INDIAN TRIBES OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY. 373 
Every now and then some of the Brulees’ horses would be stolen, or some lone wanderer 
outside the camp killed. In 1835, some Pawnees and Arikaras stole forty or fifty of the 
Brulees’ horses from their camp on the Niobrara, when the latter pursued and defeated them 
within a short distance of the village. Twenty-two of their enemies were killed,*their 
horses recovered, and the successful warriors returned bringing the heads, hands, feet, and 
other parts of the enemies’ bodies into camp. ‘The hands and feet were thrust on sticks 
and paraded through the village by old women, and the scalpless heads were dragged about 
with cords, followed by small boys shooting them with arrows and powder, and pelting 
them with stones, encouraged by the old women, who followed after heaping abuse upon 
the helpless and mangled remains of their once dreaded enemies. 
Gne of the amusements of this band is the driving of antelope over precipices into pens 
made for the purpose, thus inclosing and destroying several hundred at a time. The 
broken country about the source of White River is very favorable for this object. The 
animals being surrounded by several hundred people are driven through some gap in the 
hill, beyond which is a perpendicular descent of many feet, inclosed around the base with 
logs and brush, raised to a sufficient height to prevent them from jumping over. ‘The 
antelope once through the gap or pass, cannot recede, and the pressure of those from 
behind forces those in front over the descent, the rear being followed up quickly by the 
pursuers. 
Since the emigrants to California and Oregon have passed through the Dakota country, 
the Brulees have suffered more from diseases thus introduced than any other division of 
these Indians, being located nearest to the trail. Small-pox, cholera, measles, &c., have 
year after year thinned their ranks, so that comparatively few of this once numerous band 
remain, and these are hostile towards the whites, to whom the cause of their destruction 
is attributed. Their ties of relationship have been severed by the deaths of their friends, 
their head men have fallen victims, their former good order and flourishing condition have 
been deranged; and thus they have acquired a sullen and permanent hatred towards the 
white man. ‘They now comprise about one hundred and fifty lodges, scattered through this 
district in small divisions, the inmates poorly clothed, with very little game and but few 
horses. ‘They have paid some attention to the cultivation of the soil, and with proper encou- 
ragement might be made an agricultural people. The game has left their country, and with 
it the means of obtaining supplies from the traders, and now they are mainly dependent upon 
the small amount of annuities or presents given them by the United States Government. 
The Ogala’las occupy that portion of the Dakota country from Fort Laramie on the 
Platte, extending northeast, including the Black Hills, the sources of the Teton River, 
and reaching as low down as the fork of the Shyenne. They sometimes range as far west 
as the head of Grand River. ‘This region, until a recent period, was well stocked with 
