The Cegiha Language

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children."

-Crazy Horse, Chief Lakota (Sioux) Native Americans (1890)



The Cegiha Language (1890), by Rev. James Owen Dorsey is the sixth volume of a nine-part series entitled Contributions to North American Ethnology (all available from Cosimo Classics). This comprehensive book is comprised of myths, stories, and historical texts the author collected from various tribes of the Siouan language family, as well as from tribes located on the Siletz Reservation in Oregon. In addition, the collection contains dictionaries, drawings, and Dorsey's correspondence, newspaper clippings, and his obituaries. This book offers a critical contribution to the history of Native Americans and is a must-read for anthropologists and students of Native American history.