XVI INTRODUCTION. 



matters pertaining to the language, said that ' sisiq ' was formerly used to designate a marsh or dough on 

 the prairie. The Marsh Village Dakotas occupy the Minnesota Valley, from Traverse des Sioux to Little 

 Rock, claiming the Swan Lake country on the one side, and the Blue Earth on the other. But the 

 great body of the Sisitoi)war)s have gone north and west, and now make their corn-fields about Lake 

 Traverse and on the Coteau des Prairies. They are supposed to number about twenty-jive hundred, and 

 depend mainly upon the buffalo for a subsistence. 



These Mississippi and Minnesota Dakotas are called, by those on the Missouri, Isaijties, from ' isaijati ' 

 or ' isaijyati ;' which name seems to have been given them from the fact that they once lived at 

 Isai)tamde, Knife Lake, one of those included under the denomination of Mille Lacs. 



5. The Ihai)ktoi)wai)na, one of the End Village bands, are estimated at four hundred lodges, or four 

 thousand souls. The Dakota tents on the Minnesota do not average more than about six inmates ; but 

 on the prairie, where, though the material for the manufacture of tents is abundant, tent-poles are scarce, 

 they make their dwellings larger, and average, it is thought, about ten persons to a lodge. The Ihaijktoi)- 

 warina are divided into the Huijkpatidaijs (the signification of which is not apparent) ; the Pabakse, 

 Cut-heads ; the Wazikute, Pine-shooters ; and the Kiyuksa, Dividers or Breakers of Law. Their range 

 is alonf the James River, and on the north-east side of the Missouri, up as far as the Devil's Lake. From 

 the Wazikute branch of this band the Assiniboins, or ' Holie ' of the Dakotas, are said to have sprung. 



6. The Ihar)ktoi)wafls, Village at the End, are estimated at about two hundred and forty lodges, or 

 two thousand four hundred persons. As a general thing, they are now found west of the Missouri. 

 These two bands have usually been designated by travellers under the name of ' Yanctons.' 



7. The Titoi)war)s, Village of the Prairie, are supposed to constitute about one half of the whole 

 Dakota tribe, numbering, as they say, about twelve hundred and fifty lodges, or twelve thousand five 

 hundred souls. The great probability is, that they are over estimated. They live on the western side 

 of the Missouri, and take within their range the Black Hills. With the Shyennes and Kiccarees, it 

 is said, they have formed marriage alliances, and are at war with the Pawnees and others. The 

 Titoi)war)s have never planted corn, with the exception of a few families, and they were connected 

 by marriage with white people. They are divided into seven bands or clans; viz. the Sicarigu, Burnt- 

 Thighs ; the Itazipco, Bow-pith ; the Sihasapa, Black-feet ; the Minikaijye wozupi. Those who Plant by 

 the Water ; the Oohenoqpa, Two-boilings ; and the Oglala and Iluijkpapa, the meanings of which 

 names have not been ascertained. 



The more recent migration of the Dakotas has been from north-east to south-west and west. This 

 appears from the names Mdewakaritoijwai) and Isaijati, before mentioned. Besides, there are Dakotas 

 still living who remember when the Ihaijktoflwa^jna were occupants of Lac-qui-parle and other points on 

 the upper Minnesota, from which fact they probably derived their name, as being at the end of the 

 stream. At that time the Sisitoqwaijs were all below, in the great bend of the Saint Peter's ; the 

 Wahpetoqwaqs and the Wahpekutes were inhabitants of the Big Woods and the lower part of the 

 Minnesota Valley ; the Mdewakaijtoriwaijs were on the eastern side of the Mississippi ; and the Titoi)wai)S 

 had probably not crossed to the west of the Missouri. 



Questions of priority and precedence among these bands are sometimes discussed. The Mdewa- 

 kar)toi)wai)s think that the mouth of the Minnesota river is precisely over the centre of the earth, and 

 that they occupy the gate that opens into the western world. These considerations serve to give them 

 importance in their own estimation. On the other hand the Sisitoqwaqs and Ihai)ktor)wai)s allege, that 

 as they live on the great water-shed of this part of the continent, from which the streams run northward 

 and eastward and southward and westward, thsy must be about the centre of the earth ; and they urge 

 this fact as entitling them to the precedence. It is singular that the Titoi)wai)s, who are much the 

 largest band of the Dakotas, do not appear to claim the chief place for themselves, but yield to the 

 pretensions of the Ihaqktoijwaijs, whom they call by the name of Wiciyela, which, in its meaning, may 

 be regarded as about equivalent to ' they are the people.' 



As the main object of this work has been to place before the student what is known about the 

 Dakota language, it is only necessary here to add a few remarks in reference to some points of 

 interest which are not fully brought out elsewhere. 



In the language, as spoken by the different bands of those properly denominated Dakotas, some 

 differences exist. The intercourse between the Mdewakai)toqwai)s on the Mississippi and lower Minnesota, 

 and the Wahpetoi)war|s, Wahpekutes, and a part of the Sisitoijwai) family, has been so constant, that but 

 slight variations are discoverable in their manner of speaking. In some instances where the Wahpetoij- 



