30 INDIANS OP THE PL UN8 



Yd. the earlier observers usually distinguish the Teton 

 from the Eastern Dakota by their non-agricultural 

 habits. Of the southern tribes, we cannot be SO sure. 

 The Cheyenne, who geem to have abandoned a forest 



home tor the plains just before the historic period have 

 traditions of maize culture, but seem to have discon- 

 tinued it soon after going into the buffalo country. 

 The Arapaho are thought by some anthropologists to 

 have preceded the Cheyenne. Yet while many writers 

 are disposed to admit that all of the southern group 

 may have made some attempts at maize growing, they 

 insist that these were feeble in comparison with the 

 Village tribes. When, however, we turn to the Plateau 

 area, there are no traces of maize growing. In asso- 

 ciation with maize it was usual to raise some varieties 

 of squash and beans. 



Thus, in a general way, the practice of agriculture 

 seems to dwindle out gradually as we leave the more 

 fertile river bottoms of the east and south, suggesting 

 that its positive absence among the extreme western 

 and northern tribes is due to unfavorable soil and 

 climate rather than to any mental or social differences in 

 the tribes concerned. This is consistent with the wide 

 distribution of tobacco raising. The Blackfoot, ('row, 

 Hidatsa, Mandan, Ankara, Pawnee, and Eastern Dakota 

 are known to have cultivated it for ceremonial purposes. 



The plants have not been closely studied, but that 

 of the Hidatsa and Mandan is Nicotiana quadrivalvis. 

 It is probable that this is the species among the other 

 tribes, with the exception of the (/row and Blackfoot. 



