MOONEY] INTERCOURSE WITH NORTHERN TRIBES 159 



lived uearest, being probably located then, as at a later period, on Ree 

 or Grand rivei', in South Dakota, which is called by their name iu the 

 various Indian languages. They describe the three tribes as living on 

 the Missouri {Tsosa P\i) river, in earth-covered grass houses (really 

 log houses, filled iu between the logs with grass and covered with earth), 

 and cultivating corn and tobacco, which they traded to the Kiowa. 

 One of the principal divisions of the Kiowa tribe, and the one to which 

 the great Dohasiin and several other prominent chiefs belonged, is the 

 K'at'a or Arikara band, so called, the Kiowa state, on account of their 

 special intimacy with the Arikara in the old times, and not because of 

 Arikara descent. The name of the band must have originated, of 

 course, subsequently to the flrst acquaintance of the two tribes. 



The Mandan they call Ddhon, "the last tipi," assigning as a reason 

 for the name that they lived farthest toward the east. The Mandan, 

 unlike the other tribes, did in fact have one of their villages on the 

 farther (eastern) bank of the Missouri. They also sometimes call them 

 Dowdl-ohdn, an older form of Dohon, and Saba', " stingy," perhaps 

 from some trade dis])ute. In the sign language the Kiowa designate 

 them by indicating tattoo marks, stating that the women, and some- 

 times the men, tattooed the arms, breast, and around the lips. This 

 agrees exactly with Clark, who says that the proper sign for Mandan 

 is intended to indicate tattooing on the chin and lower part of the face. 

 He states also, on the authority of an old plainsman, that fifty years 

 ago the Mandan women had a small spot tattooed on the forehead, 

 together with a line on the chin, while of the men the chiefs alone were 

 tattooed, this being done on one side, or one-half of the breast, or on 

 one arm and breast {Glarl; 4). It may be that the small tattooed circle 

 on the foreheads of many Kiowa women is an imitation from their Man- 

 dan sisters. Matthews says that he has seen a few old men of the 

 Hidatsa with parallel bands tattooed on the chest, thioat, and arms^ 

 but not on any other part of the body, or on any young or middle-age 

 persons in the tribe (Mattheics, 3). 



The Ilidatsa or Minitari are known to the Kiowa as Henoiiko, a name 

 which they can not translate. In this word the terminal lo is the tribal 

 suffix, while Hetuhl, is the root, possibly a derivative from Rcruntsa, 

 another form of Ilidatsa, the Kiowa having no r in their language. To 

 designate them in the sign language, they make a gesture as if dipping 

 up water with the hand, referring to their common name of Minitari, 

 "water crossers," or "water people.'' This sign is probably now obso- 

 lete in the north, as it is not noted by either Clark or Mallery. They say 

 that the Henouko called the Kiowa Datiimpdta. The Kiowa describe 

 the three tribes as about tlie same in regard to house-building methods 

 and the cultivation of corn and Indian tobacco. They have also a dis- 

 tinct recollection of the peculiar "bull boats," tub-shaped and covered 

 with rawhide, used by the Mandan and their allies. Tiiey ascribe 

 these boats more particularly to the ^landan, from whom perhaps the 

 Arikara obtained them after moving up to the same neigfhboidiood. 



