Illinois, and that they spoke a language altogether distinct from the Algonkin and the Iroquois. They are said by Charlevoix to have been, in the year 1701, in alliance with the Sauks, the Foxes, and the Potowotamies, against both the Sioux and the Iroquois ; and he adds in his journal, (1721,) that they formerly lived on the shores of Green Bay, but had retired farther inland. Carver was the first American who, in the year 1766, travelled through their country, at which time they appear to have been on friendly terms with the Sioux and all their neighbours. Pike, in 1807, estimated their number at two thousand; but, according to the War Department, they amount to four thousand six hundred souls, and appear to cultivate the soil to a considerable degree. Their principal seats are on the Fox River of Lake Michigan, and towards the heads of the Rock River of the Mississippi. Their territory extends northwardly towards the Wisconsin; and they are bounded on the north by the Menomonies, on the west by the Sauks, and on the south by the Potowotamies. As their limits are nearly the same as one hundred and fifty years ago, it may be presumed that they have, during that time, lived generally on friendly terms with the Algonkin tribes by which they are surrounded; but of their former history we know but little. They took part with the British during the last war against the Americans. Their vocabulary, which was received from the War Department, had been transmitted by Mr. N. Boivin, an Indian agent. Some words were supplied by General Cass; and some have been taken from Major Long's account of his first expedition.

The Sioux proper, or Naudowessies, names given to them by the Algonkins and the French, call themselves Dahcotas, and sometimes Ochente Shakoans, or, "The Seven Fires," and are divided into seven bands or tribes, closely connected together, but apparently independent of each other. They do not appear to have been known to the French before the year 1660; and they are distinctly mentioned for the first time, in the year 1666, by Father Allouez, then a missionary at Chagouamigong, towards the southwestern extremity of Lake Superior. He says that they lived forty leagues more westwardly in a prairie country; that they did not cultivate the ground; that they were ferocious, warlike, and feared by all their neighbours; and that they spoke a language entirely distinct from any other known to the French. It has already been stated,

that they had a war with the Hurons and the Ottowas of Lake Michigan, who had taken refuge in that quarter, and compelled them to abandon the country. The French carried on a trade with them from their post at Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi; but it is only very lately that they have come into contact with the Americans. Carver was the first who visited them, and gave a short vocabulary of their language, which is generally correct.*

*

It may be observed that, considering the short time which Carver resided among the Indians, and that he derived his information of the country north of St. Anthony's Falls almost entirely from Indian reports, his geographical notices of the upper Mississippi were remarkably correct. He is the first who placed the sources of that river within about forty miles of their actual position, in the vicinity of the Red Lake of the Red River of Lake Winnipek, and south of the Lake of the Woods. The map annexed to the original edition of his Travels was published during his life, in the year 1778, but does not appear to have been deemed authentic by the commissioners who negotiated the treaty of peace of 1783. The pretended grant of lands from the Indians to him is neither alluded to, nor annexed to that original edition. It made its first appearance after his death, and in subsequent editions.

The four most eastern tribes of the Dahcotas are known by the name of Mendewahkantoan, or "Gens du Lac," Wahkpatoan and Wahkpakotoan, or " People of the Leaves," and Sisitoans. The first of these is the only one that cultivates the ground, and occupies, on the east side of the Mississippi, a tract of country extending from the Prairie du Chien, in the forty-third, to the Spirit Lake, north of the forty-sixth degree of north latitude. The three other, inhabit the country between the Mississippi and the St. Peter's, and that on the southern tributaries of this river, as well as that which lies on the head waters of the Red River of Lake Winnipek. These four are better known to us than the more westerly tribes; and their aggregate number may be fairly estimated at about five thousand souls.

The three westerly tribes, the Yanktons, the Yanktoanans, and the Tetons, wander between the Mississippi and the Missouri, extending southerly to the forty-third degree of north

That which he has given of the Chippeways is only a transcript of that of La Hontan, spelt according to the English orthography.

latitude and some distance west of the Missouri, between the forty-third and forty-seventh degrees of latitude. According to Lewis and Clarke, who in their ascent up the Missouri had frequent interviews with them, their number does not exceed six thousand souls. Renville, a half-breed Dahcota, who served as an interpreter in Major Long's second expedition, has raised the number to twenty-one thousand six hundred, of whom he allows fourteen thousand four hundred to the Tetons alone. From the still more exaggerated account he gave of the population of the Assiniboins, whom he supposed to be still less known to us, very little reliance can be placed on his statements in that respect; and it is believed, though our data are imperfect, that the seven tribes together amount at most to twenty thousand souls.

The western Dahcota tribes have carried on a constant predatory war against all the tribes living on the Missouri, or its tributary streams, from the Mandans to the Osages; and the eastern tribes appear to have been, from time immemorial, inveterate enemies of the Chippeways. The government of the United States has, during the last thirty years, used unremitted efforts to establish a permanent peace between them, and lately, it is believed, with better hope of success.

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The Assiniboins (Stone Indians), as they are called by the Algonkins, are a Dahcota tribe, separated from the rest of the nation, and on that account called Hoha or Rebels," by the other Sioux. They are said to have made part originally of the Yanktons; but we are not acquainted with their real name. Their separation must have taken place at an earlier date than has been presumed by late writers. Father Marquette, writing in the year 1669, from the Chagouamigong Mission, after having mentioned the Nadouessies, as a formidable nation speaking a language altogether different from the Algonkin and the Huron, adds, that the Assiniponiels have almost the same language as the Nadouessies, and live about fifteen days' journey from the mission on a lake, which, from a map annexed to that volume of the Relations, inust have been Lake Winnipek. The only detailed account we have of them was given by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and is confirmed by subsequent English writers. They formed an intimate connexion with the Knistinaux and, jointly with them, drove away the ancient inhabitants of the main Saskachawin and of the north branch of the same river. They also continued to occupy the

country bordering on the river, which bears their name, and is the western branch of the Red River of Lake Winnipek.* It is probable from its situation north of the Yanktons, that this was their original seat. Mackenzie estimates their aggregate number in both places at about five thousand souls, which may be underrated. According to Renville's account, they would amount to twenty-eight thousand. Lewis and Clarke estimate them at sixteen hundred warriors, or rather more than six thousand souls.

Another tribe, called Shyennes or Cheyennes, were at no very remote period seated on the left bank of the Red River of Lake Winnipek, and have left their name to one of its tributary streams. Carver reckoned them as one of the Sioux tribes; and Mackenzie informs us that they were driven away by the Sioux. They now live on the head waters of the river Shyenne, a southwestern tributary of the Missouri. The names of the chiefs who signed the treaty, concluded with them in 1825 by the United States, are pure Dahcota of the Yankton dialect, as will be seen amongst the appended vocabularies. It had been thence concluded that they certainly were a Sioux tribe. I have been however assured, by a wellinformed person who trades with them, that they speak a distinct language, for which there is no European interpreter ; that the treaty was carried on, through the medium of some of the Sioux; and that the Indian names subscribed to the treaty are translations into the Sioux language of the Shyenne names of the chiefs. They are estimated by Lewis and Clarke at sixteen hundred, and by the War Department at two thousand souls.

We have only two vocabularies of the Dahcota dialects. That of the Yanktons was obtained by Dr. Say. That of the eastern Dahcotas of the Mississippi has been principally extracted from one transmitted by General Cass to the War Department, and partly from those of Mr. Keating and Major Long. It is probable that the dialects of the Tetons and of the Assiniboins, though similar, differ from both. A few words of that of the Assiniboins, supplied by Umfreville, will be found amongst the supplementary vocabularies.

*The source of Mouse River, a southern tributary of the Assiniboin, is within one mile of the main Missouri River, about one hundred miles above the Mandan village. The slightest variation in the nature and elevation of the intervening ground would have thrown all the waters of the upper Missouri into Lake Winnipek and Hudson's Bay.

The Minetares (Minetaree and Minetaries) consist of three tribes, speaking three different languages which belong to a common stock. Its affinities with the Dahcota are but remote, but have appeared sufficient to entitle them to be considered as of the same family.

Two of those tribes, the Mandanes, whose number does not exceed fifteen hundred, and the stationary Minetares, amounting to three thousand souls, including those called Annahawas, cultivate the soil, and live in villages situated on, or near the Missouri, between the forty-seventh and forty-eighth degrees of north latitude. They are kept in a state of perpetual alarm by the Assiniboins, the Tetons, the Rapid Indians, and other erratic tribes, and have on that account been often obliged to change the seat of their villages. Yet they have been often quarrelling with the Ricaras, who like them are an agricultural people; and they make often predatory expeditions against the Shoshonees, in the eastern valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Both the Mandanes and the Minetares consider themselves as natives of that part of the country. The tradition of the Mandanes is, that they came from under ground by means of a great vine, which, breaking under the weight of some of them, has left behind a part of their nation whom they expect to join after death. The color of the chief, who visited Washington, appeared less dark than that of our Indians; and he was the only full-breed Indian, ever seen by me, whose eyes were of a bluish cast. It is believed that this is the tribe, often spoken of as white Indians, and which gave rise to the fabulous account of a tribe descended from the Welsh and speaking their language; a tale, which the knowledge we have now acquired of the various Indian nations and of their dialects has set at rest.

The third Minetare tribe is that known by the name of the Crow or Upsaroka nation, probably the Keeheetsas of Lewis and Clarke. They are an erratic tribe, who hunt south of the Missouri, between the Little Missouri and the sontheastern branches of the Yellowstone River. According to Mr. Donald Mackenzie, who resides at the mouth of the Yellowstone, they have about three hundred lodges, and may be computed at three thousand souls.

The vocabulary of the stationary Minetares, and the specimen of the Crow or Upsaroka dialect, were obtained by Dr. Say. We knew from Lewis and Clarke, that the Mandanes spoke a kindred dialect, and this has been confirmed by the