"None but an author knows an author's cares,
Or Fancy's fondness for the child she bears."--_Cowper._

Much of my life has been spent in the Northwest--on the frontier of
civilization, and I became personally acquainted with many of the chiefs
and braves of the Dakota and Ojibway (Chippewa) Indians. I have written
of them largely from my own personal knowledge, and endeavored, above
all things, to be accurate, and to present them true to the life.

For several years I devoted my leisure hours to the study of the
language, history, traditions, customs and superstitions of the Dakotas.
These Indians are now commonly called the "_Sioux_"--a name given them
by the early French traders and _voyageurs_. "Dakota" signifies
_alliance_ or _confederation_. Many separate bands, all having a common
origin and speaking a common tongue, were united under this name. See
"_Tah-Koo Wah-Kan,_" or "_The Gospel Among the Dakotas,_" by Stephen R.
Riggs, pp. 1 to 6 inc.

They were but yesterday the occupants and owners of the fair forests and
fertile prairies of Minnesota--a brave, hospitable and generous
people--barbarians, indeed, but noble in their barbarism. They may be
fitly called the Iroquois of the West. In form and features, in language
and traditions, they are distinct from all other Indian tribes. When
first visited by white men, and for many years afterwards, the Falls of
St. Anthony (by them called the _Ha Ha_) was the center of their
country. They cultivated corn and tobacco, and hunted the elk, the
beaver and the bison. They were open-hearted, truthful and brave. In
their wars with other tribes they seldom slew women or children, and
rarely sacrificed the lives of their prisoners.