186 THE SIOUAN INDIANS (etii.anx. 15 



stiite of transition fiom baiharisiii to civilizatidii ; and many of tlie 

 triltesnien are losing' tiie cliaiacteiistics of activity and .somatic devcl- 

 opnieut uornial to primitive life, wliiUs tliey have not yet assimilated 

 tlio activities ami ac(|uired the somatic cbaracteristics normal to jjcace- 

 fiil sedentary life. 



Brietly, certain somatic features of the Siouan Indians, past and 

 l)rescnt, may be traced to their causes in custom and exercise of func- 

 tion; yet by far the greater number of the features are common to the 

 American people or to all maid<ind, and are of ill understood signifi- 

 cance. The few features of known cause indicate that sjjccial somatic 

 characteristics are determined largely or wholly by industrial and other 

 arts, which are primarily shaped by environment. 



HABITAT 



Excepting the Asiniboin, who are chietly in Canada, nearly all of 

 the Siouan Indians are now gathered on the reservations indicated on 

 earlier ])ages, 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 explo- 

 ration. This vagueness and variability of habitat grew out of the char 

 acteristics of tlie tribesmen. Of all the great stocks south of the 

 Arctic, the Siouan was perhaps least given to agriculture, niost intlu- 

 enced by hunting, and most addicted to warfare; thus most of the 

 tribes were but feebly attached to the soil, and freely followed the move- 

 ments 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. Accord- 

 ingly the Siouan habitat can be outlined only in ajtproximate and 

 somewhat arbitrary fashion. 



The difficulty in defining the priscau home of the Siouan tribes is 

 in(aH!ascd by its vast extent and scant peopling, by the length of the 

 period intervening between discovery in the east and comi)lete explora- 

 tion in the west, and by tlie 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 successlully accomplished, and 

 the respective areas occupied by the several stocks were ajiproximately 

 mapiied.' 



As shown on Powell's ma]), the chief part of the Siouan area com- 

 prised a single body covering most of the region of the (!reat plains, 



I Seveuth Annual Iteport of the Bureau of Ethnology, for 3885-88 (1891), pp. 1-142, and m«p. 



