Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1848-12-30
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS-THE SIOUX, OR
DAH-KO-TAH NATION.


visit that department Of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs that is under the management of HESRr R. scHooIs
CRAFT, Esq has elected the following facts respecting the
Sioux, or Dah-ko-tah Indians:
The territory claimed by this nation principally wa
tered by the St. Peters ver and is about nine hundred miles
in length, and from five hundred in width The ORR
ginal Of the tribe Dahkoah the Interpretation of
which issad to be confederacy united naton the name
Of Sioux or which here be acknowledged
ing having been given them by the early Jesuit missionaries
The population Of this tribe is estimated at about fifteen thou
sand and they divided into bands numbering from fifty to
thousand souls. Occupying they do immense prairie
region, they make Of the horse instead of the and
the wealth Of Sioux chief is universally estimated by the
number of his horses Private rights respected among
them They compute time by the four seasons, but their
month only contains tvenyegh days They designate the
month of January the hard moon February, the ia
Which The r9S; March, the moon Of eyes;
April, the whel the geese lay; May, the moon for
planting; June the Strawberries and hoeing
July, the midsummer August, the moon for gather
ing corn September, the ,oen they gather wM rice;
October and November, the for the running Of the
doe; and December tie ,chen the deer sheds his
horns
They kind to their sick, but take care of their
youth than they do Of their old They to the
custom Of bleeding and seldom draw blood excepting in
and plants and they make of metallic
dicnes They partial vapor baths, and resort to them
for the cure of many diseases. Their bodily sickness they
frequently attribute the dspleasure Of animal which
they have hunted with difficulty and slain
The Sioux Indians consider lawful take the life Of
eow-being by way Of revenge but great crime to take life
under any other circumstances They invariably have great
fear of the spirits of the dead, whom they think have the
power Of nuring the living and it thought that this fear
what prevents them from committing murders fire.
queny they d. The practice Of lying considered
exceedingly wrong.
They believe in Great Spirit but have definite idea Of
his attributes Whenever any calamity happens to them,
they aege the Great Spirit angry and so, when they
receive blessing, they acknowledge it coming from the
same being They look upon the death Of human being
manifestation Of Divine dspleasue They resort at times
to sacrifices and have been known where Sioux fathers
have sacrificed their children to appease the anger Of the
Great Spirit They much afraid Of creature which they
look upon kind Of vampire, and to this
sure sign ofapproaching death.
They are exceedingly superstlous in regard to fire. which
they consider gift from the Great Spirit In former times
they obtained from friction of wood but the present
chiefly from the flint When about partake Of a religious
feast they all the old fire from the lodge and
knde it. for the purpose Of cooking the food that they
may be that there will be nothing uncean about the feast
They have no idols images which they worship, but
in the habit Of making offerings Of tobacco and other articles
which they value.
They the raesnake, anl seldom deprive
it Of life, excepting when they wish to employ its skin and
raes in their nominations They believe in fairies, which
they aege have the power Of taking the form OF any animals
and Of living either on land in the water ell their rivers
and lakes closely associated with little people, They look
upon thunder emanatng from large bird Among their
fabed they acknowledge huge giant who de-
stroy an Indian by the glance Of his eye.
When dies they place his remains upon scafod,
which they with trophies Of and when the flesh
has decayed they bury the bones In the eab and the
grave with picket, rude house They do not bury in
sitting POSTURE but invariably cohe the deceased in bis finest
robes covering him with all his fsvorte They
express their grief the loss Of friend by cutting off the
hair going bsrefooted dismal shoutngs mulsng their
bodies and by making a feast for the dead.