12T 



present number. They live in fortified villages ; 

 claim no particular tract of country ; hunt only 

 in their own neighbourhood ; raise corn, beans, 

 melons, squashes, pumpkins, and tobacco. They 

 barter these articfes, and horses and mules, With 

 their neighbours, the Assinniboins, for guns, am- 

 munition, axes, kettles, and many other articles, 

 which are purchased of the Canadian traders, on 

 the Assinniboin river. The traders themselves 

 frequently bring their merchandise to them. The 

 Mandans, again, exchange the articles thus ob- 

 tained, for horses, leather tents, furs, and peltry, 

 with the Crow Indians, and many other nations, 

 who visit them for the purpose of traffic. The 

 trade carried on, at these villages, gives them 

 some resemblance of mercantile towns. They 

 reside on both sides of the Missouri, about sixteen 

 hundred miles from its mouth. 



The Ah-wah-ha-wa, or Gens de Soulier, is a 

 small nation, very little different from the 

 Mandans, excepting that they carry on a constant 

 and unjust warfare with the defenceless Snake 

 Indians. They have fifty warriors, and two hun- 

 dred inhabitants. Their village is only three 

 miles above the Mandans, on the south side of 

 the Missouri. They claim to have been a part 

 of the Crow Indians, whom they still acknowl- 

 edge as relation, but have resided on the Mis- 

 souri, as long back as their tradition extends. 



The Minetares, or Gross Ventres, is a large 

 ration, consisting of six hundred warriors, and 



