l'J8 THE SIOUAN INDIANS [etii. an-n. 15 



reason of tlie ill definition of tlie tribe by different eimnierati>rs, partly 

 by reason of the inroads of smallpox. In 1S90 they numbered '>2'2. 



The Crow people are known by the llidatsa as ]\:iliatsa (They-rcfused- 

 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 llrown 

 located them on Yellowstone river. In ISl'K they were described by 

 Porter as ranging along Yellowstone river on the eastern side of the 

 Eocky mountains, and numbered at 4,000; while in IS.'ii, according to 

 Drake, they occupied the southern branch of the Y'ellowstone, about 

 the fortysixth parallel and one hundred and fifth meridian, vdth a 

 population of 4,.^00. In lSt2 their number was estimated at 4,000. and 

 they were described as inhabiting the headwaters of the Y'ellowstone. 

 They have siuce been duly gathered on the Crow reservation in Mon- 

 tana, and are slowly adopting civilization. In 1890 they numbered 

 2,287. 



THE EASTERN AND SOUTHEKN TRIBES 



The history of the Mouakau, Catawba, Sara, Pedee, and Santee, and 

 incidentally that of the Biloxi, has been carefully reviewed in a recent 

 publication by Mooney,' and does not require repetition. 



GENERAL MOVEMENTS 



On reviewing the records of explorers and pioneers and the ft'vr tra- 

 ditions 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 JIandan, according to their tradition, and as 

 they ascended the Missouri left traces of their occupancy scattered 

 over 1,000 miles of migration; next the (fegiha descended the Ohio 

 and passed from the cis-Mississippi forests over the trans-Mississippi 

 j)lains — 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 j^oi^e're, first recorded near the IMississippi, pushed 300 

 miles westward; while the \Vinnebago gradually emigrated from the 

 region of the Creat Lakes into the trans-Mississippi country even 

 before their movements were aifected by contact with white men. In 

 like manner the llidatsa are known to have flowed northwestward 

 many scores of miles; and the Asiniboin swept more rapidly across the 

 plains from the ])lace of their rebellion against the Yanktonnai, on the 

 Mississippi, before they found final resting place on the Saskatchewan 



' Siouan Tribes of tho East, 1894. 



