Up to this time it was supposed that the eastern tribes "were merely offshoots of the Dakota;" but in 1883 Hale observed that "while the language of these eastern tribes is closely allied to that of the western Dakota, it bears evidence of being older in form,"(5) and consequently that the Siouan tribes of the interior seem to have migrated westward from a common fatherland with their eastern brethren bordering the Atlantic. Subsequently Gatschet discovered that the Biloxi Indians of the Gulf coast used many terms common to the Siouan tongues; and in 1891 Dorsey visited these Indians and procured a rich collection of words, phrases, and myths, whereby the Siouan affinity of these Indians was established. Meantime Mooney began researches among the Cherokee and cognate tribes of the southern Atlantic slope and found fresh evidence that their ancient neighbors were related in tongue and belief with the buffalo hunters of the plains; and he has recently set forth the relations of the several Atlantic slope tribes of Siouan affinity in full detail.(6) Through the addition of these eastern tribes the great Siouan stock is augmented in extent and range and enhanced in interest; for the records of a group of cognate tribes are thereby increased so fully as to afford historical perspective and to indicate, if not clearly to display, the course of tribal differentiation. According to Dorsey, whose acquaintance with the Siouan Indians was especially close, the main portion of the Siouan stock, occupying the continental interior, comprised seven principal divisions (including the Biloxi and not distinguishing the Asiniboin), each composed of one or more tribes or confederacies, all defined and classified by linguistic, social, and mythologic relations; and he and Mooney recognize several additional groups, denned by linguistic affinity or historical evidence of intimate relations, in the eastern part of the country. So far as made out through the latest researches, the grand divisions, confederacies, and tribes of the stock,(7) with their present condition, are as follows: 1. _Dakota-Asiniboin_ Dakota ("Friendly") or Ot´-ce-ti ca-ko-win ("Seven council-fires") confederacy, comprising— A. Santee, including Mde-wa-kan´-ton-wan ("Spirit Lake village") and Wa-qpe´-ku-te ("Shoot among deciduous trees"), mostly located in Knox county, Nebraska, on the former Santee reservation, with some oa Fort Peck reservation, Montana. B. Sisseton or Si-si´-ton-wan´ ("Fish-scale village"), mostly on Sisseton reservation, South Dakota, partly on Devils Lake reservation, North Dakota. C. Wahpetou or Wa´-qpe´-ton-wan ("Dwellers among deciduous trees"), mostly on Devils Lake reservation, North Dakota. D. Yankton or I-hank´-ton-wan ("End village"), in Yankton village, South Dakota. E. Yanktonai or I-hank´-ton-wan-na ("Little End village"), comprising—