274 ON THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHILOLOGY OF THE 
GIS 12 a IB Ie WY It. 
Ill. SHYENNES. 
ETHNOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. 
ComPARATIVELY little has been published in regard to this tribe of Indians, and their 
former history is quite obscure. ‘The few facts already recorded seem to render it very 
probable that they emigrated from the north and northeast to their present location, but I 
can find no reliable account of their movements or their history, in any works within my 
reach. How so important and interesting a tribe of Indians has escaped the notice of 
travellers, is a matter of some surprise. Even the indefatigable Schoolcraft was unable to 
obtain any extended account of them. From my own personal observations, and from all 
the sources within my reach, I have constructed the following brief sketch of this tribe. 
This nation has received a variety of names from travellers and the neighboring tribes, 
as Shyennes, Shiennes, Cheyennes,; Chayennes, Sharas, Shawhays, Sharshas, and by the 
different bands of the Dakotas, Shai-én-a, or Shai-é-la, the meaning of which is not known. 
On the Missouri River, near latitude 45° and longitude 101°, is the entrance of the Great 
Shyenne River, one of the most important branches of the Missouri. It takes its rise In 
the divide between the valley of the Yellowstone, and that of the Missouri, and is called 
by the Dakota Indians, Wash-te’-wah-pa, or Good River. About thirty miles below the 
eastern base of the Black Hills, is the junction of two important branches, called the 
North and South Forks of the Shyenne. The South Fork rises far to the northward of 
the Black Hills, in the arid, tertiary hills which form the dividing ridge between the waters 
of the Yellowstone and those of the Missouri, and flows around the southern base of the 
Black Hills, receiving numerous tributaries from the mountains. The North Fork rises 
in the same dividing ridge, making a flexure around the northern base of the Black Hills, 
likewise receiving numerous branches, fed by springs in these hills. Uniting, they form 
the Great Shyenne, as before mentioned. The country bordering this river, from its 
mouth to the junction of the two forks, is underlaid by the black, plastic, saline clays of 
the cretaceous system, and is, consequently, for the most part, quite arid and barren. 
The bottoms, however, forming the immediate valley, are clothed with grass, and furnish 
a supply of fuel sufficient for all the wants of the Indian. Game is also quite abundant, 
as elk, deer, and antelope, and in former years, vast herds of buffalo roamed over this 
region, though at the present time, only now and then a stray bull is seen along this river 
from mouth to source. In the vicinity of the Black Hills, the clear, beautiful streams 
that flow from the mountains, swarm with beaver, the prairies are covered with antelope, 
and the wooded valleys and hills are favorite resorts for ell and deer, the whole rendering 
