DAKOTA OR SIOUX
The name the French gave the fierce, strong Dakotas is Sioux, which is the way they pronounced the name given them by their Algonquin neighbors. This has become the name of the people, and Dakota is the language which they speak.
They are divided into many bands, each with a chief for a leader. His friends and relatives move their teepees wherever this chief thinks best on the land the Great Father in Washington has reserved for them.
They are very brave and have many wise men among them. The chiefs of the bands are always ready to follow what the head chief of the nation commands. The head chief has learned that the Great Father in Washington has more warriors than he, and so the Sioux are not sent on the warpath any more.
The buffalo and antelope are gone from the prairie. There is not meat enough in the woods, and the warlike Sioux has now to come to the Indian agency to get his rations. It is a fine sight to see the teepees of the bands when they have gathered at the agency. Even [[58]]here they show their respect to the head chief and his followers, for his teepees are placed in the center of the camp. The greatest chief comes next, and so on, till the weakest band places its teepees last.
The Sioux who have been long in the south do not speak like their northern relatives. For example, they say Lakota instead of Dakota. The northern bands laugh at their southern brothers, and think they have been trying to become different. Many Sioux boys and girls are in the schools at the agencies learning to write and to read in English. They are very quick to learn and can draw very well.
The Sioux women make such beautiful beadwork that a white woman thought it wise to teach them to make lace of the choicest kind. The young squaws and some of the Indian boys have learned to make this rare point lace with care and wonderful neatness. They cannot use it; but the money they get for it buys food and clothes for them and their relatives. [[59]]