name invented by Champlain (see p. 69).
Apparently this confederation called themselves _Hodenosauni_. The
termination "ois" in all French-American names is pronounced
"wa"--Irokwa.]

Between the South Saskatchewan, the Rocky Mountains, and Lake
Superior, nearly outside the limits of the Canadian Dominion, was the
great DAKOTA, or Siou group,[7] divided into the distinct tribe of
_Assiniboin_ or "Stone" Indians (because they used hot stones in
cooking), the "Crows" or Absaroka, the Hidatsa or Minitari (also
called Big Bellies, like the quite distinct Atsina of the Algonkin
family), the Menomini (the most north-eastern amongst the Siouan
tribes, and the first met with by the British and French Canadians
south-west of Lake Superior), the Winnebagos on the southern borders
of Manitoba, the Yanktons or Yanktonnais, the "_Santi Siou_"
proper--generally calling themselves _Dakota_ or Mdewakanton--and the
"Tetons" along the northern Dakota frontier and into the Rocky
Mountains--also known as _Blackfeet_, Sans Arcs ("without bows"),
"Two-kettles", "Brules" or "Burnt" Indians, &c.

[Footnote 7: The far-famed term _Siou_ is said to have been an
abbreviation of one of the original French names for this type of
Amerindian, _Nadouessiou_. In early books they are often called the
Nadouessies.]

Next must be mentioned the very important and widespread ATHAPASKAN or
Dene (Tinne) group, named after Lake Athapaska (or Athabaska), because
that sheet of water became a great rallying place for these northern
tribes. The Athapaskan group of Indians indeed represents the
"Northern Indians" of the Hudson's Bay Company's reports and
explorers. They drew a great distinction between the Northern Indians
(the Athapaskan tribes) and the Southern Indians, which included all
the other Amerindian groups dwelling to the south of the Athapaskan
domain. But although nowadays so much associated with the far north
and north-west of America, the Athabaskan group evidently came from a
region much farther south, and has been cut in half by other tribal
movements, wars, and migrations; for the Athapaskan family also
includes the Apaches and the Navaho of the south-western portions of
the United States and the adjoining territories of Mexico. The
northern and southern divisions of the Athapaskan group are separated
by something like twelve hundred miles. The following are the
principal tribes into which the Northern ATHAPASKAN group was divided
at the tim