SOURCE OF ST. PETEr's RIVER. 403 



of the grief he experienced at all she had suffered. A 

 mode of expressing sympathy for past troubles which, 

 however, is not common among Indians. 



The Dacotas appear to take but little pains in the edu- 

 cation of their children ; they follow no regular system. 

 What the children learn, on the subject of their religious 

 opinions and traditions, is collected gradually, and alto- 

 gether in the course of unpremeditated conversations. The 

 only attention which they receive is towards the develop- 

 ment of those qualifications, both of mind and body, which 

 shall enable them to make active hunters and dauntless 

 warriors. To rise early, to be enured to fatigue, to hunt 

 skilfully, to undergo hunger without repining, are the only 

 points to which the Dacota thinks it important to attend in 

 the education of his children. Corrections are never re- 

 sorted to, they are never flogged ; indeed, with the excep- 

 tion of occasionally throwing cold water upon them, to 

 make them rise in the morning, they never resort to any 

 authoritative measures, all which they consider as cruel 

 and unnatural. Their fondness for their children is ex- 

 treme, especially that of mothers for their daughters. It is 

 not an uncommon thing, to see a mother carry water, hew 

 wood, and undergo much fatigue, to spare it to her daugh- 

 ters. This is especially the case with the mothers of those 

 young Indian females, whom the traders take as their com- 

 panions. It does not appear that the daughters feel the least 

 compunction at the trouble which their parents undergo ; 

 they consider it all as a matter of course, being doubtless 

 prepared to go through the same drudgery for their chil- 

 dren when they shall require it. 



No event appears of more importance to a Dacota pa- 

 rent than the bestowing of a name upon his offspring. It 

 is attended with much ceremony ; a large feast or sacrifice 



