Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi

When Louisiana became a part of the United States the great wilderness to the westward of the Mississippi was the home of many native tribes, or groups of tribes, retaining their primitive manners and customs, little influenced by contact with Europeans. Their villages were scattered along the water courses or skirted the prairies, over which roamed vast herds of buffalo, these serving to attract the Indians and to supply many of their wants—food, raiment, and covering for their shelters. But so great are the changes wrought within a century that now few buffalo remain, the Indian in his primitive state has all but vanished, and even the prairies have been altered in appearance. The early accounts of the region contain references to the native camps and villages, their forms and extent, tell of the manner in which the habitations were constructed, and relate how some were often removed from place to place. Extracts from the various narratives are now brought together, thus to describe the homes and ways of life of the people who once claimed and occupied a large section of the present United States.