Snake Indians, a name commonly applied to various western tribes. In the early 1800's the mounted Indians of the plains—Comanches, Kiowas, eastern Shoshonis, and others—were referred to as Snakes by the tribes subject to their attacks. White explorers and settlers, however, came to use the term largely for Shoshonean groups to the north, in the Snake River region. Sacajawea, the Shoshoni guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, is described in contemporary accounts as a Snake. The term clung longest to several tribes of Northern Paiutes in eastern Oregon.