INDIAN TRIBES OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY. 347 
Platte, and numbered about two hundred and eighty men. ‘There was also a fourth band, 
who originally ranged over the country bordering on the Kansas and Arkansas, but were 
so often defeated in their wars with the Osages that they removed to Red River, forming 
a tribe of four hundred men. ‘All these tribes live in villages and raise corn; but during 
the intervals of culture rove in the plains in quest of buffalo.” The band last mentioned 
undoubtedly includes the Huecos and Witchitas, whose villages are now located near each 
other, between the Washita and Red Rivers. According to Gregg, these two tribes have 
been called Pawnee Picts, from their habit of profuse tattooing. 
At the time of Major Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, in 1820, three bands, 
Grand Pawnees, Pawnee Republics, and Pawnee Loups, all resided on the Platte and its 
branches, and numbered about ten thousand souls. They seem to have been at that time 
in a prosperous condition, and much devoted to agricultural pursuits. 
The Pawnees at this time reside on the Loup’ Fork, a tributary of the Platte, having 
been assigned a reservation on that river by the United States Government. 
Very little attention has been given to the language of the Pawnees, as well as to their 
history. So far as I can learn, the first vocabulary of their language was taken by Mr. 
Say in 1820, and published in the report of Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. 
The Prince Neuwied also obtained a few words, and Gallatin, in his “Synopsis” (Archeo- 
logia Americana, Vol. II, pp. 305-367), simply repeats Say’s list of words. Rev. Mr. Dun- 
bar, for a long time a missionary among the Pawnees, prepared a small elementary work 
in their language for the use of the mission, but as yet I have been unable to secure a 
copy. No attempt has ever been made to work out the grammatical structure of the lan- 
guage. The following vocabulary was obtained for me by the Rev. William Hamilton, of 
Bellevue, Nebraska, and, from his great experience in such matters, it is entitled to much 
confidence. I have simply made some changes in the letters employed, to render the 
orthography uniform throughout the entire memoir, and arranged the words in alphabetical 
order. 
VOCABULARY OF THE PAWNEE LANGUAGE. 
A. B. 
alive, ki’-si-kit. back, lik-sta’-ku, lék-sta’-ku. 
all, kit’-o. bad, kau-ku’-ra-hi. 
ant, pit’-a-ru. bag, ka-dos’. 
antelope, a-pi’-ka-tos, flat horns. éat-ka-tos’, a woman’s bag or satchel. 
arm, pe’-ru. bark, laks-kis’. 
arrow, li’-ksu. beak, éds, beak, or nose. 
autumn, lits’-ko-ki. bean, at-it’. 
axe, ka-ta’-ra-ki. at-it’-di-wi’-ru, round bean, or pea. 
ka-ta/-ra-ta’-it, a battle-axe. bear, ko-roks’. 
