1920]Eadin; The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian383INTRODUCTIONOne of the greatest drawbacks in the study of primitive peoples is the difficulty, one might almost say the impossibility, of obtaining an inside view of their culture from their own lips and by their own initiative. A native informants, at best, interested merely in satisfying the demands of the investigator. The limitations thus imposed as regards the nature and extent of the knowledge furnished are further increased by the circumstances under which the knowledge is usually imparted, circumstances of a nature tending to destroy practically all the subjective values associated with the particular ritual, myth, or what not, that is being narrated.Many' of these defects could possibly be obviated if the investigator became a member of the tribe, but this is generally out of the question. It would mean spending a good portion of one's life in a primitive community, and that no well-qualified ethnologist is prepTable of Contents UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS; IN; AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY; Vol 16, No 7, pp 381-473 April IS, 1920; THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A WINNEBAGO; INDIAN; BY; PAUL EADIN"; CONTENTS; PAGE; Introduction 383; Part I The story of my life 385; 1 Early childhood 385; 2 Puberty 387; 3 Fasting 388; 4 Boyhood reminiscences 391; 5 Courting 393; fi My brother-in-law and his fasting experience 395; 7 A war-bundle feast 395; 8 Wandering and hunting 398; 9 My grandfather adopts me 399; 10 Initiation into the Medicine Dance 400; 11 Marriage 405; 12 Going with shows 406; 13 Dissipation 408; 14 Brother's death 408; 15 Drinking 409; 16 Boasting and blessings 409; 17 The effect of a pretended Messing 410; 18 With a circus 412; 19 Continued dissipation 415; 20 I count coup on a Pottawattomie 417; 21 Trip to Nebraska 419; 22 I have a quarrel with a woman 422; 23 I get delirium tremens a