es, who have run away, and some
other scattered bands, whose names are unknown, inhabit the country
generally, from St. Peters south to the mouth of the Missouri, and are
chiefly located upon the sources of the rivers Ocano, Iowa, and
Desmoines.

"The Sioux are generally represented as a brave, generous and spirited
people, with proud notions of their origin as a tribe, and their
superiority as hunters and warriors, and with a predominant passion for
war. They speak the Narcotah language, which is peculiar to themselves,
and appears to have little affinity with any other Indian tongue. It is
not so soft and sonorous as the Algonquin which abounds in labials, but
more so than the Winnebago, which is the most harsh and guttural
language in America. The Narcotah sounds to an English ear, like the
Chinese, and both in this, and in other respects, the Sioux are thought
to present many points of coincidence. It is certain that their manners
and customs differ essentially from those of any other tribe, and their
physiognomy, as well as their language, and opinions, mark them 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, while their
paintings and hieroglyphics bear so much analogy to those of the Asteeks
of Mexico, as to render it probable that the latter are of Naudowessian
origin."

"From my knowledge of the Sioux nation," observes Lieutenant Pike, "I do
not hesitate to pronounce 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. Their guttural pronunciation,
high cheek bones, their visages, and distinct manners, together with
their own traditions, supported by the testimony of neighboring nations,
put it in my mind beyond a shadow of doubt, that they have emigrated
from the north west point of America, to which they had come across the
narrow streights, which in that quarter divide the two continents; and
are absolutely descendants of a Tartarean tribe."

The following anecdote of a Sioux chief, and of a council held by
Governor Cass, some years since, for the purpose of making pea