BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 125 
~The winter encampment of the expedition, Fort Mandan, was 
situated on the left bank of the Missouri, about opposite the future 
Fort Clark, and some 7 or 8 miles below the mouth of Knife River, 
and consequently several miles from the first Mandan village. Here 
the expedition remained until April 7, 1805. The lower of the 
Mandan villages was “Matootonha,” the second and smaller was 
“ Rooptahee.” The list continues and refers to “the third village 
which is called Mahawha, and where the Arwacahwas reside.” “The 
fourth village where the Minnetarees live, and which is called Meta- 
harta.” <A fifth village is mentioned but its name is not given. (Op. 
cit., pp. 120-121.) Referring to these more in detail the narrative 
tells something of their origin: November 21, 1804, “The villages 
near which we are established are five in number, and are the resi- 
dence of three distinct nations: the Mandans, the Ahnahaways, and 
the Minnetarees. The history of the Mandans, as we received it from 
our interpreters and from the chiefs themselves, and as it is attested 
by existing monuments, illustrates more than that of any other 
nation the unsteady movements and the tottering fortunes of the 
American nations. Within the recollection of living witnesses, the 
Mandans were settled forty years ago in nine villages, the ruins of 
which we passed about eighty miles below, and situated seven on the 
west and two on the east side of the Missouri. The two finding them- 
selves wasting away before the small-pox and the Sioux, united into 
one village, and moved up the river opposite to the Ricaras. The 
same causes reduced the remaining seven to five villages, till at length 
they emigrated in a body to the Ricara nation, where they formed 
themselves into two villages, and joined those of their countrymen 
who had gone before them. In their new residence they were still 
insecure, and at length the three villages ascended the Misssouri 
to their present position. The two who had emigrated together still 
settled in the two villages on the northwest side of the Missouri, 
while the single village took a position on the southeast side. In 
this situation they were found by those who visited them in 1796; 
since which the two villages have united into one. They are now in 
two villages, one on the southeast of the Missouri, the other on the 
opposite side, and at the distance of three miles across. The first, 
in an open plain, contains about forty or fifty lodges, built in the 
same way as those of the Ricaras: the second, the same number, and 
both may raise about three hundred and fifty men. 
“On the same side of the river, and at the distance of four miles 
from the lower Mandan village, is another called Mahaha. It is 
situated in a high plain at the mouth of the Knife river, and is the 
residence of the Ahnahaways. This nation, whose name indicated 
that they were ‘ people whose village is on a hill, formerly resided 
