386 ON THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHILOLOGY OF THE 
Indians. Wild turnips (Psoralea esculenta), artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus), bullberries 
(Shepherdia argentea), choke-cherries (Prunus Virginiana), red plums (P. Americana), ser- 
vice-berries (Amelanchier Canadensis), rose-buds, gooseberries, currants, sour grapes, and 
a plant resembling the garden rhubarb, are the principal fruits, and are eagerly sought for 
at their proper season. When dried or cooked in various ways, they are considered great 
luxuries. Wild hops (Humulus lupulus var. Americanus), are found in abundance, pos- 
sessing all the properties of the cultivated plant. 
When the Assiniboins migrated to the Missouri and the contiguous territory now occu- 
pied by them, they numbered, as has been observed, from ten to twelve hundred lodges. 
They did not all come at the same time, but by bands, at different periods, from 1800 to 
1837, when the whole tribe may be said to have established themselves on their present 
lands, except that portion which still remains in the British territory. Their first inter- 
view with white people was at the time when the traders of the Mississippi pushed their 
traffic as far as their camps, when joined with the Dakotas proper, at which time they were 
the poorest of all Indians. They used knives made of the hump-rib of a buffalo, hatchets 
of flint, cooking utensils of clay or skin, awls and other tools made of bone, and arrow-points 
and spear-heads of stone, some of which articles can still be found among them, though 
most of them have been replaced by more durable metallic instruments obtained from the 
traders. As soon as enough had arrived on the Missouri to afford a trading establishment, 
the American Fur Company built a fort on White Earth River for their trade, which post 
was removed in a year or two and a large substantial fort built three miles above the 
mouth of the Yellowstone, on the east side of the Missouri. It required some years to 
bring these savages to anything like an appreciation of order or system, and ammunition, 
guns, knives, &c., had to be furnished them gratis; horses were sold to them very cheaply, 
and every inducement held out to them to improve their condition by labor. ‘Though 
wretchedly supplied with arms, clothing, and other necessary articles, and subject to ex- 
treme want at all times, yet they were so lazy and improvident, their wants were so few, 
that many years passed before the proceeds of their hunts more than paid the expenses of 
their trading establishment. ‘They were also of a thievish and malicious disposition, 
seldom bloodthirsty, but perpetually annoying the traders by stealing their horses, robbing 
and insulting the men in their employ when found on the prairie, killing their domestic 
cattle, and obstructing them in their operations in every way. They were the most impu- 
dent beggars, and having been supplied with many things to induce them to work, they 
at once came to the conclusion that this state of things must continue, and any refusal to 
supply their demands was resented in some of the ways just mentioned. This condition 
of affairs continued to grow worse and worse, until the gates of the fort were closed upon 
them, and they were compelled to trade within range of a loaded cannon. 
