402 TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI [eth. ANN. 46 



warrior; has also killed two of his own people who were concerned 

 in the murder of his brothers; was at the Laramie treaty and since 

 behaves himself with great moderation; is one of the Crazy Bear's 

 principal soldiers and supports; and should the Bear die would 

 undoubtedly take his place as chief of the tribe. 



Wa-ke-un-to, or the Blue Thunder, is another warrior and 

 partisan in a band of 200 lodges, is not over 25 years of age, but has 

 raised himself to distinction by going to war alone on the Sioux and 

 bringing home scalps and horses; he has also headed several war 

 excursions with great success and is generally liked by his own 

 people. 



Wo'-a-see'-chah, or Bad Animal, known to traders by the name of 

 Le Serpent, is a war leader and chief of Les Gens des Canots Band, 

 the same 200 lodges of which Blue Thunder is one of the warriors 

 and camp soldiers. I believe he has never killed many enemies but 

 has murdered in quarrels two of his own people, is considered a sensi- 

 ble man, very friendly to the whites, judicious in his government of 

 his band, and also is a person whom it is not desirable to aggravate 

 too much. Me-nah (The Knife), A-wah-min-ne-o-min-ne (The 

 Whirlwind), Ish-ta-o-ghe-nah (Gray Eyes), He-boom-an-doo (La 

 Poudriere), and others are soldiers and warriors whose histories are 

 known to us and would present the usual features of savage life 

 and warfare. 



The Assiniboin speak but one dialect, being radically the same as 

 the Sioux; no other is incorporated in it, though some few can in 

 addition speak Cree and others of the northern bands of Blackfeet, 

 but no more than one interpreter is required in transacting any busi- 

 ness with each or all of them. A person who can speak the Sioux 

 language well could interpret for the Assiniboin, or vice versa. 



There are manj 7 elderly persons capable of stating their traditions 

 and willing to impart any information they are in possession of 

 regarding their history; but what is heard from them in this respect 

 is so mingled with fable and superstition as seldom to admit of its 

 serving as a basis for truth or knowledge or for a correct repre- 

 sentation of their past condition. They do not exhibit any chain of 

 connected facts; and though these oral tales have been preserved 

 entire, transmitted in their original form through successive gen- 

 erations, and may possibly have been the belief of their ancestors, yet 

 at the present day are regarded more as a source of amusement than 

 a medium of instruction or means of perpetuating their history. Too 

 much error has been the result of depending for knowledge on these 

 traditions by people who only understand them in their literal sense 

 or have been badly interpreted. All facts among the nations with 

 whom we profess an intimate acquaintance and minute knowledge 



