197 



THE DACOTAS. 



This collective appellation embraces many tribes or rather nations of Indians, 

 allied to each other by affinity of language, and in some measure by community 

 of customs and feelings. They are also called Sioux and Naudowessies, and the 

 " Seven Fires," in allusion to their confederacy of seven bands or tribes. They 

 are established on both sides of the Mississippi, and on the w^estern side of that 

 river their hunting grounds extend from the Arkansas to the remote northern 

 plains, and are only bounded on the west by the Rocky Mountains. 



In the month of September 1837, 1 saw^ twenty-six chiefs and braves of the 

 Sioux nation, then in Philadelphia, on their way to the seat of government. 

 Every man of them had a broad face, high cheek bones, the large Roman nose 

 expanded at the nostrils, a wide but low forehead, and flat occiput. Their com- 

 plexion was cinnamon brown ; several of them were naked to the waist, so that I 

 was not deceived by the color of their faces, which were all painted. Their 

 figures were rather tall^ very muscular, and well proportioned. The Sioux are 

 proverbial for their belligerent and sanguinary character. General Pike, who was 

 much among them, says that from his knowledge he does " not hesitate to pro- 

 nounce them the most warlike and independent nation of Indians within the 

 boundaries of the United States, their every passion being subservient to that of 

 war."* 



The Dacota language is said to be less sonorous than the Algonquin, which 

 abounds in labials. " It is certain," says a late traveller, " that their manners and 

 customs differ essentially from those of any other tribe ; and their physiognomy, 

 as well as their language and opinions, marks them as a distinct race of people. 

 Their sacrifices and their supplications to the unknown God — their feasts after 

 any signal deliverance from danger — their meat and their burnt offerings — the 

 preparation of incense, and certain customs of their females, offer too striking a 

 coincidence with the manners of the Asiatic tribes before the commencement of 

 the Christian era, to escape observation."! 



Exped. Appendix, p. 62. t Schoolcraft, Nam Journal, &c., p. 310. 



50 



