and instruct their children in the true way of salvation. I hope that this happiness will soon be granted them, and that they will become good children of God, worthy of the early days of Christianity. I shall be among them in a few days, and I propose to remain some time to attend to their instruction.
At 220 miles from the mouth of the Yellowstone, on a high hill near a large and beautiful plateau, are the three united tribes, the Aricaras of whom I have been telling you, the Grosventres or Hidatsa, " People of the Willows," and Mandans. There are about 3,000 of them, living all together in a single large permanent village. Their houses are covered with earth, and resemble mounds twenty-five to thirty feet in height. Light enters and smoke passes out through a round opening left in the top. Although these tribes speak different languages, and though each has its own lands, the common and continual danger from the formidable Sioux, who carry on a war of extermination against them, has compelled them to join their forces to assume the defensive and protect themselves mutually.
The tribe of the Grosventres and that of the Crows have the same origin. A trifle, a senseless dispute over the carcass of an old buffalo, separated the camp into two portions. The Crows won the land of the Yellowstone and the Black Hills.
The Mandans and Winnebagoes, to judge from the resemblance of their two languages, seem to come of the same stock. However, neither of them has any tradition on the subject.
The Aricaras and Pawnees speak the same dialect, and parted in consequence of a simple refusal by the chief of one of the tribes, insolently expressed to that of the other. The latter had asked for some laces to mend his shoes and clothing; upon receiving a refusal, he went away, and advanced with his people very far into the desert. The two branches of the nation have never met since.