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[[underlined]] Dec.9 [[/underlined]]

Bloomfield, New Jersey, Nov. 20.
Miss A.C. Fletcher,
Winnebago Ag'cy, Neb,}

Dear Madam:

Your kind letter I have just now read & am greatly indebted to you. For fear I may not be able to write again soon I take now the opportunity, tho' I fear I may weary you.

I am not surprised at the view you take as to early Pawnee=Omaha=Ponca=&c relations. I was for years reluctant to take the view I now incline to & was at last only forced to it as the sole way to elucidate what seemed otherwise inextricable. Pawnee tradition is one in the matter; the Oglala Dakotas (& I presume others) have explained this dislike of the Omahas & Poncas when on the ground of their being semi= Pawnee; the Iowas, in part at least, seemed to recognize the Pawnee allegiance of the named tribes; the Omahas, & Poncas tho' stoutly denying anything like subjugation, used freely to concede a Pawnee control as far as the Elkhorn & to some extent reformed Pawnee dictation. Maj. Daugherty, Joseph Roubidoux & Logan Fontinelle (also Omaha) all used to claim something of this kind. Still I am not beyond being reasoned with about this.

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