GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES, 35 



On the contrary, depredations are committed not unfrequently whicli 

 are attributed to them, for which they must suffer, in the estimation of 

 the white settlers, whether guilty or not. 



Situated as they are at present, they are like a small tree under the 

 shadow of a large one; they will dwindle away slowly and soon become 

 extinct. 



If the agents of the Government that are sent among them would 

 do their duty, and they (the Indians) would put forth a proper amount 

 of industry and energy, they might become very comfortable and pros- 

 perous, even rich; but they are constantly deteriorating, and they now 

 possess none of the warlike, manly qualities which are exhibited by 

 some of the wild tribes farther west. They are a filthy, begging, lying, 

 thieving race, lazy and improvident in the extreme, doing nothing that 

 can possibly gain the respect of any white man. It would be better 

 for both Indian and white man if all these wild tribes that are located 

 in Kansas and Nebraska could be removed far west, where they would 

 be prevented from contact with the whites. 



The study of the language of the different Indian tribes of the West 

 is one of peculiar interest to the philologist. In my memoir on the 

 "Ethnography and Philology of the Indian Tribes of the Missouri Val- 

 ley," in the possession of the Commissioner, I have attempted to give 

 some illustrations of the language of the tribes roaming about the 

 sources of the Missouri. I hope, at some future period, to prepare a 

 second part, containing examples of the languages of the different tribes 

 along the Lower Missouri. I have prepared these notes to aid me in 

 making out their history. 



The language of the Otoes belongs to the Dakota group, which com- 

 prises a large number of tribes: Iowa, Otoe, Missouri, Winnebago^ 

 Kansas, Osage, Quapaw, Omaha, and Ponka, of the Lower Missouri. 

 All the different bands of the Dakotas, Sioux, Crows, MinuetareeSy 

 Mandans, and the Assiniboins of the Upper Missouri, belong to one 

 group, and the careful student will discover a relationship more or less 

 close in all their dialects; yet most of the tribes cannot understand each 

 other, and interpreters are required for each. 



The Eev. William Hamilton, of Bellevue, Sarpy County, who lived 

 many years among the Iowa and Otoe Indians as a missionary, has 

 written a very good grammer of their language, a copy of which I was 

 able to procure. 



Note. — I forgot to mention the Green-Corn Dance. This is going on 

 every evening at this season of the year, as the corn is becoming fit for 

 roasting. They build a fire in the center of the lodge, and dance around, 

 keeping time with a rude thumping on a gong. Their women and 

 children all join in the dance. 



I found two old village sites, one at Blue Spring, on the Big Blue; 

 the foundations of the huts can be distinctly seen by the greater growth 

 of weeds, and old pottery and arrow-heads have been found there. I 

 think it was once the village of the Pawnees. At another locality, 

 between Turkey Creek and Big Blue, at their junction, a most beautitui 

 locality, some specimens of pottery were dug up three feet under ground. 

 It is plain there was a village here many years ago; how far back in the 

 past it is impossible to tell. Some information may be obtained from 

 the tribe, perhaps. 



JOHNSON COUNTY. 



The north branch of the Great Nemaha Eiver runs nearly diagonally 

 through Johnson County, in a southeasterly direction. It is the only 



