[40] The unfrocked monk, Geudeville, who travelled extensively in Canada, and published in London, in 1703, his New Voyages to North America, under the nom de plume of Baron La Hontan.  It is doubted how far this jolly soldier and bon vivant travelled west.  He had served at various points in the interior, and leaves no reason to doubt his presence, at various times, at what was Fort Gratiot, Michilimackinac, Green Bay, and other points in the region of the Upper Lakes.  It is the opinion of the historians, however, that he went no farther than Green Bay.  There can be but little question of the character of the fiction he attempted to palm off on his readers.  His work is a literary curiosity, unexcelled in bibliography, for its bold assumption in attempting to impose on a credulous age a tale of fancied adventures and fictitious observation.  He was a veritable Baron Munchausen.

[41] Bancroft.

[42] Although very rare indeed, among all other tribes, it was the leading physical characteristic with the Mandans, a nation long since extinct, who occupied the region at the mouth of the Yellowstone.

[43] This band was known as the Arikaras—­not the Pawnees proper.

[44] See Long’s Expedition and Schoolcraft’s Indian Tribes.

[45] The proper designation of this numerous tribe is Dakota, meaning allied; the word “Sioux,” although difficult to trace to its proper origin, is generally conceded to be a nickname—­one of reproach given to them by their ancient enemies east of the Mississippi.

[46] A common game among the savages.  One party to the game takes a pebble or small bullet in the curve of both his hands.  After he has tossed it about for a few seconds, he swiftly holds them apart, and if his opponent can guess which hand the pebble or stone is in, he wins; if not, he loses.  Immense amounts are frequently wagered in this game, for the North American Indian is an inveterate gambler.

[47] The name owes its origin to the practice of this tribe scarring the left arm, crosswise, a custom which was kept up until a few years ago.

[48] It is a fact that the Comanches and Shoshones, though living a thousand miles apart, with hostile tribes between them, speak exactly the same language, and call themselves by the same general name.  They have, however, lost all tradition of having once formed one nation.

[49] As in some instances the medicine-men, so called, are really the doctors of the tribe, and as “medecin” is French for doctor, the early French voyageurs gave this term to these mystery-men, by which they have been known ever since.

[50] The name of the Crows is not the correct appellation of the tribe.  They have never yet acknowledged the name, though as such are officially recognized by the United States government.  It was conferred upon them in the early days by the interpreters, either through ignorance of the language, or for the purpose of ridicule.  The name which they themselves acknowledge, and they recognize no other, is in their language Ap-sah-ro-kee, which signifies the Sparrow Hawk people.