LIST OF AUTHORITIES AND COLLABORATORS.

1.  A list prepared by WILLIAM DUNBAR, dated Natchez, June 30, 1800, collected from tribes then “west of the Mississippi,” but probably not from those very far west of that river, published in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. vi, pp. 1-8, as read January 16, 1801, and communicated by Thomas Jefferson, president of the society.

2.  The one published in An Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819-1820, Philadelphia, 1823, vol. i, pp. 378-394.  This expedition was made by order of the Hon. J.O.  Calhoun, Secretary of War, under the command of Maj.  S.H.  LONG, of the United States Topographical Engineers, and is commonly called James’ Long’s Expedition.  This list appears to have been collected chiefly by Mr. T. Say, from the Pani, and the Kansas, Otos, Missouris, Iowas, Omahas, and other southern branches of the great Dakota family.

3.  The one collected by Prince MAXIMILIAN VON WIED-NEUWIED in Reise in das Innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 bis 1834. Coblenz, 1839 [—­1841], vol. ii, pp. 645-653.  His statement is, “the Arikaras, Mandans, Minnitarris [Hidatsa], Crows [Absaroka], Cheyennes, Snakes [Shoshoni], and Blackfeet [Satsika] all understand certain signs, which, on the contrary, as we are told, are unintelligible to the Dakotas, Assiniboins, Ojibwas, Krihs [Crees], and other nations.  The list gives examples of the sign language of the former.”  From the much greater proportion of time spent and information obtained by the author among the Mandans and Hidatsa then and now dwelling near Port Berthold, on the Upper Missouri, it might be safe to consider that all the signs in his list were in fact procured from those tribes.  But as the author does not say so, he is not made to say so in this work.  If it shall prove that the signs now used by the Mandans and Hidatsa more closely resemble those on his list than do those of other tribes, the internal evidence will be verified.  This list is not published in the English edition, London, 1843, but appears in the German, above cited, and in the French, Paris, 1840.  Bibliographic reference is often made to this distinguished explorer as “Prince Maximilian,” as if there were but one possessor of that Christian name among princely families.  For brevity the reference in this paper will be Wied.

No translation of this list into English appears to have been printed in any shape before that recently published by the present writer in the American Antiquarian, vol. ii, No. 3, while the German and French editions are costly and difficult of access, so the collection cannot readily be compared by readers with the signs now made by the same tribes.  The translation, now presented is based upon the German original, but in a few cases where the language was