 1890 their population was reduced to 214.The Kwapa were found by De Soto in 1541 on the Mississippi above the mouth of the St Francis, and, according to Marquette's map, they were partly east of the Mississippi in 1673. In 1681 La Salle found them in three villages distributed along the Mississippi, and soon afterward Tonty mentioned four villages, one (Kappa = Uʞaqpaqti, "Real Kwapa") on the Mississippi and three (Toyengan = Tanwan-jiʞa, "Small Village"; Toriman = Ti-uad¢iman, and Osotonoy = Uzutiuwe) inland; this observation was verified by Dorsey in 1883 by the discovery that these names are still in use. In early days the Kwapa were known as "Akansa," or Arkansa, first noted by La Metairie in 1682. It is probable that this name was an Algonquian designation given because of confusion with, or recognition of affinity to, the Kansa or Kanze, the prefix "a" being a common one in Algouquian appellations. In 1687 Joutel located two of the villages of the tribe on the Arkansas and two on the Mississippi, one of the latter being on the eastern side. According to St Cosme, the greater part of the tribe died of smallpox in October, 1699. In 1700 De l'Isle placed the principal "Acansa" village on the southern side of Arkansas river; and, according to Gravier, there were in 1701 five villages, the largest, Imaha (Omaha), being highest on the Arkansas. In 1805 Sibley placed the "Arkensa"[pg 194]in three villages on the southern side of Arkansas river, about 12 miles above Arkansas post. They claimed to be the original proprietors of the country bordering the Arkansas for 300 miles, or up to the confluence of the Cadwa, above which lay the territory of the Osage. Subsequently the Kwapa affiliated with the Caddo Indians, though of another stock; according to Porter they were in the Caddo country in 1829. As reservations were established, the Kwapa were re-segregated, and in 1877 were on their reservation in northwestern Indian Territory; but most of them afterward scattered, chiefly to the Osage country, where in 1890 they were found to number 232.ʇƆIWE'REThe ancestry and prehistoric movements of the tribes constituting this group are involved in considerable obscurity, though it is known from tradition as well as linguistic affinity that they sprung from the Winnebago.Since the days of Marquette (1673) the Iowa have ranged over the country between the Mississippi and Missouri, up to the latitude of Oneota (formerly upper Iowa) river,- and even across the Missouri about the mouth of the Platte. Chauvignerie located them, in 1736 west of the Mississippi and (probably through error in identification of the waterway) south of the Missouri; and in 1761 Jefferys placed them between Missouri river and the headwaters of Des Moines river, above the Oto and below the Maha (Omaha). In 1805, according to Drake, they dwelt on Des Moines river, forty leagues above its mouth, and numbered 800. In 1811 Pike found them in two villages on Des Moines and Iowa rivers. In 1815 they were decimated by smallpox, and also lost heavily through war against the tribes of the Dakota confederacy. In 1829 Porter placed them on the Little Platte, some 15 miles from the Missouri line, and about 1853 Schoolcraft located them on Nemaha river, their principal village being near the mouth of the Great Nemaha. In 1848 they suffered another epidemic of smallpox, by which 100 warriors, besides women and children, were carried off. As the country settled, the Iowa, like the other Indians of the stock, were collected on reservations which they still occupy in Kansas and Oklahoma. According to the last census their population was 273.The Missouri were first seen by Tonty about 1670; they were located near the Mississippi on Marquette's map (1673) under the name of Ouemessourit, probably a corruption of their name by the Illinois tribe, with the characteristic Algonquian prefix. The name Missouri was first used by Joutel in 1687. In 1723 Bourgmont located their principal village 30 leagues below Kaw river and 60 leagues below the chief settlement of the Kansa; according to Groghan, they were located on Mississippi river opposite the Illinois country in 1759. Although the early locations are somewhat indefinite, it seems certain that the tribe formerly dwelt on the Mississippi about the mouth of[pg 195]the Missouri, and that they gradually ascended the latter stream, remaining for a time between Grand and Chariton rivers and establishing a town on the left bank of the Missouri near the mouth of the Grand. There they were found by French traders, who built a fort on an island quite near their village about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Soon afterward they were conquered and dispersed by a combination of Sac, Fox, and other Indians; they also suffered from smallpox. On the division, five or six lodges joined the Osage, two or three took refuge with the Kansa, and most of the remainder amalgamated with the Oto. In 1805 Lewis and Clark found a part of the tribe, numbering about 300, south of Platte river. The only known survivors in 1829 were with the Oto, when they numbered no more than 80. In 1842 their village stood on the southern bank of Platte river near the Oto settlement, and they followed the latter tribe to Indian Territory in 1882.According to Winnebago tradition, the ʇɔiwe're tribes separated from that "People of the parent speech" long ago, the Iowa being the first and the Oto the last to leave. In 1673 the Oto were located by Marquette west of Missouri river, between the fortieth and fortyfirst parallels; in 1680 they were 130 leagues from the Illinois, almost opposite the mouth of the Miskoncing (Wisconsin), and in 1687 they were on Osage river. According to La Hontan they were, in 1690, on Otontas (Osage) river; and in 1698 Hennepin placed them ten days' journey from Fort Crève Cœur. Iberville, in 1700, located the Iowa and Oto with the Omaha, between Wisconsin and Missouri rivers, about 100 leagues from the Illinois tribe; and Charlevoix, in 1721, fixed the Oto habitat as below that of the Iowa and above that of the Kansa on the western side of the Missouri. Dupratz mentions the Oto as a small nation on Missouri river in 1758, and Jefferys (1761) described them as occupying the southern bank of the Panis (Platte) between its mouth and the Pawnee territory; according to Porter, they occupied the same position in 1829. The Oto claimed the land bordering the Platte from their village to the mouth of the river, and also that on both sides of the Missouri as far as the Big Nemaha. In 1833 Catlin found the Oto and Missouri together in the Pawnee country; about 1841 they were gathered in four villages on the southern side of the Platte, from 5 to 18 miles above its mouth. In 1880 a part of the tribe removed to the Sac and Fox reservation in Indian Territory, where they still remain; in 1882 the rest of the tribe, with the remnant of the Missouri, emigrated to the Pouka, Pawnee, and Oto reservation in the present Oklahoma, where, in 1890 they were found to number 400.WINNEBAGOLinguistically the Winnebago Indians are closely related to the ʇɔiwe're on the one side and to the Mandan on the other. They were first mentioned in the Jesuit Relation of 1636, though the earliest[pg 196]known use of the name Winnebago occurs in the Relation of 1640; Nicollet found them on Green bay in 1639. According to Shea, the Winnebago were almost annihilated by the Illinois (Algonquian) tribe in early days, and the historical group was made up of the survivors of the early battles. Cbauvignerie placed the Winnebago on Lake Superior in 1736, and Jefferys referred to them and the Sac as living near the head of Green bay in 1761; Carver mentions a Winnebago village on a small island near the eastern end of Winnebago lake in 1778. Pike enumerated seven Winnebago villages existing in 1811; and in 1822 the population of the tribe was estimated at 5,800 (including 900 warriors) in the country about Winnebago lake and extending thence southwestward to the Mississippi. By treaties in 1825 and 1832 they ceded their lands south of Wisconsin and Fox rivers for a reservation on the Mississippi above the Oneota; one of their villages in 1832 was at Prairie la Grosse. They suffered several visitations of smallpox; the third, which occurred in 1836, carried off more than a quarter of the tribe. A part of the people long remained widely distributed over their old country east of the Mississippi and along that river in Iowa and Minnesota; in 1840 most of the tribe removed to the neutral ground in the then territory of Iowa; in 1846 they surrendered their reservation for another above the Minnesota, and in 1856 they were removed to Blue Earth, Minnesota. Here they were mastering agriculture, when the Sioux war broke out and the settlers demanded their removal. Those who had taken up farms, thereby abandoning tribal rights, were allowed to remain, but the others were transferred to Crow creek, on Missouri river, whence they soon escaped. Their privations and sufferings were terrible; out of 2,000 taken to Crow creek only 1,200 reached the Omaha reservation, whither most of them fled. They were assigned a new reservation on the Omaha lands, where they now remain, occupying lands allotted in severalty. In 1890 there were 1,215 Winnebago on the reservation, but nearly an equal number were scattered over Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where they now live chiefly by agriculture, with a strong predilection for hunting.MANDANThe Mandan had a vague tradition of emigration from the eastern part of the country, and Lewis and Clark, Prince Maximilian, and others found traces of Mandan house-structures at various points along the Missouri; thus they appear to have ascended that stream before the advent of the ¢egiha. During the historical period their movements were limited; they were first visited in the upper Missouri country by Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. About 1750 they established two villages on the eastern side and seven on the western side of the Missouri, near the mouth of Heart river. Here they were assailed by the Asiniboin and Dakota and attacked by smallpox, and were greatly reduced; the two eastern villages consolidated, and the people[pg 197]migrated up the Missouri to a point 1,430 miles above its mouth (as subsequently determined by Lewis and Clark); the seven villages were soon reduced to five, and these people also ascended the river and formed two villages in the Arikara country, near the Mandan of the eastern side, where they remained until about 1766, when they also consolidated. Thus the once powerful and populous tribe was reduced to two villages which, in 1804, were found by Lewis and Clark on opposite banks of the Missouri, about 4 miles below Knife river. Here for a time the tribe waxed and promised to regain the early prestige, reaching a population of 1,600 in 1837; but in that year they were again attacked by smallpox and almost annihilated, the survivors numbering only 31 according to one account, or 125 to 145 according to others. After this visitation they united in one village. When the Hidatsa removed from Knife river in 1845, some of the Mandan accompanied them, and others followed at intervals as late as 1858, when only a few still remained at their old home. In 1872 a reservation was set apart for the Hidatsa and Arikara and the survivors of the Mandan on Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Dakota and Montana, but in 1886 the reservation was reduced. According to the census returns, the Mandan numbered 252 in 1890.HIDATSAThere has been much confusion concerning the definition and designation of the Hidatsa Indians. They were formerly known as Minitari or Gros Ventres of the Missouri, in distinction from the Gros Ventres of the plains, who belong to another stock. The origin of the term Gros Ventres is somewhat obscure, and various observers have pointed out its inapplicability, especially to the well-formed Hidatsa tribesmen. According to Dorsey, the French pioneers probably translated a native term referring to a traditional buffalo paunch, which occupies a prominent place in the Hidatsa mythology and which, in early times, led to a dispute and the separation of the Crow from the main group some time in the eighteenth century.The earlier legends of the Hidatsa are vague, but there is a definite tradition of a migration northward, about 1765, from the neighborhood of Heart river, where they were associated with the Mandan, to Knife river. At least as early as 1796, according to Matthews, there were three villages belonging to this tribe on Knife river—one at the mouth, another half a mile above, and the third and largest 3 miles from the mouth. Here the people were found by Lewis and Clark in 1804, and here they remained until 1837, when the scourge of smallpox fell and many of the people perished, the survivors uniting in a single village. About 1845 the Hidatsa and a part of the Mandan again migrated up the Missouri, and established a village 30 miles by land and 60 miles by water above their old home, within what is now Fort Berthold reservation. Their population has apparently varied greatly, partly by[pg 198]reason of the ill definition of the tribe by different enumerators, partly by reason of the inroads of smallpox. In 1890 they numbered 522.The Crow people are known by the Hidatsa as Kihatsa (They-refused-the-paunch), according to Matthews; and Dorsey points out that their own name, Absaruke, does not mean " crow," but refers to a variety of hawk. Lewis and Clark found the tribe in four bands. In 1817 Brown located them on Yellowstone river. In 1829 they were described by Porter as ranging along Yellowstone river on the eastern side of the Bocky mountains, and numbered at 4,000; while in 1834, according to Drake, they occupied the southern branch of the Yellowstone, about the fortysixth parallel and one hundred and fifth meridian, with a population of 4,500. In 1842 their number was estimated at 4,000, and they were described as inhabiting the headwaters of the Yellowstone. They have since been duly gathered on the Crow reservation in Montana, and are slowly adopting civilization. In 1890 they numbered 2,287.THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN TRIBESThe history of the Monakan, Oatawba, Sara, Pedee, and Santee, and incidentally that of the Biloxi, has been carefully reviewed in a recent publication by Mooney54, and does not require repetition.GENERAL MOVEMENTSOn reviewing the records of explorers and pioneers and the few traditions which have been preserved, the course of Siouan migration and development becomes clear. In general the movements were westward and northwestward. The Dakota tribes have not been traced far, though several of them, like the Yanktonnai, migrated hundreds of miles from the period of first observation to the end of the eighteenth century; then came the Mandan, according to their tradition, and as they ascended the Missouri left traces of their occupancy scattered over 1,000 miles of migration; next the ¢egiha descended the Ohio and passed from the cis-Mississippi forests over the trans-Mississippi plains—the stronger branch following the Mandan, while the lesser at first descended the great river and then worked up the Arkansas into the buffalo country until checked and diverted by antagonistic tribes. So also the ʇɔiwe're, first recorded near the Mississippi, pushed 300 miles westward; while the Winnebago gradually emigrated from the region of the Great Lakes into the trans-Mississippi country even before their movements were affected by contact with white men. In like manner the Hidatsa are known to have flowed northwestward many scores of miles; and the Asiniboin swept more rapidly across the plains from the place of their rebellion against the Yanktonnai, on the Mississippi, before they found final resting place on the Saskatchewan[pg 199]plains 500 or 800 miles away. All of the movements were consistent and, despite intertribal friction and strife, measurably harmonious. The lines of movement, so far as they can be restored, are in full accord with the lines of linguistic evolution traced by Hale and Dorsey and Gatschet, and indicate that some five hundred or possibly one thousand years ago the tribesmen pushed over the Appalachians to the Ohio and followed that stream and its tributaries to the Mississippi (though there are faint indications that some of the early emigrants ascended the northern tributaries to the region of the Great Lakes); and that the human flood gained volume as it advanced and expanded to cover the entire region of the plains. The records concerning the movement of this great human stream find support in the manifest reason for the movement; the reason was the food quest by which all primitive men are led, and its end was the abundant fauna of the prairieland, with the buffalo at its head.While the early population of the Siouan stock, when first the huntsmen crossed the Appalachians, may not be known, the lines of migration indicate that the people increased and multiplied amain during their long journey, and that their numbers culminated, despite external conflict and internal strife, about the beginning of written history, when the Siouan population may have been 100,000 or more. Then came war against the whites and the still more deadly smallpox, whereby the vigorous stock was checked and crippled and the population gradually reduced; but since the first shock, which occurred at different dates in different parts of the great region, the Siouan people have fairly held their own, and some branches are perhaps gaining in strength.

HABITATExcepting the Asiniboin, who are chiefly in Canada, nearly all of the Siouan Indians are now gathered on the reservations indicated on earlier pages, most of these reservations lying within the aboriginal territory of the stock.At the advent of white men, the Siouan territory was vaguely defined, and its limits were found to vary somewhat from exploration to exploration. This vagueness and variability of habitat grew out of the characteristics of the tribesmen. Of all the great stocks south of the Arctic, the Siouan was perhaps least given to agriculture, most influenced by hunting, and most addicted to warfare; thus most of the tribes were but feebly attached to the soil, and freely followed the movements of the feral fauna as it shifted with climatic vicissitudes or was driven from place to place by excessive hunting or by fires set to destroy the undergrowth in the interests of the chase; at the same time, the borderward tribes were alternately driven and led back and forth through strife against the tribes of neighboring stocks. Accordingly the Siouan habitat can be outlined only in approximate and somewhat arbitrary fashion.The difficulty in defining the priscan home of the Siouan tribes is increased by its vast extent and scant peopling, by the length of the period intervening between discovery in the east and complete exploration in the west, and by the internal changes and migrations which occurred during this period. The task of collating the records of exploration and pioneer observation concerning the Siouan and other stocks was undertaken by Powell a few years ago, and was found to be of great magnitude. It was at length successfully accomplished, and the respective areas occupied by the several stocks were approximately mapped.51As shown on Powell's map, the chief part of the Siouan area comprised a single body covering most of the region of the Great plains,[pg 187]stretching from the Rocky mountains to the Mississippi and from the Arkansas-Red river divide nearly to the Saskatchewan, with an arm crossing the Mississippi and extending to Lake Michigan. In addition there were a few outlying bodies, the largest and easternmost bordering the Atlantic from Santee river nearly to Capes Lookout and Hatteras, and skirting the Appalachian range northward to the Potomac; the next considerable area lay on the Gulf coast about Pascagoula river and bay, stretching nearly from the Pearl to the Mobile; and there were one or two unimportant areas on Ohio river, which were temporarily occupied by small groups of Siouan Indians during recent times.There is little probability that the Siouan habitat, as thus outlined, ran far into the prehistoric age. As already noted, the Siouan Indians of the plains were undoubtedly descended from the Siouan tribes of the east (indeed the Mandan had a tradition to that effect); and reason has been given for supposing that the ancestors of the prairie hunters followed the straggling buffalo through the cis-Mississippi forests into his normal trans-Mississippi habitat and spread over his domain save as they were held in check by alien huntsmen, chiefly of the warlike Caddoan and Kiowan tribes; and the buffalo itself was a geologically recent—indeed essentially post-glacial—animal. Little if any definite trace of Siouan occupancy has been found in the more ancient prehistoric works of the Mississippi valley. On the whole it appears probable that the prehistoric development of the Siouan stock and habitat was exceptionally rapid, that the Siouan Indians were a vigorous and virile people that arose quickly under the stimulus of strong vitality (the acquisition of which need not here be considered), coupled with exceptionally favorable opportunity, to a power and glory culminating about the time of discovery.

Excepting the Asiniboin, who are chiefly in Canada, nearly all of the Siouan Indians are now gathered on the reservations indicated on earlier pages, most of these reservations lying within the aboriginal territory of the stock.

At the advent of white men, the Siouan territory was vaguely defined, and its limits were found to vary somewhat from exploration to exploration. This vagueness and variability of habitat grew out of the characteristics of the tribesmen. Of all the great stocks south of the Arctic, the Siouan was perhaps least given to agriculture, most influenced by hunting, and most addicted to warfare; thus most of the tribes were but feebly attached to the soil, and freely followed the movements of the feral fauna as it shifted with climatic vicissitudes or was driven from place to place by excessive hunting or by fires set to destroy the undergrowth in the interests of the chase; at the same time, the borderward tribes were alternately driven and led back and forth through strife against the tribes of neighboring stocks. Accordingly the Siouan habitat can be outlined only in approximate and somewhat arbitrary fashion.

The difficulty in defining the priscan home of the Siouan tribes is increased by its vast extent and scant peopling, by the length of the period intervening between discovery in the east and complete exploration in the west, and by the internal changes and migrations which occurred during this period. The task of collating the records of exploration and pioneer observation concerning the Siouan and other stocks was undertaken by Powell a few years ago, and was found to be of great magnitude. It was at length successfully accomplished, and the respective areas occupied by the several stocks were approximately mapped.51

As shown on Powell's map, the chief part of the Siouan area comprised a single body covering most of the region of the Great plains,[pg 187]stretching from the Rocky mountains to the Mississippi and from the Arkansas-Red river divide nearly to the Saskatchewan, with an arm crossing the Mississippi and extending to Lake Michigan. In addition there were a few outlying bodies, the largest and easternmost bordering the Atlantic from Santee river nearly to Capes Lookout and Hatteras, and skirting the Appalachian range northward to the Potomac; the next considerable area lay on the Gulf coast about Pascagoula river and bay, stretching nearly from the Pearl to the Mobile; and there were one or two unimportant areas on Ohio river, which were temporarily occupied by small groups of Siouan Indians during recent times.

There is little probability that the Siouan habitat, as thus outlined, ran far into the prehistoric age. As already noted, the Siouan Indians of the plains were undoubtedly descended from the Siouan tribes of the east (indeed the Mandan had a tradition to that effect); and reason has been given for supposing that the ancestors of the prairie hunters followed the straggling buffalo through the cis-Mississippi forests into his normal trans-Mississippi habitat and spread over his domain save as they were held in check by alien huntsmen, chiefly of the warlike Caddoan and Kiowan tribes; and the buffalo itself was a geologically recent—indeed essentially post-glacial—animal. Little if any definite trace of Siouan occupancy has been found in the more ancient prehistoric works of the Mississippi valley. On the whole it appears probable that the prehistoric development of the Siouan stock and habitat was exceptionally rapid, that the Siouan Indians were a vigorous and virile people that arose quickly under the stimulus of strong vitality (the acquisition of which need not here be considered), coupled with exceptionally favorable opportunity, to a power and glory culminating about the time of discovery.

ORGANIZATIONThe demotic organization of the Siouan peoples, so far as known, is set forth in considerable detail in Mr Dorsey's treatises52and in the foregoing enumeration of tribes, confederacies, and other linguistic groups.Like the other aborigines north of Mexico, the Siouan Indians were organized on the basis of kinship, and were thus in the stage of tribal society. All of the best-known tribes had reached that plane in organization characterized by descent in the male line, though many vestiges and some relatively unimportant examples of descent in the female line have been discovered. Thus the clan system was obsolescent and the gentile system fairly developed; i. e., the people were practically out of the stage of savagery and well advanced in the stage of barbarism.[pg 188]Confederation for defense and offense was fairly defined and was strengthened by intermarriage between tribes and gentes and the prohibition of marriage within the gens; yet the organization was such as to maintain tribal autonomy in considerable degree; i.e., the social structure was such as to facilitate union in time of war and division into small groups adapted to hunting in times of peace. No indication of feudalism has been found in the stock.The government was autocratic, largely by military leaders sometimes (particularly in peace) advised by the elders and priests; the leadership was determined primarily by ability—prowess in war and the chase and wisdom in the council,—and was thus hereditary only a little further than characteristics were inherited; indeed, excepting slight recognition of the divinity that doth hedge about a king, the leaders were practically self-chosen, arising gradually to the level determined by their abilities. The germ of theocracy was fairly developed, and apparently burgeoned vigorously during each period of peace, only to be checked and withered during the ensuing war when the shamans and their craft were forced into the background.During recent years, since the tribes began to yield to the domination of the peace-loving whites, the government and election are determined chiefly by kinship, as appears from Dorsey's researches; yet definite traces of the militant organization appear, and any man can win name and rank in his gens, tribe, or confederacy by bravery or generosity.The institutional connection between the Siouan tribes of the plains and those of the Atlantic slope and the Gulf coast is completely lost, and it is doubtful whether the several branches have ever been united in a single confederation (or "nation," in the language of the pioneers), at least since the division in the Appalachian region perhaps five or ten centuries ago. Since this division the tribes have separated widely, and some of the bloodiest wars of the region in the historic period have been between Siouan tribes; the most extensive union possessing the slightest claim to federal organization was the great Dakota confederacy, which was grown into instability and partial disruption; and most of the tribal unions and coalitions were of temporary character.Although highly elaborate (perhaps because of this character), the Siouan organization was highly unstable; with every shock of conflict, whether intestine or external, some autocrats were displaced or slain; and after each important event—great battle, epidemic, emigration, or destructive flood—new combinations were formed. The undoubtedly rapid development of the stock, especially after the passage of the Mississippi, indicates growth by conquest and assimilation as well as by direct propagation (it is known that the Dakota and perhaps other groups adopted aliens regularly); and, doubtless for this reason in part, there was a strong tendency toward differentiation and dichotomy in the demotic growth. In some groups the history is too vague to indicate this tendency with certainty; in others the tendency is clear.[pg 189]Perhaps the best example is found in the Cegiha, which divided into two great branches, the stronger of which threw off minor branches in the Osage and Kansa, and afterward separated into the Omaha and Ponka, while the feebler branch also ramified widely; and only less notable is the example of the Winnebago trunk, with its three great branches in the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri. This strong divergent tendency in itself suggests rapid, perhaps abnormally rapid, growth in the stock; for it outran and partially concealed the tendency toward convergence and ultimate coalescence which characterizes demotic phenomena.The half-dozen eastern stocks occupying by far the greater part of North America contrast strongly with the half-hundred local stocks covering the Pacific coast; and none of the strong Atlantic stocks is more characteristic, more sharply contrasted with the limited groups of the western coast, or better understood as regards organization and development, than the great Siouan stock of the northern interior. There is promise that, as the demology of aboriginal America is pushed forward, the records relating to the Siouan Indians and especially to their structure and institutions will aid in explaining why some stocks are limited and others extensive, why large stocks in general characterize the interior and small stocks the coasts, and why the dominant peoples of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were successful in displacing the preexistent and probably more primitive peoples of the Mississippi valley. While the time is not yet ripe for making final answer to these inquiries, it is not premature to suggest a relation between a peculiar development of the aboriginal stocks and a peculiar geographic conformation: In general the coastward stocks are small, indicating a provincial shoreland habit, yet their population and area commonly increase toward those shores indented by deep bays, along which maritime and inland industries naturally blend; so (confining attention to eastern United States) the extensive Muskhogean stock stretches inland from the deep-bayed eastern Gulf coast; and so, too, three of the largest stocks on the continent (Algonquian, Iroquoian, Siouan) stretch far into the interior from the still more deeply indented Atlantic coast. In two of these cases (Iroquoian and Siouan) history and tradition indicate expansion and migration from the land of bays between Cape Lookout and Cape May, while in the third there are similar (though perhaps less definite) indications of an inland drift from the northern Atlantic bays and along the Laurentian river and lakes.

The demotic organization of the Siouan peoples, so far as known, is set forth in considerable detail in Mr Dorsey's treatises52and in the foregoing enumeration of tribes, confederacies, and other linguistic groups.

Like the other aborigines north of Mexico, the Siouan Indians were organized on the basis of kinship, and were thus in the stage of tribal society. All of the best-known tribes had reached that plane in organization characterized by descent in the male line, though many vestiges and some relatively unimportant examples of descent in the female line have been discovered. Thus the clan system was obsolescent and the gentile system fairly developed; i. e., the people were practically out of the stage of savagery and well advanced in the stage of barbarism.

Confederation for defense and offense was fairly defined and was strengthened by intermarriage between tribes and gentes and the prohibition of marriage within the gens; yet the organization was such as to maintain tribal autonomy in considerable degree; i.e., the social structure was such as to facilitate union in time of war and division into small groups adapted to hunting in times of peace. No indication of feudalism has been found in the stock.

The government was autocratic, largely by military leaders sometimes (particularly in peace) advised by the elders and priests; the leadership was determined primarily by ability—prowess in war and the chase and wisdom in the council,—and was thus hereditary only a little further than characteristics were inherited; indeed, excepting slight recognition of the divinity that doth hedge about a king, the leaders were practically self-chosen, arising gradually to the level determined by their abilities. The germ of theocracy was fairly developed, and apparently burgeoned vigorously during each period of peace, only to be checked and withered during the ensuing war when the shamans and their craft were forced into the background.

During recent years, since the tribes began to yield to the domination of the peace-loving whites, the government and election are determined chiefly by kinship, as appears from Dorsey's researches; yet definite traces of the militant organization appear, and any man can win name and rank in his gens, tribe, or confederacy by bravery or generosity.

The institutional connection between the Siouan tribes of the plains and those of the Atlantic slope and the Gulf coast is completely lost, and it is doubtful whether the several branches have ever been united in a single confederation (or "nation," in the language of the pioneers), at least since the division in the Appalachian region perhaps five or ten centuries ago. Since this division the tribes have separated widely, and some of the bloodiest wars of the region in the historic period have been between Siouan tribes; the most extensive union possessing the slightest claim to federal organization was the great Dakota confederacy, which was grown into instability and partial disruption; and most of the tribal unions and coalitions were of temporary character.

Although highly elaborate (perhaps because of this character), the Siouan organization was highly unstable; with every shock of conflict, whether intestine or external, some autocrats were displaced or slain; and after each important event—great battle, epidemic, emigration, or destructive flood—new combinations were formed. The undoubtedly rapid development of the stock, especially after the passage of the Mississippi, indicates growth by conquest and assimilation as well as by direct propagation (it is known that the Dakota and perhaps other groups adopted aliens regularly); and, doubtless for this reason in part, there was a strong tendency toward differentiation and dichotomy in the demotic growth. In some groups the history is too vague to indicate this tendency with certainty; in others the tendency is clear.[pg 189]Perhaps the best example is found in the Cegiha, which divided into two great branches, the stronger of which threw off minor branches in the Osage and Kansa, and afterward separated into the Omaha and Ponka, while the feebler branch also ramified widely; and only less notable is the example of the Winnebago trunk, with its three great branches in the Iowa, Oto, and Missouri. This strong divergent tendency in itself suggests rapid, perhaps abnormally rapid, growth in the stock; for it outran and partially concealed the tendency toward convergence and ultimate coalescence which characterizes demotic phenomena.

The half-dozen eastern stocks occupying by far the greater part of North America contrast strongly with the half-hundred local stocks covering the Pacific coast; and none of the strong Atlantic stocks is more characteristic, more sharply contrasted with the limited groups of the western coast, or better understood as regards organization and development, than the great Siouan stock of the northern interior. There is promise that, as the demology of aboriginal America is pushed forward, the records relating to the Siouan Indians and especially to their structure and institutions will aid in explaining why some stocks are limited and others extensive, why large stocks in general characterize the interior and small stocks the coasts, and why the dominant peoples of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were successful in displacing the preexistent and probably more primitive peoples of the Mississippi valley. While the time is not yet ripe for making final answer to these inquiries, it is not premature to suggest a relation between a peculiar development of the aboriginal stocks and a peculiar geographic conformation: In general the coastward stocks are small, indicating a provincial shoreland habit, yet their population and area commonly increase toward those shores indented by deep bays, along which maritime and inland industries naturally blend; so (confining attention to eastern United States) the extensive Muskhogean stock stretches inland from the deep-bayed eastern Gulf coast; and so, too, three of the largest stocks on the continent (Algonquian, Iroquoian, Siouan) stretch far into the interior from the still more deeply indented Atlantic coast. In two of these cases (Iroquoian and Siouan) history and tradition indicate expansion and migration from the land of bays between Cape Lookout and Cape May, while in the third there are similar (though perhaps less definite) indications of an inland drift from the northern Atlantic bays and along the Laurentian river and lakes.

HISTORY53DAKOTA-ASINIBOINThe Dakota are mentioned in the Jesuit Relations as early as 1639-40; the tradition is noted that the Ojibwa, on arriving at the Great Lakes in an early migration from the Atlantic coast, encountered representatives[pg 190]of the great confederacy of the plains. In 1641 the French voyageurs met the Potawatomi Indians flying from a nation called Nadawessi (enemies); and the Frenchmen adopted the alien name for the warlike prairie tribes. By 1658 the Jesuits had learned of the existence of thirty Dakota villages west-northwest from the Potawatomi mission St Michel; and in 1689 they recorded the presence of tribes apparently representing the Dakota confederacy on the upper Mississippi, near the mouth of the St Croix. According to Croghan's History of Western Pennsylvania, the "Sue" Indians occupied the country southwest of Lake Superior about 1759; and Dr T.S. Williamson, "the father of the Dakota mission," states that the Dakota must have resided about the confluence of the Mississippi and the Minnesota or St Peters for at least two hundred years prior to 1860.According to traditions collected by Dorsey, the Teton took possession of the Black Hills region, which had previously been occupied by the Crow Indians, long before white men came; and the Yankton and Yanktonnai, which were found on the Missouri by Lewis and Clark, were not long removed from the region about Minnesota river. In 1862 the Santee and other Dakota tribes united in a formidable outbreak in which more than 1,000 whites were massacred or slain in battle. Through this outbreak and the consequent governmental action toward the control and settlement of the tribes, much was learned concerning the characteristics of the people, and various Indian leaders became known; Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, American Horse, and Even-his-horse-is-feared (commonly miscalled Man-afraid-of-his-horses) were among the famous Dakota chiefs and warriors, notable representatives of a passing race, whose names are prominent in the history of the country. Other outbreaks occurred, the last of note resulting from the ghost-dance fantasy in 1890-91, which fortunately was quickly suppressed. Yet, with slight interruptions, the Dakota tribes in the United States were steadily gathered on reservations. Some 800 or more still roam the prairies north of the international boundary, but the great body of the confederacy, numbering nearly 28,000, are domiciled on reservations (already noted) in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.The separation of the Asiniboin from the Wazi-kute gens of the Yanktonai apparently occurred before the middle of the seventeenth century, since the Jesuit relation of 1658 distinguishes between the Poualak or Guerriers (undoubtedly the Dakota proper) and the Assiuipoualak or Guerriers de pierre. The Asiniboin are undoubtedly the Essanape (Essanapi or Assinapi) who were next to the Makatapi (Dakota) in the Walam-Olum record of the Lenni-Lenape or Delaware. In 1680 Hennepin located the Asiniboin northeast of the Issati (Isanyati or Santee) who were on Knife lake (Minnesota); and the Jesuit map of 1681 placed them on Lake-of-the-Woods, then called "L. Assinepoualacs." La Hontan claimed to have visited the Eokoro (Arikara)[pg 191]in 1689-90, when the Essanape were sixty leagues above; and Perrot's Mémoire refers to the Asiniboin as a Sioux tribe which, in the seventeenth century, seceded from their nation and took refuge among the rocks of Lake-of-the-Woods. Chauvignerie located some of the tribe south of Ounipigan (Winnipeg) lake in 1736, and they were near Lake-of-the-Woods as late as 1766, when they were said to have 1,500 warriors. It is well known that in 1829 they occupied a considerable territory west of the Dakota and north of Missouri river, with a population estimated at 8,000; and Drake estimated their number at 10,000 before the smallpox epidemic of 1838, which is said to have carried off 4,000. From this blow the tribe seems never to have fully recovered, and now numbers probably no more than 3,000, mostly in Canada, where they continue to roam the plains they have occupied for half a century.¢EGIHAAccording to tribal traditions collected by Dorsey, the ancestors of the Omaha, Ponka, Elwapa, Osage, and Kansa were originally one people dwelling on Ohio and Wabash rivers, but gradually working westward. The first separation took place at the mouth of the Ohio, when those who went down the Mississippi became the Kwapa or Downstream People, while those who ascended the great river became the Omaha or Up-stream People. This separation must have occurred at least as early as 1500, since it preceded De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi.The Omaha group (from whom the Osage, Kansa, and Ponka were not yet separated) ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, where they remained for some time, though war and hunting parties explored the country northwestward, and the body of the tribe gradually followed these pioneers, though the Osage and Kansa were successively left behind. Some of the pioneer parties discovered the pipestone quarry, and many traditions cling about this landmark. Subsequently they were driven across the Big Sioux by the Yankton Indians, who then lived toward the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi. The group gradually differentiated and finally divided through the separation of the Ponka, probably about the middle of the seventeenth century. The Omaha gathered south of the Missouri, between the mouths of the Platte and Niobrara, while the Ponka pushed into the Black Hills country.The Omaha tribe remained within the great bend of the Missouri, opposite the mouth of the Big Sioux, until white men came. Their hunting ground extended westward and southwestward, chiefly north of the Platte and along the Elkhorn, to the territory of the Ponka and the Pawnee (Caddoan); and in 1766 Carver met their hunting parties on Minnesota river. Toward the end of the eighteenth century they were nearly destroyed by smallpox, their number having been reduced from about 3,500 to but little over 300 when they were visited by Lewis[pg 192]and Clark, their famous chief Blackbird being one of those carried off by the epidemic. Subsequently they increased in numbers; in 1890 their population was about 1,200. They are now on reservations, mostly owning land in severalty, and are citizens of the United States and of the state of Nebraska.Although the name Ponka did not appear in history before 1700 it must have been used for many generations earlier, since it is an archaic designation connected with the social organization of several tribes and the secret societies of the Osage and Kansa, as well as the Ponka. In 1700 the Ponka were indicated on De l'Isle's map, though they were not then segregated territorially from the Omaha. They, too, suffered terribly from the smallpox epidemic, and when met by Lewis and Clark in 1804 numbered only about 200. They increased rapidly, reaching about 600 in 1829 and some 800 in 1842; in 1871, when they were first visited by Dorsey, they numbered 747. Up to this time the Ponka and Dakota were amicable; but a dispute grew out of the cession of lands, and the Teton made annual raids on the Ponka until the enforced removal of the tribe to Indian Territory took place in 1877. Through this warfare, more than a quarter of the Ponka lost their lives. The displacement of this tribe from lands owned by them in fee simple attracted attention, and a commission was appointed by President Hayes in 1880 to inquire into the matter; the commission, consisting of Generals Crook and Miles and Messrs William Stickney and Walter Allen, visited the Ponka settlements in Indian Territory and on the Niobrara and effected a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of the tribe, through which the greater portion (some 600) remained in Indian Territory, while some 225 kept their reservation in Nebraska.When the ¢egiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors of the Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the Mississippi to the mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated from the group, ascending the river which bears their name. They were distinguished by Marquette in 1673 as the "Ouchage" and "Autrechaha," and by Penicaut in 1719 as the "Huzzau," "Ous," and "Wawha." According to Croghan, they were, in 1759, on "White creek, a branch of the Mississippi," with the "Grand Tuc;" but"White creek" (or White water) was an old designation for Osage river, and "Grand Tuc" is, according to Mooney, a corruption of "Grandes Eaux," or Great Osage; and there is accordingly no sufficient reason for supposing that they returned to the Mississippi. Toward the close of the eighteenth century the Osage and Kansa encountered the Comanche and perhaps other Shoshonean peoples, and their course was turned southward; and in 1817, according to Brown, the Great Osage and Little Osage were chiefly on Osage and Arkansas rivers, in four villages. In 1829 Porter described their country as beginning 25 miles west of the Missouri line and running to the Mexican line of that date, being 50 miles wide; and he gave their number as 5,000. According to[pg 193]Schoolcraft, they numbered 3,758 in April, 1853, but this was after the removal of an important branch known as Black Dog's band to a new locality farther down Verdigris river. In 1850 the Osage occupied at least seven large villages, besides numerous small ones, on Neosho and Verdigris rivers. In 1873, when visited by Dorsey, they were gathered on their reservations in what is now Oklahoma. In 1890 they numbered 158.The Kansa remained with the Up-stream People in their gradual ascent of the Missouri to the mouth of the Kaw or Kansas, when they diverged westward; but they soon came in contact with inimical peoples, and, like the Osage, were driven southward. The date of this divergence is not fixed, but it must have been after 1723, when Bourgmont mentioned a large village of "Quans" located on a small river flowing northward thirty leagues above Kaw river, near the Missouri. After the cession of Louisiana to the United States, a treaty was made with the Kansa Indians, who were then on Kaw river, at the mouth of the Saline, having been forced back from the Missouri by the Dakota; they then numbered about 1,500 and occupied about thirty earth lodges. In 1825 they ceded their lands on the Missouri to the Government, retaining a reservation on the Kaw, where they were constantly subjected to attacks from the Pawnee and other tribes, through which large numbers of their warriors were slain. In 1846 they again ceded their lands and received a new reservation on Neosho river in Kansas. This was soon overrun by settlers, when another reservation was assigned to them in Indian Territory, near the Osage country. By 1890 their population was reduced to 214.The Kwapa were found by De Soto in 1541 on the Mississippi above the mouth of the St Francis, and, according to Marquette's map, they were partly east of the Mississippi in 1673. In 1681 La Salle found them in three villages distributed along the Mississippi, and soon afterward Tonty mentioned four villages, one (Kappa = Uʞaqpaqti, "Real Kwapa") on the Mississippi and three (Toyengan = Tanwan-jiʞa, "Small Village"; Toriman = Ti-uad¢iman, and Osotonoy = Uzutiuwe) inland; this observation was verified by Dorsey in 1883 by the discovery that these names are still in use. In early days the Kwapa were known as "Akansa," or Arkansa, first noted by La Metairie in 1682. It is probable that this name was an Algonquian designation given because of confusion with, or recognition of affinity to, the Kansa or Kanze, the prefix "a" being a common one in Algouquian appellations. In 1687 Joutel located two of the villages of the tribe on the Arkansas and two on the Mississippi, one of the latter being on the eastern side. According to St Cosme, the greater part of the tribe died of smallpox in October, 1699. In 1700 De l'Isle placed the principal "Acansa" village on the southern side of Arkansas river; and, according to Gravier, there were in 1701 five villages, the largest, Imaha (Omaha), being highest on the Arkansas. In 1805 Sibley placed the "Arkensa"[pg 194]in three villages on the southern side of Arkansas river, about 12 miles above Arkansas post. They claimed to be the original proprietors of the country bordering the Arkansas for 300 miles, or up to the confluence of the Cadwa, above which lay the territory of the Osage. Subsequently the Kwapa affiliated with the Caddo Indians, though of another stock; according to Porter they were in the Caddo country in 1829. As reservations were established, the Kwapa were re-segregated, and in 1877 were on their reservation in northwestern Indian Territory; but most of them afterward scattered, chiefly to the Osage country, where in 1890 they were found to number 232.ʇƆIWE'REThe ancestry and prehistoric movements of the tribes constituting this group are involved in considerable obscurity, though it is known from tradition as well as linguistic affinity that they sprung from the Winnebago.Since the days of Marquette (1673) the Iowa have ranged over the country between the Mississippi and Missouri, up to the latitude of Oneota (formerly upper Iowa) river,- and even across the Missouri about the mouth of the Platte. Chauvignerie located them, in 1736 west of the Mississippi and (probably through error in identification of the waterway) south of the Missouri; and in 1761 Jefferys placed them between Missouri river and the headwaters of Des Moines river, above the Oto and below the Maha (Omaha). In 1805, according to Drake, they dwelt on Des Moines river, forty leagues above its mouth, and numbered 800. In 1811 Pike found them in two villages on Des Moines and Iowa rivers. In 1815 they were decimated by smallpox, and also lost heavily through war against the tribes of the Dakota confederacy. In 1829 Porter placed them on the Little Platte, some 15 miles from the Missouri line, and about 1853 Schoolcraft located them on Nemaha river, their principal village being near the mouth of the Great Nemaha. In 1848 they suffered another epidemic of smallpox, by which 100 warriors, besides women and children, were carried off. As the country settled, the Iowa, like the other Indians of the stock, were collected on reservations which they still occupy in Kansas and Oklahoma. According to the last census their population was 273.The Missouri were first seen by Tonty about 1670; they were located near the Mississippi on Marquette's map (1673) under the name of Ouemessourit, probably a corruption of their name by the Illinois tribe, with the characteristic Algonquian prefix. The name Missouri was first used by Joutel in 1687. In 1723 Bourgmont located their principal village 30 leagues below Kaw river and 60 leagues below the chief settlement of the Kansa; according to Groghan, they were located on Mississippi river opposite the Illinois country in 1759. Although the early locations are somewhat indefinite, it seems certain that the tribe formerly dwelt on the Mississippi about the mouth of[pg 195]the Missouri, and that they gradually ascended the latter stream, remaining for a time between Grand and Chariton rivers and establishing a town on the left bank of the Missouri near the mouth of the Grand. There they were found by French traders, who built a fort on an island quite near their village about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Soon afterward they were conquered and dispersed by a combination of Sac, Fox, and other Indians; they also suffered from smallpox. On the division, five or six lodges joined the Osage, two or three took refuge with the Kansa, and most of the remainder amalgamated with the Oto. In 1805 Lewis and Clark found a part of the tribe, numbering about 300, south of Platte river. The only known survivors in 1829 were with the Oto, when they numbered no more than 80. In 1842 their village stood on the southern bank of Platte river near the Oto settlement, and they followed the latter tribe to Indian Territory in 1882.According to Winnebago tradition, the ʇɔiwe're tribes separated from that "People of the parent speech" long ago, the Iowa being the first and the Oto the last to leave. In 1673 the Oto were located by Marquette west of Missouri river, between the fortieth and fortyfirst parallels; in 1680 they were 130 leagues from the Illinois, almost opposite the mouth of the Miskoncing (Wisconsin), and in 1687 they were on Osage river. According to La Hontan they were, in 1690, on Otontas (Osage) river; and in 1698 Hennepin placed them ten days' journey from Fort Crève Cœur. Iberville, in 1700, located the Iowa and Oto with the Omaha, between Wisconsin and Missouri rivers, about 100 leagues from the Illinois tribe; and Charlevoix, in 1721, fixed the Oto habitat as below that of the Iowa and above that of the Kansa on the western side of the Missouri. Dupratz mentions the Oto as a small nation on Missouri river in 1758, and Jefferys (1761) described them as occupying the southern bank of the Panis (Platte) between its mouth and the Pawnee territory; according to Porter, they occupied the same position in 1829. The Oto claimed the land bordering the Platte from their village to the mouth of the river, and also that on both sides of the Missouri as far as the Big Nemaha. In 1833 Catlin found the Oto and Missouri together in the Pawnee country; about 1841 they were gathered in four villages on the southern side of the Platte, from 5 to 18 miles above its mouth. In 1880 a part of the tribe removed to the Sac and Fox reservation in Indian Territory, where they still remain; in 1882 the rest of the tribe, with the remnant of the Missouri, emigrated to the Pouka, Pawnee, and Oto reservation in the present Oklahoma, where, in 1890 they were found to number 400.WINNEBAGOLinguistically the Winnebago Indians are closely related to the ʇɔiwe're on the one side and to the Mandan on the other. They were first mentioned in the Jesuit Relation of 1636, though the earliest[pg 196]known use of the name Winnebago occurs in the Relation of 1640; Nicollet found them on Green bay in 1639. According to Shea, the Winnebago were almost annihilated by the Illinois (Algonquian) tribe in early days, and the historical group was made up of the survivors of the early battles. Cbauvignerie placed the Winnebago on Lake Superior in 1736, and Jefferys referred to them and the Sac as living near the head of Green bay in 1761; Carver mentions a Winnebago village on a small island near the eastern end of Winnebago lake in 1778. Pike enumerated seven Winnebago villages existing in 1811; and in 1822 the population of the tribe was estimated at 5,800 (including 900 warriors) in the country about Winnebago lake and extending thence southwestward to the Mississippi. By treaties in 1825 and 1832 they ceded their lands south of Wisconsin and Fox rivers for a reservation on the Mississippi above the Oneota; one of their villages in 1832 was at Prairie la Grosse. They suffered several visitations of smallpox; the third, which occurred in 1836, carried off more than a quarter of the tribe. A part of the people long remained widely distributed over their old country east of the Mississippi and along that river in Iowa and Minnesota; in 1840 most of the tribe removed to the neutral ground in the then territory of Iowa; in 1846 they surrendered their reservation for another above the Minnesota, and in 1856 they were removed to Blue Earth, Minnesota. Here they were mastering agriculture, when the Sioux war broke out and the settlers demanded their removal. Those who had taken up farms, thereby abandoning tribal rights, were allowed to remain, but the others were transferred to Crow creek, on Missouri river, whence they soon escaped. Their privations and sufferings were terrible; out of 2,000 taken to Crow creek only 1,200 reached the Omaha reservation, whither most of them fled. They were assigned a new reservation on the Omaha lands, where they now remain, occupying lands allotted in severalty. In 1890 there were 1,215 Winnebago on the reservation, but nearly an equal number were scattered over Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where they now live chiefly by agriculture, with a strong predilection for hunting.MANDANThe Mandan had a vague tradition of emigration from the eastern part of the country, and Lewis and Clark, Prince Maximilian, and others found traces of Mandan house-structures at various points along the Missouri; thus they appear to have ascended that stream before the advent of the ¢egiha. During the historical period their movements were limited; they were first visited in the upper Missouri country by Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. About 1750 they established two villages on the eastern side and seven on the western side of the Missouri, near the mouth of Heart river. Here they were assailed by the Asiniboin and Dakota and attacked by smallpox, and were greatly reduced; the two eastern villages consolidated, and the people[pg 197]migrated up the Missouri to a point 1,430 miles above its mouth (as subsequently determined by Lewis and Clark); the seven villages were soon reduced to five, and these people also ascended the river and formed two villages in the Arikara country, near the Mandan of the eastern side, where they remained until about 1766, when they also consolidated. Thus the once powerful and populous tribe was reduced to two villages which, in 1804, were found by Lewis and Clark on opposite banks of the Missouri, about 4 miles below Knife river. Here for a time the tribe waxed and promised to regain the early prestige, reaching a population of 1,600 in 1837; but in that year they were again attacked by smallpox and almost annihilated, the survivors numbering only 31 according to one account, or 125 to 145 according to others. After this visitation they united in one village. When the Hidatsa removed from Knife river in 1845, some of the Mandan accompanied them, and others followed at intervals as late as 1858, when only a few still remained at their old home. In 1872 a reservation was set apart for the Hidatsa and Arikara and the survivors of the Mandan on Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Dakota and Montana, but in 1886 the reservation was reduced. According to the census returns, the Mandan numbered 252 in 1890.HIDATSAThere has been much confusion concerning the definition and designation of the Hidatsa Indians. They were formerly known as Minitari or Gros Ventres of the Missouri, in distinction from the Gros Ventres of the plains, who belong to another stock. The origin of the term Gros Ventres is somewhat obscure, and various observers have pointed out its inapplicability, especially to the well-formed Hidatsa tribesmen. According to Dorsey, the French pioneers probably translated a native term referring to a traditional buffalo paunch, which occupies a prominent place in the Hidatsa mythology and which, in early times, led to a dispute and the separation of the Crow from the main group some time in the eighteenth century.The earlier legends of the Hidatsa are vague, but there is a definite tradition of a migration northward, about 1765, from the neighborhood of Heart river, where they were associated with the Mandan, to Knife river. At least as early as 1796, according to Matthews, there were three villages belonging to this tribe on Knife river—one at the mouth, another half a mile above, and the third and largest 3 miles from the mouth. Here the people were found by Lewis and Clark in 1804, and here they remained until 1837, when the scourge of smallpox fell and many of the people perished, the survivors uniting in a single village. About 1845 the Hidatsa and a part of the Mandan again migrated up the Missouri, and established a village 30 miles by land and 60 miles by water above their old home, within what is now Fort Berthold reservation. Their population has apparently varied greatly, partly by[pg 198]reason of the ill definition of the tribe by different enumerators, partly by reason of the inroads of smallpox. In 1890 they numbered 522.The Crow people are known by the Hidatsa as Kihatsa (They-refused-the-paunch), according to Matthews; and Dorsey points out that their own name, Absaruke, does not mean " crow," but refers to a variety of hawk. Lewis and Clark found the tribe in four bands. In 1817 Brown located them on Yellowstone river. In 1829 they were described by Porter as ranging along Yellowstone river on the eastern side of the Bocky mountains, and numbered at 4,000; while in 1834, according to Drake, they occupied the southern branch of the Yellowstone, about the fortysixth parallel and one hundred and fifth meridian, with a population of 4,500. In 1842 their number was estimated at 4,000, and they were described as inhabiting the headwaters of the Yellowstone. They have since been duly gathered on the Crow reservation in Montana, and are slowly adopting civilization. In 1890 they numbered 2,287.THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN TRIBESThe history of the Monakan, Oatawba, Sara, Pedee, and Santee, and incidentally that of the Biloxi, has been carefully reviewed in a recent publication by Mooney54, and does not require repetition.GENERAL MOVEMENTSOn reviewing the records of explorers and pioneers and the few traditions which have been preserved, the course of Siouan migration and development becomes clear. In general the movements were westward and northwestward. The Dakota tribes have not been traced far, though several of them, like the Yanktonnai, migrated hundreds of miles from the period of first observation to the end of the eighteenth century; then came the Mandan, according to their tradition, and as they ascended the Missouri left traces of their occupancy scattered over 1,000 miles of migration; next the ¢egiha descended the Ohio and passed from the cis-Mississippi forests over the trans-Mississippi plains—the stronger branch following the Mandan, while the lesser at first descended the great river and then worked up the Arkansas into the buffalo country until checked and diverted by antagonistic tribes. So also the ʇɔiwe're, first recorded near the Mississippi, pushed 300 miles westward; while the Winnebago gradually emigrated from the region of the Great Lakes into the trans-Mississippi country even before their movements were affected by contact with white men. In like manner the Hidatsa are known to have flowed northwestward many scores of miles; and the Asiniboin swept more rapidly across the plains from the place of their rebellion against the Yanktonnai, on the Mississippi, before they found final resting place on the Saskatchewan[pg 199]plains 500 or 800 miles away. All of the movements were consistent and, despite intertribal friction and strife, measurably harmonious. The lines of movement, so far as they can be restored, are in full accord with the lines of linguistic evolution traced by Hale and Dorsey and Gatschet, and indicate that some five hundred or possibly one thousand years ago the tribesmen pushed over the Appalachians to the Ohio and followed that stream and its tributaries to the Mississippi (though there are faint indications that some of the early emigrants ascended the northern tributaries to the region of the Great Lakes); and that the human flood gained volume as it advanced and expanded to cover the entire region of the plains. The records concerning the movement of this great human stream find support in the manifest reason for the movement; the reason was the food quest by which all primitive men are led, and its end was the abundant fauna of the prairieland, with the buffalo at its head.While the early population of the Siouan stock, when first the huntsmen crossed the Appalachians, may not be known, the lines of migration indicate that the people increased and multiplied amain during their long journey, and that their numbers culminated, despite external conflict and internal strife, about the beginning of written history, when the Siouan population may have been 100,000 or more. Then came war against the whites and the still more deadly smallpox, whereby the vigorous stock was checked and crippled and the population gradually reduced; but since the first shock, which occurred at different dates in different parts of the great region, the Siouan people have fairly held their own, and some branches are perhaps gaining in strength.

DAKOTA-ASINIBOINThe Dakota are mentioned in the Jesuit Relations as early as 1639-40; the tradition is noted that the Ojibwa, on arriving at the Great Lakes in an early migration from the Atlantic coast, encountered representatives[pg 190]of the great confederacy of the plains. In 1641 the French voyageurs met the Potawatomi Indians flying from a nation called Nadawessi (enemies); and the Frenchmen adopted the alien name for the warlike prairie tribes. By 1658 the Jesuits had learned of the existence of thirty Dakota villages west-northwest from the Potawatomi mission St Michel; and in 1689 they recorded the presence of tribes apparently representing the Dakota confederacy on the upper Mississippi, near the mouth of the St Croix. According to Croghan's History of Western Pennsylvania, the "Sue" Indians occupied the country southwest of Lake Superior about 1759; and Dr T.S. Williamson, "the father of the Dakota mission," states that the Dakota must have resided about the confluence of the Mississippi and the Minnesota or St Peters for at least two hundred years prior to 1860.According to traditions collected by Dorsey, the Teton took possession of the Black Hills region, which had previously been occupied by the Crow Indians, long before white men came; and the Yankton and Yanktonnai, which were found on the Missouri by Lewis and Clark, were not long removed from the region about Minnesota river. In 1862 the Santee and other Dakota tribes united in a formidable outbreak in which more than 1,000 whites were massacred or slain in battle. Through this outbreak and the consequent governmental action toward the control and settlement of the tribes, much was learned concerning the characteristics of the people, and various Indian leaders became known; Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, American Horse, and Even-his-horse-is-feared (commonly miscalled Man-afraid-of-his-horses) were among the famous Dakota chiefs and warriors, notable representatives of a passing race, whose names are prominent in the history of the country. Other outbreaks occurred, the last of note resulting from the ghost-dance fantasy in 1890-91, which fortunately was quickly suppressed. Yet, with slight interruptions, the Dakota tribes in the United States were steadily gathered on reservations. Some 800 or more still roam the prairies north of the international boundary, but the great body of the confederacy, numbering nearly 28,000, are domiciled on reservations (already noted) in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.The separation of the Asiniboin from the Wazi-kute gens of the Yanktonai apparently occurred before the middle of the seventeenth century, since the Jesuit relation of 1658 distinguishes between the Poualak or Guerriers (undoubtedly the Dakota proper) and the Assiuipoualak or Guerriers de pierre. The Asiniboin are undoubtedly the Essanape (Essanapi or Assinapi) who were next to the Makatapi (Dakota) in the Walam-Olum record of the Lenni-Lenape or Delaware. In 1680 Hennepin located the Asiniboin northeast of the Issati (Isanyati or Santee) who were on Knife lake (Minnesota); and the Jesuit map of 1681 placed them on Lake-of-the-Woods, then called "L. Assinepoualacs." La Hontan claimed to have visited the Eokoro (Arikara)[pg 191]in 1689-90, when the Essanape were sixty leagues above; and Perrot's Mémoire refers to the Asiniboin as a Sioux tribe which, in the seventeenth century, seceded from their nation and took refuge among the rocks of Lake-of-the-Woods. Chauvignerie located some of the tribe south of Ounipigan (Winnipeg) lake in 1736, and they were near Lake-of-the-Woods as late as 1766, when they were said to have 1,500 warriors. It is well known that in 1829 they occupied a considerable territory west of the Dakota and north of Missouri river, with a population estimated at 8,000; and Drake estimated their number at 10,000 before the smallpox epidemic of 1838, which is said to have carried off 4,000. From this blow the tribe seems never to have fully recovered, and now numbers probably no more than 3,000, mostly in Canada, where they continue to roam the plains they have occupied for half a century.

The Dakota are mentioned in the Jesuit Relations as early as 1639-40; the tradition is noted that the Ojibwa, on arriving at the Great Lakes in an early migration from the Atlantic coast, encountered representatives[pg 190]of the great confederacy of the plains. In 1641 the French voyageurs met the Potawatomi Indians flying from a nation called Nadawessi (enemies); and the Frenchmen adopted the alien name for the warlike prairie tribes. By 1658 the Jesuits had learned of the existence of thirty Dakota villages west-northwest from the Potawatomi mission St Michel; and in 1689 they recorded the presence of tribes apparently representing the Dakota confederacy on the upper Mississippi, near the mouth of the St Croix. According to Croghan's History of Western Pennsylvania, the "Sue" Indians occupied the country southwest of Lake Superior about 1759; and Dr T.S. Williamson, "the father of the Dakota mission," states that the Dakota must have resided about the confluence of the Mississippi and the Minnesota or St Peters for at least two hundred years prior to 1860.

According to traditions collected by Dorsey, the Teton took possession of the Black Hills region, which had previously been occupied by the Crow Indians, long before white men came; and the Yankton and Yanktonnai, which were found on the Missouri by Lewis and Clark, were not long removed from the region about Minnesota river. In 1862 the Santee and other Dakota tribes united in a formidable outbreak in which more than 1,000 whites were massacred or slain in battle. Through this outbreak and the consequent governmental action toward the control and settlement of the tribes, much was learned concerning the characteristics of the people, and various Indian leaders became known; Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, American Horse, and Even-his-horse-is-feared (commonly miscalled Man-afraid-of-his-horses) were among the famous Dakota chiefs and warriors, notable representatives of a passing race, whose names are prominent in the history of the country. Other outbreaks occurred, the last of note resulting from the ghost-dance fantasy in 1890-91, which fortunately was quickly suppressed. Yet, with slight interruptions, the Dakota tribes in the United States were steadily gathered on reservations. Some 800 or more still roam the prairies north of the international boundary, but the great body of the confederacy, numbering nearly 28,000, are domiciled on reservations (already noted) in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The separation of the Asiniboin from the Wazi-kute gens of the Yanktonai apparently occurred before the middle of the seventeenth century, since the Jesuit relation of 1658 distinguishes between the Poualak or Guerriers (undoubtedly the Dakota proper) and the Assiuipoualak or Guerriers de pierre. The Asiniboin are undoubtedly the Essanape (Essanapi or Assinapi) who were next to the Makatapi (Dakota) in the Walam-Olum record of the Lenni-Lenape or Delaware. In 1680 Hennepin located the Asiniboin northeast of the Issati (Isanyati or Santee) who were on Knife lake (Minnesota); and the Jesuit map of 1681 placed them on Lake-of-the-Woods, then called "L. Assinepoualacs." La Hontan claimed to have visited the Eokoro (Arikara)[pg 191]in 1689-90, when the Essanape were sixty leagues above; and Perrot's Mémoire refers to the Asiniboin as a Sioux tribe which, in the seventeenth century, seceded from their nation and took refuge among the rocks of Lake-of-the-Woods. Chauvignerie located some of the tribe south of Ounipigan (Winnipeg) lake in 1736, and they were near Lake-of-the-Woods as late as 1766, when they were said to have 1,500 warriors. It is well known that in 1829 they occupied a considerable territory west of the Dakota and north of Missouri river, with a population estimated at 8,000; and Drake estimated their number at 10,000 before the smallpox epidemic of 1838, which is said to have carried off 4,000. From this blow the tribe seems never to have fully recovered, and now numbers probably no more than 3,000, mostly in Canada, where they continue to roam the plains they have occupied for half a century.

¢EGIHAAccording to tribal traditions collected by Dorsey, the ancestors of the Omaha, Ponka, Elwapa, Osage, and Kansa were originally one people dwelling on Ohio and Wabash rivers, but gradually working westward. The first separation took place at the mouth of the Ohio, when those who went down the Mississippi became the Kwapa or Downstream People, while those who ascended the great river became the Omaha or Up-stream People. This separation must have occurred at least as early as 1500, since it preceded De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi.The Omaha group (from whom the Osage, Kansa, and Ponka were not yet separated) ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, where they remained for some time, though war and hunting parties explored the country northwestward, and the body of the tribe gradually followed these pioneers, though the Osage and Kansa were successively left behind. Some of the pioneer parties discovered the pipestone quarry, and many traditions cling about this landmark. Subsequently they were driven across the Big Sioux by the Yankton Indians, who then lived toward the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi. The group gradually differentiated and finally divided through the separation of the Ponka, probably about the middle of the seventeenth century. The Omaha gathered south of the Missouri, between the mouths of the Platte and Niobrara, while the Ponka pushed into the Black Hills country.The Omaha tribe remained within the great bend of the Missouri, opposite the mouth of the Big Sioux, until white men came. Their hunting ground extended westward and southwestward, chiefly north of the Platte and along the Elkhorn, to the territory of the Ponka and the Pawnee (Caddoan); and in 1766 Carver met their hunting parties on Minnesota river. Toward the end of the eighteenth century they were nearly destroyed by smallpox, their number having been reduced from about 3,500 to but little over 300 when they were visited by Lewis[pg 192]and Clark, their famous chief Blackbird being one of those carried off by the epidemic. Subsequently they increased in numbers; in 1890 their population was about 1,200. They are now on reservations, mostly owning land in severalty, and are citizens of the United States and of the state of Nebraska.Although the name Ponka did not appear in history before 1700 it must have been used for many generations earlier, since it is an archaic designation connected with the social organization of several tribes and the secret societies of the Osage and Kansa, as well as the Ponka. In 1700 the Ponka were indicated on De l'Isle's map, though they were not then segregated territorially from the Omaha. They, too, suffered terribly from the smallpox epidemic, and when met by Lewis and Clark in 1804 numbered only about 200. They increased rapidly, reaching about 600 in 1829 and some 800 in 1842; in 1871, when they were first visited by Dorsey, they numbered 747. Up to this time the Ponka and Dakota were amicable; but a dispute grew out of the cession of lands, and the Teton made annual raids on the Ponka until the enforced removal of the tribe to Indian Territory took place in 1877. Through this warfare, more than a quarter of the Ponka lost their lives. The displacement of this tribe from lands owned by them in fee simple attracted attention, and a commission was appointed by President Hayes in 1880 to inquire into the matter; the commission, consisting of Generals Crook and Miles and Messrs William Stickney and Walter Allen, visited the Ponka settlements in Indian Territory and on the Niobrara and effected a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of the tribe, through which the greater portion (some 600) remained in Indian Territory, while some 225 kept their reservation in Nebraska.When the ¢egiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors of the Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the Mississippi to the mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated from the group, ascending the river which bears their name. They were distinguished by Marquette in 1673 as the "Ouchage" and "Autrechaha," and by Penicaut in 1719 as the "Huzzau," "Ous," and "Wawha." According to Croghan, they were, in 1759, on "White creek, a branch of the Mississippi," with the "Grand Tuc;" but"White creek" (or White water) was an old designation for Osage river, and "Grand Tuc" is, according to Mooney, a corruption of "Grandes Eaux," or Great Osage; and there is accordingly no sufficient reason for supposing that they returned to the Mississippi. Toward the close of the eighteenth century the Osage and Kansa encountered the Comanche and perhaps other Shoshonean peoples, and their course was turned southward; and in 1817, according to Brown, the Great Osage and Little Osage were chiefly on Osage and Arkansas rivers, in four villages. In 1829 Porter described their country as beginning 25 miles west of the Missouri line and running to the Mexican line of that date, being 50 miles wide; and he gave their number as 5,000. According to[pg 193]Schoolcraft, they numbered 3,758 in April, 1853, but this was after the removal of an important branch known as Black Dog's band to a new locality farther down Verdigris river. In 1850 the Osage occupied at least seven large villages, besides numerous small ones, on Neosho and Verdigris rivers. In 1873, when visited by Dorsey, they were gathered on their reservations in what is now Oklahoma. In 1890 they numbered 158.The Kansa remained with the Up-stream People in their gradual ascent of the Missouri to the mouth of the Kaw or Kansas, when they diverged westward; but they soon came in contact with inimical peoples, and, like the Osage, were driven southward. The date of this divergence is not fixed, but it must have been after 1723, when Bourgmont mentioned a large village of "Quans" located on a small river flowing northward thirty leagues above Kaw river, near the Missouri. After the cession of Louisiana to the United States, a treaty was made with the Kansa Indians, who were then on Kaw river, at the mouth of the Saline, having been forced back from the Missouri by the Dakota; they then numbered about 1,500 and occupied about thirty earth lodges. In 1825 they ceded their lands on the Missouri to the Government, retaining a reservation on the Kaw, where they were constantly subjected to attacks from the Pawnee and other tribes, through which large numbers of their warriors were slain. In 1846 they again ceded their lands and received a new reservation on Neosho river in Kansas. This was soon overrun by settlers, when another reservation was assigned to them in Indian Territory, near the Osage country. By 1890 their population was reduced to 214.The Kwapa were found by De Soto in 1541 on the Mississippi above the mouth of the St Francis, and, according to Marquette's map, they were partly east of the Mississippi in 1673. In 1681 La Salle found them in three villages distributed along the Mississippi, and soon afterward Tonty mentioned four villages, one (Kappa = Uʞaqpaqti, "Real Kwapa") on the Mississippi and three (Toyengan = Tanwan-jiʞa, "Small Village"; Toriman = Ti-uad¢iman, and Osotonoy = Uzutiuwe) inland; this observation was verified by Dorsey in 1883 by the discovery that these names are still in use. In early days the Kwapa were known as "Akansa," or Arkansa, first noted by La Metairie in 1682. It is probable that this name was an Algonquian designation given because of confusion with, or recognition of affinity to, the Kansa or Kanze, the prefix "a" being a common one in Algouquian appellations. In 1687 Joutel located two of the villages of the tribe on the Arkansas and two on the Mississippi, one of the latter being on the eastern side. According to St Cosme, the greater part of the tribe died of smallpox in October, 1699. In 1700 De l'Isle placed the principal "Acansa" village on the southern side of Arkansas river; and, according to Gravier, there were in 1701 five villages, the largest, Imaha (Omaha), being highest on the Arkansas. In 1805 Sibley placed the "Arkensa"[pg 194]in three villages on the southern side of Arkansas river, about 12 miles above Arkansas post. They claimed to be the original proprietors of the country bordering the Arkansas for 300 miles, or up to the confluence of the Cadwa, above which lay the territory of the Osage. Subsequently the Kwapa affiliated with the Caddo Indians, though of another stock; according to Porter they were in the Caddo country in 1829. As reservations were established, the Kwapa were re-segregated, and in 1877 were on their reservation in northwestern Indian Territory; but most of them afterward scattered, chiefly to the Osage country, where in 1890 they were found to number 232.

According to tribal traditions collected by Dorsey, the ancestors of the Omaha, Ponka, Elwapa, Osage, and Kansa were originally one people dwelling on Ohio and Wabash rivers, but gradually working westward. The first separation took place at the mouth of the Ohio, when those who went down the Mississippi became the Kwapa or Downstream People, while those who ascended the great river became the Omaha or Up-stream People. This separation must have occurred at least as early as 1500, since it preceded De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi.

The Omaha group (from whom the Osage, Kansa, and Ponka were not yet separated) ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, where they remained for some time, though war and hunting parties explored the country northwestward, and the body of the tribe gradually followed these pioneers, though the Osage and Kansa were successively left behind. Some of the pioneer parties discovered the pipestone quarry, and many traditions cling about this landmark. Subsequently they were driven across the Big Sioux by the Yankton Indians, who then lived toward the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi. The group gradually differentiated and finally divided through the separation of the Ponka, probably about the middle of the seventeenth century. The Omaha gathered south of the Missouri, between the mouths of the Platte and Niobrara, while the Ponka pushed into the Black Hills country.

The Omaha tribe remained within the great bend of the Missouri, opposite the mouth of the Big Sioux, until white men came. Their hunting ground extended westward and southwestward, chiefly north of the Platte and along the Elkhorn, to the territory of the Ponka and the Pawnee (Caddoan); and in 1766 Carver met their hunting parties on Minnesota river. Toward the end of the eighteenth century they were nearly destroyed by smallpox, their number having been reduced from about 3,500 to but little over 300 when they were visited by Lewis[pg 192]and Clark, their famous chief Blackbird being one of those carried off by the epidemic. Subsequently they increased in numbers; in 1890 their population was about 1,200. They are now on reservations, mostly owning land in severalty, and are citizens of the United States and of the state of Nebraska.

Although the name Ponka did not appear in history before 1700 it must have been used for many generations earlier, since it is an archaic designation connected with the social organization of several tribes and the secret societies of the Osage and Kansa, as well as the Ponka. In 1700 the Ponka were indicated on De l'Isle's map, though they were not then segregated territorially from the Omaha. They, too, suffered terribly from the smallpox epidemic, and when met by Lewis and Clark in 1804 numbered only about 200. They increased rapidly, reaching about 600 in 1829 and some 800 in 1842; in 1871, when they were first visited by Dorsey, they numbered 747. Up to this time the Ponka and Dakota were amicable; but a dispute grew out of the cession of lands, and the Teton made annual raids on the Ponka until the enforced removal of the tribe to Indian Territory took place in 1877. Through this warfare, more than a quarter of the Ponka lost their lives. The displacement of this tribe from lands owned by them in fee simple attracted attention, and a commission was appointed by President Hayes in 1880 to inquire into the matter; the commission, consisting of Generals Crook and Miles and Messrs William Stickney and Walter Allen, visited the Ponka settlements in Indian Territory and on the Niobrara and effected a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of the tribe, through which the greater portion (some 600) remained in Indian Territory, while some 225 kept their reservation in Nebraska.

When the ¢egiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors of the Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the Mississippi to the mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated from the group, ascending the river which bears their name. They were distinguished by Marquette in 1673 as the "Ouchage" and "Autrechaha," and by Penicaut in 1719 as the "Huzzau," "Ous," and "Wawha." According to Croghan, they were, in 1759, on "White creek, a branch of the Mississippi," with the "Grand Tuc;" but"White creek" (or White water) was an old designation for Osage river, and "Grand Tuc" is, according to Mooney, a corruption of "Grandes Eaux," or Great Osage; and there is accordingly no sufficient reason for supposing that they returned to the Mississippi. Toward the close of the eighteenth century the Osage and Kansa encountered the Comanche and perhaps other Shoshonean peoples, and their course was turned southward; and in 1817, according to Brown, the Great Osage and Little Osage were chiefly on Osage and Arkansas rivers, in four villages. In 1829 Porter described their country as beginning 25 miles west of the Missouri line and running to the Mexican line of that date, being 50 miles wide; and he gave their number as 5,000. According to[pg 193]Schoolcraft, they numbered 3,758 in April, 1853, but this was after the removal of an important branch known as Black Dog's band to a new locality farther down Verdigris river. In 1850 the Osage occupied at least seven large villages, besides numerous small ones, on Neosho and Verdigris rivers. In 1873, when visited by Dorsey, they were gathered on their reservations in what is now Oklahoma. In 1890 they numbered 158.

The Kansa remained with the Up-stream People in their gradual ascent of the Missouri to the mouth of the Kaw or Kansas, when they diverged westward; but they soon came in contact with inimical peoples, and, like the Osage, were driven southward. The date of this divergence is not fixed, but it must have been after 1723, when Bourgmont mentioned a large village of "Quans" located on a small river flowing northward thirty leagues above Kaw river, near the Missouri. After the cession of Louisiana to the United States, a treaty was made with the Kansa Indians, who were then on Kaw river, at the mouth of the Saline, having been forced back from the Missouri by the Dakota; they then numbered about 1,500 and occupied about thirty earth lodges. In 1825 they ceded their lands on the Missouri to the Government, retaining a reservation on the Kaw, where they were constantly subjected to attacks from the Pawnee and other tribes, through which large numbers of their warriors were slain. In 1846 they again ceded their lands and received a new reservation on Neosho river in Kansas. This was soon overrun by settlers, when another reservation was assigned to them in Indian Territory, near the Osage country. By 1890 their population was reduced to 214.

The Kwapa were found by De Soto in 1541 on the Mississippi above the mouth of the St Francis, and, according to Marquette's map, they were partly east of the Mississippi in 1673. In 1681 La Salle found them in three villages distributed along the Mississippi, and soon afterward Tonty mentioned four villages, one (Kappa = Uʞaqpaqti, "Real Kwapa") on the Mississippi and three (Toyengan = Tanwan-jiʞa, "Small Village"; Toriman = Ti-uad¢iman, and Osotonoy = Uzutiuwe) inland; this observation was verified by Dorsey in 1883 by the discovery that these names are still in use. In early days the Kwapa were known as "Akansa," or Arkansa, first noted by La Metairie in 1682. It is probable that this name was an Algonquian designation given because of confusion with, or recognition of affinity to, the Kansa or Kanze, the prefix "a" being a common one in Algouquian appellations. In 1687 Joutel located two of the villages of the tribe on the Arkansas and two on the Mississippi, one of the latter being on the eastern side. According to St Cosme, the greater part of the tribe died of smallpox in October, 1699. In 1700 De l'Isle placed the principal "Acansa" village on the southern side of Arkansas river; and, according to Gravier, there were in 1701 five villages, the largest, Imaha (Omaha), being highest on the Arkansas. In 1805 Sibley placed the "Arkensa"[pg 194]in three villages on the southern side of Arkansas river, about 12 miles above Arkansas post. They claimed to be the original proprietors of the country bordering the Arkansas for 300 miles, or up to the confluence of the Cadwa, above which lay the territory of the Osage. Subsequently the Kwapa affiliated with the Caddo Indians, though of another stock; according to Porter they were in the Caddo country in 1829. As reservations were established, the Kwapa were re-segregated, and in 1877 were on their reservation in northwestern Indian Territory; but most of them afterward scattered, chiefly to the Osage country, where in 1890 they were found to number 232.

ʇƆIWE'REThe ancestry and prehistoric movements of the tribes constituting this group are involved in considerable obscurity, though it is known from tradition as well as linguistic affinity that they sprung from the Winnebago.Since the days of Marquette (1673) the Iowa have ranged over the country between the Mississippi and Missouri, up to the latitude of Oneota (formerly upper Iowa) river,- and even across the Missouri about the mouth of the Platte. Chauvignerie located them, in 1736 west of the Mississippi and (probably through error in identification of the waterway) south of the Missouri; and in 1761 Jefferys placed them between Missouri river and the headwaters of Des Moines river, above the Oto and below the Maha (Omaha). In 1805, according to Drake, they dwelt on Des Moines river, forty leagues above its mouth, and numbered 800. In 1811 Pike found them in two villages on Des Moines and Iowa rivers. In 1815 they were decimated by smallpox, and also lost heavily through war against the tribes of the Dakota confederacy. In 1829 Porter placed them on the Little Platte, some 15 miles from the Missouri line, and about 1853 Schoolcraft located them on Nemaha river, their principal village being near the mouth of the Great Nemaha. In 1848 they suffered another epidemic of smallpox, by which 100 warriors, besides women and children, were carried off. As the country settled, the Iowa, like the other Indians of the stock, were collected on reservations which they still occupy in Kansas and Oklahoma. According to the last census their population was 273.The Missouri were first seen by Tonty about 1670; they were located near the Mississippi on Marquette's map (1673) under the name of Ouemessourit, probably a corruption of their name by the Illinois tribe, with the characteristic Algonquian prefix. The name Missouri was first used by Joutel in 1687. In 1723 Bourgmont located their principal village 30 leagues below Kaw river and 60 leagues below the chief settlement of the Kansa; according to Groghan, they were located on Mississippi river opposite the Illinois country in 1759. Although the early locations are somewhat indefinite, it seems certain that the tribe formerly dwelt on the Mississippi about the mouth of[pg 195]the Missouri, and that they gradually ascended the latter stream, remaining for a time between Grand and Chariton rivers and establishing a town on the left bank of the Missouri near the mouth of the Grand. There they were found by French traders, who built a fort on an island quite near their village about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Soon afterward they were conquered and dispersed by a combination of Sac, Fox, and other Indians; they also suffered from smallpox. On the division, five or six lodges joined the Osage, two or three took refuge with the Kansa, and most of the remainder amalgamated with the Oto. In 1805 Lewis and Clark found a part of the tribe, numbering about 300, south of Platte river. The only known survivors in 1829 were with the Oto, when they numbered no more than 80. In 1842 their village stood on the southern bank of Platte river near the Oto settlement, and they followed the latter tribe to Indian Territory in 1882.According to Winnebago tradition, the ʇɔiwe're tribes separated from that "People of the parent speech" long ago, the Iowa being the first and the Oto the last to leave. In 1673 the Oto were located by Marquette west of Missouri river, between the fortieth and fortyfirst parallels; in 1680 they were 130 leagues from the Illinois, almost opposite the mouth of the Miskoncing (Wisconsin), and in 1687 they were on Osage river. According to La Hontan they were, in 1690, on Otontas (Osage) river; and in 1698 Hennepin placed them ten days' journey from Fort Crève Cœur. Iberville, in 1700, located the Iowa and Oto with the Omaha, between Wisconsin and Missouri rivers, about 100 leagues from the Illinois tribe; and Charlevoix, in 1721, fixed the Oto habitat as below that of the Iowa and above that of the Kansa on the western side of the Missouri. Dupratz mentions the Oto as a small nation on Missouri river in 1758, and Jefferys (1761) described them as occupying the southern bank of the Panis (Platte) between its mouth and the Pawnee territory; according to Porter, they occupied the same position in 1829. The Oto claimed the land bordering the Platte from their village to the mouth of the river, and also that on both sides of the Missouri as far as the Big Nemaha. In 1833 Catlin found the Oto and Missouri together in the Pawnee country; about 1841 they were gathered in four villages on the southern side of the Platte, from 5 to 18 miles above its mouth. In 1880 a part of the tribe removed to the Sac and Fox reservation in Indian Territory, where they still remain; in 1882 the rest of the tribe, with the remnant of the Missouri, emigrated to the Pouka, Pawnee, and Oto reservation in the present Oklahoma, where, in 1890 they were found to number 400.

The ancestry and prehistoric movements of the tribes constituting this group are involved in considerable obscurity, though it is known from tradition as well as linguistic affinity that they sprung from the Winnebago.

Since the days of Marquette (1673) the Iowa have ranged over the country between the Mississippi and Missouri, up to the latitude of Oneota (formerly upper Iowa) river,- and even across the Missouri about the mouth of the Platte. Chauvignerie located them, in 1736 west of the Mississippi and (probably through error in identification of the waterway) south of the Missouri; and in 1761 Jefferys placed them between Missouri river and the headwaters of Des Moines river, above the Oto and below the Maha (Omaha). In 1805, according to Drake, they dwelt on Des Moines river, forty leagues above its mouth, and numbered 800. In 1811 Pike found them in two villages on Des Moines and Iowa rivers. In 1815 they were decimated by smallpox, and also lost heavily through war against the tribes of the Dakota confederacy. In 1829 Porter placed them on the Little Platte, some 15 miles from the Missouri line, and about 1853 Schoolcraft located them on Nemaha river, their principal village being near the mouth of the Great Nemaha. In 1848 they suffered another epidemic of smallpox, by which 100 warriors, besides women and children, were carried off. As the country settled, the Iowa, like the other Indians of the stock, were collected on reservations which they still occupy in Kansas and Oklahoma. According to the last census their population was 273.

The Missouri were first seen by Tonty about 1670; they were located near the Mississippi on Marquette's map (1673) under the name of Ouemessourit, probably a corruption of their name by the Illinois tribe, with the characteristic Algonquian prefix. The name Missouri was first used by Joutel in 1687. In 1723 Bourgmont located their principal village 30 leagues below Kaw river and 60 leagues below the chief settlement of the Kansa; according to Groghan, they were located on Mississippi river opposite the Illinois country in 1759. Although the early locations are somewhat indefinite, it seems certain that the tribe formerly dwelt on the Mississippi about the mouth of[pg 195]the Missouri, and that they gradually ascended the latter stream, remaining for a time between Grand and Chariton rivers and establishing a town on the left bank of the Missouri near the mouth of the Grand. There they were found by French traders, who built a fort on an island quite near their village about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Soon afterward they were conquered and dispersed by a combination of Sac, Fox, and other Indians; they also suffered from smallpox. On the division, five or six lodges joined the Osage, two or three took refuge with the Kansa, and most of the remainder amalgamated with the Oto. In 1805 Lewis and Clark found a part of the tribe, numbering about 300, south of Platte river. The only known survivors in 1829 were with the Oto, when they numbered no more than 80. In 1842 their village stood on the southern bank of Platte river near the Oto settlement, and they followed the latter tribe to Indian Territory in 1882.

According to Winnebago tradition, the ʇɔiwe're tribes separated from that "People of the parent speech" long ago, the Iowa being the first and the Oto the last to leave. In 1673 the Oto were located by Marquette west of Missouri river, between the fortieth and fortyfirst parallels; in 1680 they were 130 leagues from the Illinois, almost opposite the mouth of the Miskoncing (Wisconsin), and in 1687 they were on Osage river. According to La Hontan they were, in 1690, on Otontas (Osage) river; and in 1698 Hennepin placed them ten days' journey from Fort Crève Cœur. Iberville, in 1700, located the Iowa and Oto with the Omaha, between Wisconsin and Missouri rivers, about 100 leagues from the Illinois tribe; and Charlevoix, in 1721, fixed the Oto habitat as below that of the Iowa and above that of the Kansa on the western side of the Missouri. Dupratz mentions the Oto as a small nation on Missouri river in 1758, and Jefferys (1761) described them as occupying the southern bank of the Panis (Platte) between its mouth and the Pawnee territory; according to Porter, they occupied the same position in 1829. The Oto claimed the land bordering the Platte from their village to the mouth of the river, and also that on both sides of the Missouri as far as the Big Nemaha. In 1833 Catlin found the Oto and Missouri together in the Pawnee country; about 1841 they were gathered in four villages on the southern side of the Platte, from 5 to 18 miles above its mouth. In 1880 a part of the tribe removed to the Sac and Fox reservation in Indian Territory, where they still remain; in 1882 the rest of the tribe, with the remnant of the Missouri, emigrated to the Pouka, Pawnee, and Oto reservation in the present Oklahoma, where, in 1890 they were found to number 400.

WINNEBAGOLinguistically the Winnebago Indians are closely related to the ʇɔiwe're on the one side and to the Mandan on the other. They were first mentioned in the Jesuit Relation of 1636, though the earliest[pg 196]known use of the name Winnebago occurs in the Relation of 1640; Nicollet found them on Green bay in 1639. According to Shea, the Winnebago were almost annihilated by the Illinois (Algonquian) tribe in early days, and the historical group was made up of the survivors of the early battles. Cbauvignerie placed the Winnebago on Lake Superior in 1736, and Jefferys referred to them and the Sac as living near the head of Green bay in 1761; Carver mentions a Winnebago village on a small island near the eastern end of Winnebago lake in 1778. Pike enumerated seven Winnebago villages existing in 1811; and in 1822 the population of the tribe was estimated at 5,800 (including 900 warriors) in the country about Winnebago lake and extending thence southwestward to the Mississippi. By treaties in 1825 and 1832 they ceded their lands south of Wisconsin and Fox rivers for a reservation on the Mississippi above the Oneota; one of their villages in 1832 was at Prairie la Grosse. They suffered several visitations of smallpox; the third, which occurred in 1836, carried off more than a quarter of the tribe. A part of the people long remained widely distributed over their old country east of the Mississippi and along that river in Iowa and Minnesota; in 1840 most of the tribe removed to the neutral ground in the then territory of Iowa; in 1846 they surrendered their reservation for another above the Minnesota, and in 1856 they were removed to Blue Earth, Minnesota. Here they were mastering agriculture, when the Sioux war broke out and the settlers demanded their removal. Those who had taken up farms, thereby abandoning tribal rights, were allowed to remain, but the others were transferred to Crow creek, on Missouri river, whence they soon escaped. Their privations and sufferings were terrible; out of 2,000 taken to Crow creek only 1,200 reached the Omaha reservation, whither most of them fled. They were assigned a new reservation on the Omaha lands, where they now remain, occupying lands allotted in severalty. In 1890 there were 1,215 Winnebago on the reservation, but nearly an equal number were scattered over Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where they now live chiefly by agriculture, with a strong predilection for hunting.

Linguistically the Winnebago Indians are closely related to the ʇɔiwe're on the one side and to the Mandan on the other. They were first mentioned in the Jesuit Relation of 1636, though the earliest[pg 196]known use of the name Winnebago occurs in the Relation of 1640; Nicollet found them on Green bay in 1639. According to Shea, the Winnebago were almost annihilated by the Illinois (Algonquian) tribe in early days, and the historical group was made up of the survivors of the early battles. Cbauvignerie placed the Winnebago on Lake Superior in 1736, and Jefferys referred to them and the Sac as living near the head of Green bay in 1761; Carver mentions a Winnebago village on a small island near the eastern end of Winnebago lake in 1778. Pike enumerated seven Winnebago villages existing in 1811; and in 1822 the population of the tribe was estimated at 5,800 (including 900 warriors) in the country about Winnebago lake and extending thence southwestward to the Mississippi. By treaties in 1825 and 1832 they ceded their lands south of Wisconsin and Fox rivers for a reservation on the Mississippi above the Oneota; one of their villages in 1832 was at Prairie la Grosse. They suffered several visitations of smallpox; the third, which occurred in 1836, carried off more than a quarter of the tribe. A part of the people long remained widely distributed over their old country east of the Mississippi and along that river in Iowa and Minnesota; in 1840 most of the tribe removed to the neutral ground in the then territory of Iowa; in 1846 they surrendered their reservation for another above the Minnesota, and in 1856 they were removed to Blue Earth, Minnesota. Here they were mastering agriculture, when the Sioux war broke out and the settlers demanded their removal. Those who had taken up farms, thereby abandoning tribal rights, were allowed to remain, but the others were transferred to Crow creek, on Missouri river, whence they soon escaped. Their privations and sufferings were terrible; out of 2,000 taken to Crow creek only 1,200 reached the Omaha reservation, whither most of them fled. They were assigned a new reservation on the Omaha lands, where they now remain, occupying lands allotted in severalty. In 1890 there were 1,215 Winnebago on the reservation, but nearly an equal number were scattered over Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where they now live chiefly by agriculture, with a strong predilection for hunting.

MANDANThe Mandan had a vague tradition of emigration from the eastern part of the country, and Lewis and Clark, Prince Maximilian, and others found traces of Mandan house-structures at various points along the Missouri; thus they appear to have ascended that stream before the advent of the ¢egiha. During the historical period their movements were limited; they were first visited in the upper Missouri country by Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. About 1750 they established two villages on the eastern side and seven on the western side of the Missouri, near the mouth of Heart river. Here they were assailed by the Asiniboin and Dakota and attacked by smallpox, and were greatly reduced; the two eastern villages consolidated, and the people[pg 197]migrated up the Missouri to a point 1,430 miles above its mouth (as subsequently determined by Lewis and Clark); the seven villages were soon reduced to five, and these people also ascended the river and formed two villages in the Arikara country, near the Mandan of the eastern side, where they remained until about 1766, when they also consolidated. Thus the once powerful and populous tribe was reduced to two villages which, in 1804, were found by Lewis and Clark on opposite banks of the Missouri, about 4 miles below Knife river. Here for a time the tribe waxed and promised to regain the early prestige, reaching a population of 1,600 in 1837; but in that year they were again attacked by smallpox and almost annihilated, the survivors numbering only 31 according to one account, or 125 to 145 according to others. After this visitation they united in one village. When the Hidatsa removed from Knife river in 1845, some of the Mandan accompanied them, and others followed at intervals as late as 1858, when only a few still remained at their old home. In 1872 a reservation was set apart for the Hidatsa and Arikara and the survivors of the Mandan on Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Dakota and Montana, but in 1886 the reservation was reduced. According to the census returns, the Mandan numbered 252 in 1890.

The Mandan had a vague tradition of emigration from the eastern part of the country, and Lewis and Clark, Prince Maximilian, and others found traces of Mandan house-structures at various points along the Missouri; thus they appear to have ascended that stream before the advent of the ¢egiha. During the historical period their movements were limited; they were first visited in the upper Missouri country by Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. About 1750 they established two villages on the eastern side and seven on the western side of the Missouri, near the mouth of Heart river. Here they were assailed by the Asiniboin and Dakota and attacked by smallpox, and were greatly reduced; the two eastern villages consolidated, and the people[pg 197]migrated up the Missouri to a point 1,430 miles above its mouth (as subsequently determined by Lewis and Clark); the seven villages were soon reduced to five, and these people also ascended the river and formed two villages in the Arikara country, near the Mandan of the eastern side, where they remained until about 1766, when they also consolidated. Thus the once powerful and populous tribe was reduced to two villages which, in 1804, were found by Lewis and Clark on opposite banks of the Missouri, about 4 miles below Knife river. Here for a time the tribe waxed and promised to regain the early prestige, reaching a population of 1,600 in 1837; but in that year they were again attacked by smallpox and almost annihilated, the survivors numbering only 31 according to one account, or 125 to 145 according to others. After this visitation they united in one village. When the Hidatsa removed from Knife river in 1845, some of the Mandan accompanied them, and others followed at intervals as late as 1858, when only a few still remained at their old home. In 1872 a reservation was set apart for the Hidatsa and Arikara and the survivors of the Mandan on Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Dakota and Montana, but in 1886 the reservation was reduced. According to the census returns, the Mandan numbered 252 in 1890.

HIDATSAThere has been much confusion concerning the definition and designation of the Hidatsa Indians. They were formerly known as Minitari or Gros Ventres of the Missouri, in distinction from the Gros Ventres of the plains, who belong to another stock. The origin of the term Gros Ventres is somewhat obscure, and various observers have pointed out its inapplicability, especially to the well-formed Hidatsa tribesmen. According to Dorsey, the French pioneers probably translated a native term referring to a traditional buffalo paunch, which occupies a prominent place in the Hidatsa mythology and which, in early times, led to a dispute and the separation of the Crow from the main group some time in the eighteenth century.The earlier legends of the Hidatsa are vague, but there is a definite tradition of a migration northward, about 1765, from the neighborhood of Heart river, where they were associated with the Mandan, to Knife river. At least as early as 1796, according to Matthews, there were three villages belonging to this tribe on Knife river—one at the mouth, another half a mile above, and the third and largest 3 miles from the mouth. Here the people were found by Lewis and Clark in 1804, and here they remained until 1837, when the scourge of smallpox fell and many of the people perished, the survivors uniting in a single village. About 1845 the Hidatsa and a part of the Mandan again migrated up the Missouri, and established a village 30 miles by land and 60 miles by water above their old home, within what is now Fort Berthold reservation. Their population has apparently varied greatly, partly by[pg 198]reason of the ill definition of the tribe by different enumerators, partly by reason of the inroads of smallpox. In 1890 they numbered 522.The Crow people are known by the Hidatsa as Kihatsa (They-refused-the-paunch), according to Matthews; and Dorsey points out that their own name, Absaruke, does not mean " crow," but refers to a variety of hawk. Lewis and Clark found the tribe in four bands. In 1817 Brown located them on Yellowstone river. In 1829 they were described by Porter as ranging along Yellowstone river on the eastern side of the Bocky mountains, and numbered at 4,000; while in 1834, according to Drake, they occupied the southern branch of the Yellowstone, about the fortysixth parallel and one hundred and fifth meridian, with a population of 4,500. In 1842 their number was estimated at 4,000, and they were described as inhabiting the headwaters of the Yellowstone. They have since been duly gathered on the Crow reservation in Montana, and are slowly adopting civilization. In 1890 they numbered 2,287.

There has been much confusion concerning the definition and designation of the Hidatsa Indians. They were formerly known as Minitari or Gros Ventres of the Missouri, in distinction from the Gros Ventres of the plains, who belong to another stock. The origin of the term Gros Ventres is somewhat obscure, and various observers have pointed out its inapplicability, especially to the well-formed Hidatsa tribesmen. According to Dorsey, the French pioneers probably translated a native term referring to a traditional buffalo paunch, which occupies a prominent place in the Hidatsa mythology and which, in early times, led to a dispute and the separation of the Crow from the main group some time in the eighteenth century.

The earlier legends of the Hidatsa are vague, but there is a definite tradition of a migration northward, about 1765, from the neighborhood of Heart river, where they were associated with the Mandan, to Knife river. At least as early as 1796, according to Matthews, there were three villages belonging to this tribe on Knife river—one at the mouth, another half a mile above, and the third and largest 3 miles from the mouth. Here the people were found by Lewis and Clark in 1804, and here they remained until 1837, when the scourge of smallpox fell and many of the people perished, the survivors uniting in a single village. About 1845 the Hidatsa and a part of the Mandan again migrated up the Missouri, and established a village 30 miles by land and 60 miles by water above their old home, within what is now Fort Berthold reservation. Their population has apparently varied greatly, partly by[pg 198]reason of the ill definition of the tribe by different enumerators, partly by reason of the inroads of smallpox. In 1890 they numbered 522.

The Crow people are known by the Hidatsa as Kihatsa (They-refused-the-paunch), according to Matthews; and Dorsey points out that their own name, Absaruke, does not mean " crow," but refers to a variety of hawk. Lewis and Clark found the tribe in four bands. In 1817 Brown located them on Yellowstone river. In 1829 they were described by Porter as ranging along Yellowstone river on the eastern side of the Bocky mountains, and numbered at 4,000; while in 1834, according to Drake, they occupied the southern branch of the Yellowstone, about the fortysixth parallel and one hundred and fifth meridian, with a population of 4,500. In 1842 their number was estimated at 4,000, and they were described as inhabiting the headwaters of the Yellowstone. They have since been duly gathered on the Crow reservation in Montana, and are slowly adopting civilization. In 1890 they numbered 2,287.

THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN TRIBESThe history of the Monakan, Oatawba, Sara, Pedee, and Santee, and incidentally that of the Biloxi, has been carefully reviewed in a recent publication by Mooney54, and does not require repetition.

The history of the Monakan, Oatawba, Sara, Pedee, and Santee, and incidentally that of the Biloxi, has been carefully reviewed in a recent publication by Mooney54, and does not require repetition.

GENERAL MOVEMENTSOn reviewing the records of explorers and pioneers and the few traditions which have been preserved, the course of Siouan migration and development becomes clear. In general the movements were westward and northwestward. The Dakota tribes have not been traced far, though several of them, like the Yanktonnai, migrated hundreds of miles from the period of first observation to the end of the eighteenth century; then came the Mandan, according to their tradition, and as they ascended the Missouri left traces of their occupancy scattered over 1,000 miles of migration; next the ¢egiha descended the Ohio and passed from the cis-Mississippi forests over the trans-Mississippi plains—the stronger branch following the Mandan, while the lesser at first descended the great river and then worked up the Arkansas into the buffalo country until checked and diverted by antagonistic tribes. So also the ʇɔiwe're, first recorded near the Mississippi, pushed 300 miles westward; while the Winnebago gradually emigrated from the region of the Great Lakes into the trans-Mississippi country even before their movements were affected by contact with white men. In like manner the Hidatsa are known to have flowed northwestward many scores of miles; and the Asiniboin swept more rapidly across the plains from the place of their rebellion against the Yanktonnai, on the Mississippi, before they found final resting place on the Saskatchewan[pg 199]plains 500 or 800 miles away. All of the movements were consistent and, despite intertribal friction and strife, measurably harmonious. The lines of movement, so far as they can be restored, are in full accord with the lines of linguistic evolution traced by Hale and Dorsey and Gatschet, and indicate that some five hundred or possibly one thousand years ago the tribesmen pushed over the Appalachians to the Ohio and followed that stream and its tributaries to the Mississippi (though there are faint indications that some of the early emigrants ascended the northern tributaries to the region of the Great Lakes); and that the human flood gained volume as it advanced and expanded to cover the entire region of the plains. The records concerning the movement of this great human stream find support in the manifest reason for the movement; the reason was the food quest by which all primitive men are led, and its end was the abundant fauna of the prairieland, with the buffalo at its head.While the early population of the Siouan stock, when first the huntsmen crossed the Appalachians, may not be known, the lines of migration indicate that the people increased and multiplied amain during their long journey, and that their numbers culminated, despite external conflict and internal strife, about the beginning of written history, when the Siouan population may have been 100,000 or more. Then came war against the whites and the still more deadly smallpox, whereby the vigorous stock was checked and crippled and the population gradually reduced; but since the first shock, which occurred at different dates in different parts of the great region, the Siouan people have fairly held their own, and some branches are perhaps gaining in strength.

On reviewing the records of explorers and pioneers and the few traditions which have been preserved, the course of Siouan migration and development becomes clear. In general the movements were westward and northwestward. The Dakota tribes have not been traced far, though several of them, like the Yanktonnai, migrated hundreds of miles from the period of first observation to the end of the eighteenth century; then came the Mandan, according to their tradition, and as they ascended the Missouri left traces of their occupancy scattered over 1,000 miles of migration; next the ¢egiha descended the Ohio and passed from the cis-Mississippi forests over the trans-Mississippi plains—the stronger branch following the Mandan, while the lesser at first descended the great river and then worked up the Arkansas into the buffalo country until checked and diverted by antagonistic tribes. So also the ʇɔiwe're, first recorded near the Mississippi, pushed 300 miles westward; while the Winnebago gradually emigrated from the region of the Great Lakes into the trans-Mississippi country even before their movements were affected by contact with white men. In like manner the Hidatsa are known to have flowed northwestward many scores of miles; and the Asiniboin swept more rapidly across the plains from the place of their rebellion against the Yanktonnai, on the Mississippi, before they found final resting place on the Saskatchewan[pg 199]plains 500 or 800 miles away. All of the movements were consistent and, despite intertribal friction and strife, measurably harmonious. The lines of movement, so far as they can be restored, are in full accord with the lines of linguistic evolution traced by Hale and Dorsey and Gatschet, and indicate that some five hundred or possibly one thousand years ago the tribesmen pushed over the Appalachians to the Ohio and followed that stream and its tributaries to the Mississippi (though there are faint indications that some of the early emigrants ascended the northern tributaries to the region of the Great Lakes); and that the human flood gained volume as it advanced and expanded to cover the entire region of the plains. The records concerning the movement of this great human stream find support in the manifest reason for the movement; the reason was the food quest by which all primitive men are led, and its end was the abundant fauna of the prairieland, with the buffalo at its head.

While the early population of the Siouan stock, when first the huntsmen crossed the Appalachians, may not be known, the lines of migration indicate that the people increased and multiplied amain during their long journey, and that their numbers culminated, despite external conflict and internal strife, about the beginning of written history, when the Siouan population may have been 100,000 or more. Then came war against the whites and the still more deadly smallpox, whereby the vigorous stock was checked and crippled and the population gradually reduced; but since the first shock, which occurred at different dates in different parts of the great region, the Siouan people have fairly held their own, and some branches are perhaps gaining in strength.

Back to IndexNext