Hidatsa

Use Of Tobacco Among North American Indians

Tobacco has been one of the most important gifts from the New World to the Old. In spite of the attempts of various authors to prove its Old World origin there can be no doubt that it was introduced into both Europe and Africa from America. Most species of Nicotiana are native to the New World, and there are only a few species which are undoubtedly extra- American. The custom of smoking is also characteristic of America. It was thoroughly established throughout eastern North and South America at the time of the discovery; and the early explorers, from Columbus on, speak of it as a strange and novel practice which they often find it hard to describe. It played an important part in many religious ceremonies, and the beliefs and observances connected with it are in themselves proof of its antiquity. Hundreds of pipes have been found in the pre-Columbian mounds and village sites of the eastern United States and, although these remains cannot be dated, some of them must be of considerable age. In the southwestern United States the Basket Makers, an ancient people whose remains are found below those of the prehistoric Cliff Dwellers, were smoking pipes at a time which could not have been much later than the beginning of our era.

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Fort Peck Reservation

Fort Peck Agency Report of Special Agent Jere E. Stevens on the Indians of Port Peck reservation, Port Peck agency, Montana, December 1890, and January 1891. Names of Indian tribes or parts of tribes occupying said reservations: Assinaboine, Brule, Santee, Teton, Unkpapa, and Yanktonai Sioux. The unallotted area of this reservation is 1,776,000 acres, or

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Hidatsa Indians

Hidatsa Indians. Derived from the name of a former village and said, on somewhat doubtful authority, to signify “willows.” Also called: A-gutch-a-ninne-wug, Chippewa name, meaning “the settled people.” A-me-she’, Crow name, meaning “people who live in earth houses.” Gi-aucth-in-in-e-wug, Chippewa name, meaning “men of the olden time.” Gros Ventres of the Missouri, traders’ name, probably

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Elahsa

Elahsa (‘village of the great willows’). A former Hidatsa village on the north bank of Knife River, North Dakota, about 3 miles from Missouri River. Alternate Spellings: Biddahtsi-Awatiss – Maxmillian, Voy. dans l’int de l’Am. III, 3, 1843. Eláh-sá – Maxmillian, Trav., 178, 1843. Hidatsa – Matthews, Ethnog. Hidatsa, 38, 1877.

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Hidatsa

There has been much confusion concerning the definition and designation of the Hidatsa Indians. They were formerly known as Minitari or Gros Ventres of the Missouri, in distinction from the Gros Ventres of the plains, who belong to another stock. The origin of the term Gros Ventres is somewhat obscure, and various observers have pointed

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Plains Indian Culture

Museum collections cannot illustrate this important phase of culture; but since no comprehensive view of the subject can be had without its consideration, we must give it some space. It is customary to treat of all habits or customs having to do with the family organization, the community, and what we call the state, under

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