LIST OF AUTHORITIES AND COLLABORATORS. 



1. A list prepared by Williaji Dunbar, dated Xatcliez, June 30, 1800, collected 

 from tribes then " west of the Mississippi," but probably not from those very far west of 

 that river, published in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 

 vi, as read January 1(5, 1801, and communicated by Thomas Jefferson, president of the 

 society. 



2. The one published in "An Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the 

 Eocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819-1820. By order of the Hon. J. C. Cal- 

 houn, Secretary of War. under the command of Maj. S. H. Long, of the United States 

 Topographical Engineers." Philadelphia, 1823. (Commonly called James' Long's Ex- 

 pedition.) This appears to have been collected chieflj' by Mr. T. Say, from the Pani, 

 and the Kansas, Otos, Missouris, lowas, Omahas, and other southern branches of the 

 great Dakota family. 



3. The one collected by Prince Maximilian von Wied-Neuwied in 1832-'31. His 

 statement is "the Arikaras, Maudans, Minnitarris [Hidatsa], Crows [Absaroka], Chey- 

 ennes. Snakes [Shoshoni], and Blackfeet [Satsika] all understand certain signs, which, 

 on the contrary, as we are told, are unintelligible to the Dakotas, Assiniboins, Ojibwas, 

 Krihs [Crees], and other nations. The list gives examples of the sign language of the 

 former." From the much greater proportion of time spent and information obtained by 

 the author among the Mandans and Hidatsa then and now dwelling near Fort Berthold, 

 on the Upx)er Missouri, it might be safe to consider that all the signs in his list were in 

 fact procured from those tribes. But as the author does not say sb, he is not made to 

 say so in this work. If it shall prove that the signs now used by the Mandans and 

 Hidatsa more closely resemble those on his list than do those of other tribes, the inter- 

 nal evidence will be verified. This list is not published in the English edition, but 

 appears in the German, Coblenz, 183'J, and in the French, Paris, ISIO. Bibliographic 

 reference is often made to this distinguished explorer as "Prince Maximilian," as if 

 there were but one possessor of that christian name among princely families. For 

 brevity the reference in this paper will be " T17er/." 



]So translation of this list into English appears to have been printed in any shape 

 before that recently published by the present editor in the American Antiquarian, vol. 

 ii, No. 3, while the German and French editions are costly and difticult of access, so 

 the collection cannot readily be compared by observers with the signs now iimde by 

 the same tribes. The translation now presented is based upon the German original, 



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