There are many indications and some suggestive evidences that the chief
arts and certain institutions and beliefs, as well as the geographic
distribution, of the principal Siouan tribes were determined by a single
conspicuous feature in their environment--the buffalo. As Riggs, Hale, and
Dorsey have demonstrated, the original home of the Siouan stock lay on the
eastern slope of the Appalachian mountains, stretching down over the
Piedmont and Coastplain provinces to the shores of the Atlantic between
the Potomac and the Savannah. As shown by Allen, the buffalo, "prior to
the year 1800," spread eastward across the Appalachians(34) and into the
priscan territory of the Siouan tribes. As suggested by Shaler, the
presence of this ponderous and peaceful animal materially affected the
vocations of the Indians, tending to discourage agriculture and encourage
the chase; and it can hardly be doubted that the bison was the bridge that
carried the ancestors of the western tribes from the crest of the
Alleghenies to the Coteau des Prairies and enabled them to disperse so
widely over the plains beyond. Certainly the toothsome flesh and useful
skins must have attracted the valiant huntsmen among the Appalachians;
certainly the feral herds must have become constantly larger and more
numerous westward, thus tempting the pursuers down the waterways toward
the great river; certainly the vast herds beyond the Mississippi gave
stronger incentives and richer rewards than the hunters of big game found
elsewhere; and certainly when the prairie tribes were discovered, the men
and animals lived in constant interaction, and many of the hunters acted
and thought only as they were moved by their easy prey.
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