There are two wholly distinct tribes called by the Canadians Gros Ventres. One, known also as Hidatsa and Minnetari, is classed in the Siouan family, and numbered, in 1804, according to Lewis and Clarke, 2,500 souls. The other “Big Bellies,” properly called Atsina, are the northern division of the Arapahos, an Algonkin tribe, from which they separated in the early part of this century, and, wandering eastward, met the Dakotas, by whom they were driven off to the north. It is probable that this is the conflict recorded, though the Dakotas have also often been at feud with their linguistic cousins, the Minnetari.
No. III. Twenty of the Gros Ventres killed by Dakotas in a dirt lodge. They were chased into a deserted Ree dirt lodge and killed there.
Mato Sapa says: Twenty Gros Ventres were killed by the Dakotas in a dirt lodge. In this record there is a circle with only one head.
Major Bush’s interpretation is the same as the last.
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XIII
1812-’13.
1813-’14.
1814-’15.