Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/131

 A

CONCISE ACCOUNT

OF THE

INDIAN NATIONS

WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI, TO THE ROCKY

MOUNTAINS.

has been known of these nations until very lately. The following information is principally derived from the accounts given of them by Captain Lewis, when on his tour to the western ocean, communicated to the President of the United States; and by Dr. John Sibley, in his communications, from Natchetoches, to the Secretary of war. The advantages these gentlemen possessed for obtaining knowledge of their names, situations, numbers, and other circumstances respecting them, have been better than those of any others; and their accounts are undoubtedly the best that can at present be obtained.

The Osage nation has already been described. The nation residing next to the Osage, on the waters of the Missouri, is the Kanzas. Their village is on the Kanzas river, about eighty leagues 11