234 ON THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHILOLOGY OF THE 
Any additional sounds that may be needed, will be noted at the bottom of the page in 
succeeding portions of the work. 
All the syllables are separated, for greater distinctness, and accented when it could be 
done with certainty. The accents of some words are omitted, from neglect when securing 
them in the country, and I dare not trust to my memory to remedy the matter now. 
In all my researches in the Northwest, most important aid has been rendered to me by 
the different members of the American Fur Company. All their stores of knowledge of 
Indian life, language, and character, which they had acquired by years of intercourse with 
the different tribes, were freely imparted to me, only a small portion of which is given in 
the following pages. I am especially indebted to Mr. Alexander Culbertson, the well- 
known agent of the American Fur Company, who has spent thirty years of his life among 
the wild tribes of the Northwest, and speaks several of their languages with great ease. 
To Mr. Andrew Dawson, Superintendent of Fort Benton, Mr. Charles E. Galpin, of Fort 
Pierre, and E. T. Denig, of Fort Union, I am under great obligations for assistance freely 
granted at all times. 
To the Smithsonian Institution, and to Professor Henry, I am indebted for rooms, 
books, and every facility that could be afforded, for the prosecution of my studies. The 
memoir was written within the walls of the Institution. 
I wish also to acknowledge my indebtedness to the veteran author, Mr. H. R. School- 
craft, for the loan of many rare books, and especially to Col. Peter Force for the free use 
of rare books in his magnificent collection, without access to which the present work 
would have been far less complete. 
The Indian reservations were located on the map under the direction of Hon. Wm. P. 
Dole, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. This map represents the latest information of 
that Bureau. 
CHAPTER It. 
ETHNOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. 
I. KNISTENEAUX, OR CREES. 
A great difficulty occurs at the commencement of the history of any of these prairie 
tribes, in discovering anything of ancient date of a reliable character. Among people where 
no written records exist, and whose only method of preserving their national history is oral 
tradition, this, after being handed down through several generations, becomes usually so 
confused and fabulous by the additions and fanciful embellishments of the several narrators, 
