of the class, but
diverge very widely from it. But very few words approximate identity.
About one half of the words in Matthew's Hidatsa dictionary appear to me
to be in part at least composed of material related to the Dakota, and
about five per cent to fairly represent Dakota words. Many of these show
little similarity except as compared in the light of sound
representation.

When first discovered the Dakotas and Assinniboins were nomads, living
almost entirely by hunting and fishing. The Dakotas, then probably less
than ten thousand, are now more than thirty thousand in number. There
are probably about three thousand Assinniboins. The allied tribes,
except the Crows, when first found lived chiefly by agriculture. They
have during the last hundred years rapidly diminished in numbers, and do
not number over twelve thousand including the Crows.

All of the Dakotan tribes and some others formerly made and baked
pottery similar to that found in the mounds of the Ohio valley. The
Osages and some others lived in earth houses, whose ruins are similar to
those of the houses of the mound builders. The Minnetarees, Mandans and
Aricarees still live in houses of the same kind, and make and bake
pottery. Measurements indicate that the crania of the Dakotas in size of
brain and angle decidedly approach the European form. The cheek bones of
the Dakotas are much less prominent than those of the Chippewas, and
those one-fourth Chippewa and three-fourths white have on an average
darker complexions than those half white and half Dakota. Among the
Minnetarees and Mandans are many persons of light hair, blue eyes, and
tolerably fair complexion, not attributable to an infusion of Caucasian
blood since the time of Columbus.

No people take more pains to speak their language accurately than the
Dakotas. Their social condition is similar to that of the Arabs, whose
language has within historic observation changed more slowly than any
other. The Assinniboins have been separated from the Dakotas about three
centuries, perhaps a little less, possibly much more. During all this
time they have been entirely separated, associating wholly with tribes
speaking languages entirely different, and yet their dialect remains
almost identical with the Yankton. We are then encouraged to believe
that their language has not changed so rapidly as to obliterate traces
of its origin.

So far as I have been able to ascertain them the most important features
c