378 PREFACE 



"It is presumed the following pages exhibit a minutiae of infor- 

 mation on those subjects not to be obtained either by transient visi- 

 tors or a residence of a few years in the country, without being, as is 

 the case with myself, intimately acquainted with their camp regula- 

 tions, understanding their language, and in many instances entering 

 into their feelings and actions. 



" The whole has been well digested, the different subjects pursued 

 in company with the Indians for an entire year, until satisfactory 

 answers have been obtained, and their motives of speech or action 

 well understood before placing the same as a guide and instruction to 

 others. 



" The answers refer to the Sioux, Arikara, Mandan, Gros Ventres, 

 Cree, Crow, Assiniboin. and Blackfeet Nations, who are designated as 

 prairie, roving, or wild tribes — further than whom our knowledge 

 does not extend. 



" I am aware of your capacity to judge the merits of the work and 

 will consider myself highly honored if I have had the good fortune 

 to meet your approbation; moreover I shall rejoice if I have con- 

 tributed in any degree toward opening a course of policy on the part 

 of the Government that may result in the amelioration of the sad 

 condition of the savages. Should the facts herein recorded ever be 

 published or embodied in other work it is hoped the errors of 

 language may be corrected, but in no instance is it desired that the 

 meaning should miscarry." 



Elsewhere in this letter Mr. Denig writes : " Some of their cus- 

 toms and opinions now presented, although very plain and common 

 to us who are in their daily observance, may not have been rendered 

 in comprehensible language to those who are strangers to these 

 things, and the number of queries, the diversity of subjects, etc., 

 have necessarily curtailed each answer to as few words as possible." 



The report was made in response to a circular of " Inquiries, Re- 

 specting the History, Present Condition, and Future Prospects of 

 the Indian Tribes of the United States," by Henry R. Schoolcraft, 

 Office of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C, printed in Philadelphia, 

 Pa., in 1851. This circular is a reprint of the circular issued in July, 

 1847, in accordance with the provisions of section 5, chapter 66, of 

 the Laws of the Twenty-ninth Congress, second session, and ap- 

 proved March 3, 1847, which read, " And be it fwther enacted, That 

 in aid of the means now possessed by the Department of Indian 

 Affairs through its existing organization, there be, and hereby is, 

 appropriated the sum of five thousand dollars to enable the said 

 department, under the direction of the Secretary of War, to collect 

 and digest such statistics and material as may illustrate the history, 

 the present condition, and future prospects of the Indian tribes of the 

 United States." 



