2 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bfux. 6i 



Riggs states' that the Dakota "sonietiiuos speak of themselves 

 as the 'Oceti sakowir)/ Seven Council fires. ^ I ^ Tliis term referred to 

 the seven principal divisions, wliich comprised the tril)e or nation. 

 Each of these was divided into numerous bands. The largest of these 

 divisions was known as the Ti'toqwar), contracted to the word Teton. 

 Tliis division is said to have constituted more than half of the entire 

 tribe and to have exceeded the others in wealth and physical develop- 

 ment. They seem always to have hved west of the Missouri River. 

 The four divisions of the tribe which hved east of the Missouri are 

 now known collectively as the Santee. Riggs says: "Tlicse Missis- 

 sippi and Minnesota Dakotas are called by those on the Missouri, 

 Isanties, from 'isaqati' or 'isaqyati'; which name seems to have 

 been given them from the fact that they once hved at Isaijtamde, 

 Knife Lake, one of those included under the denomination of Mille 

 Lacs." ^ According to Riggs, these four divisions were the "Mdewa- 

 kaqtorjwaijs, Wahpekutes, Wahpetoqwaqs, and Sisitoqwaqs." Prior 

 to the Indian outbreak in 1862 the home of these bands was in 

 Mimiesota. The two remaining divisions of the tribe are "the 

 Iliayktoqwaqna and the Ihagtoqwaqs," the former living along the 

 James River and in the vicinity of Devils Lake, and the latter west 

 of the Missouri. Riggs states that "these two bands have usually 

 been designated by travelers under the name of 'Yanctons.'" In 

 the Dakota language, as spoken by tliese tliree large divisions of the 

 tribe, there exist some differences, principally in the use of certain 

 consonants. Tliese differences are fuUy set forth by Riggs.* A sim- 

 ple illustration of one of these variations occurs in the trilml name, 

 which is pronounced Dakota by the Santee and by the Yankton 

 group, and Lakota by the Teton. Although the present memoir 

 concerns chiefly the Teton group, the tribal name will be used in its 

 commonly accepted form, Dakota. The words of the songs recorded 

 by Teton are, however, given in the Teton dialect, wliilc the Santee 

 forms are used in the songs recorded by Santee. 



The earliest definite reference to this people m history is found in 

 the Jesuit Relations for 1640, in which they are ctdled ''Nadvesiv" 

 (Nadowessioux) . In the next century Col. George Croghan com- 

 piled "A List of the Different Nations and Tribes of Indians in the 

 Northern District of North America, with the Number of Tlieir 

 Fighting Men." In this list the name appears as La Suil, and in a 

 footnote the author says: "These are a nation of Indians settled 

 southwest of Lake Superior (called by the French La Sue), who, by 

 the best account that I could ever get from the French and Indians, 



1 In Grammar and Dictionary of the Dalcota T,;inguage, op. cit. , p. xv. 



2 See Dorsey, James Owen, Siouan Sociology, in Fifteenth. Rr/). Bur. Kthn., pp. 2ir)-222; article.s 

 Dakota and Sioux, in Handboolc of American Indians; and Mooney, James, Siouan Tribes p£ tiie East ■ 

 Bull. 22, But. Avicr. Elhn. 



3 Op. cit., p. xvi. 



* Ibid., pp. xvi, xvii. 



