The Wasichus^* did not kill them to eat; they

killed them for the metal that makes them crazy,

and they took only the hides to sell. Sometimes

they did not even take the hides, only the

tongues; and I have heard that fire-boats came

down the Missouri River loaded with dried bison

tongues.… And when there was nothing left

but heaps of bones, the Wasichus came and

gathered up even the bones and sold them.

—Black Elk,

Black Elk Speaks

^* Wasichu in Sioux means “he who takes the fat.”