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344 844 OBIOm OF OSAGE TRIBE16' NAMES. ivationof these two opposite namea may be nnder- stood. It is said that Qne came about under the fol- lowing circumstances: When the Spanish and Frencn traders first eaine among these people, they did not understand the litnguage of the Osages, and when the Indians tried to name the different bands it had to be done by signs, and the tribe which lived quite a way npthe Osage river was designated by pointing toward the location and holding up the hand above the head to indicate high up the river, or on hi^;^ ground or "Oampers on the Mountain," whereas on the other hand, those situated along the Missouri river were indicated as located in the lowlands, or "Campers on the Lowland," by the hand being raised a short dis- tance above the ground, and the traders conceived the idea that it meant that the tribe up the Osage were great or tall, and the others low or little in stat- ure. Anothel- version is tiiat the branch on the Osage were more numerous than these along the Missouri, and were called "Great" or "Grand" to express their superiority numerically. WhUe it may not be as intertaining to the reader, yet surely it is more profitable to learn of the man- ners, customs and government of these Indians, than it would be to have a lot of imaginary things told yon. So while our party is encamped with these Indians, our discussion of them will be diversified by omitting the sports, but which, however, is unadulterated flc tion; and, again, since after -the description of the t^ree Buffalo Bill exhibitions, given the Kansas at Maabattan, the F&wnees in Nebraska, tiien the Kant-