MICHELSON: notes on the fox INDIANS 489 



is due to uncritical reading. Nicolet very likely met the Foxes 

 in Wisconsin, but Shea does not say so. He begins his history 

 of them in 1 666-1 667. Steward's discussion of the early his- 

 tory of the Foxes suffers from a wrong identification of the 

 Ouachegami"''*' with the (Outagami which shows his ignorance of 

 Algonquian languages), his failure to know that Skenchiohronon is 

 a synonym of Fox, and his too great reliance on traditional his- 

 tory; but it may be noted that he utilized the information con- 

 tained in La Potherie regarding the two lineages of the Outagami 

 which have been ignored by later writers. 



The recent history of the Fox Indians can be readily followed 

 in the Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and local 

 newspapers. The Mesquakie Booster, a periodical devoted to 

 the present day interests of the Fox Indians, has recently dis- 

 continued. 



POPUI.AT10N 



In any attempt to determine the population of an Indian 

 tribe in previous times, we must take into account exaggerations, 

 either unintentional or intentional. The population of the Foxes 

 is concisely treated in the articles Fox and Sauk in the Hand- 

 hook of American Indians. The most reliable estimates of the 

 entire Fox population in early times are those of Pike (1805) 

 1750, Lewis and Clark (1806) 1200, Beltrami (May 29, 1823) 

 1600, Ann. d.l. Prop, de Foi (1830) 1500, Report of the Commis- 

 sioner of Indian Affairs (1837) 1600. Pike gives the number of 

 warriors as 400, Lewis and Clark as 300. It will be seen that, 

 roughly speaking, from their figures the total population is four 

 times the number of warriors. In this way an estimate may be 

 made for earlier times when only the warriors are listed. I now 

 give some estimates of the number of warriors : 



1 666-1667 {Jesuit Relations) 1000 (gross exaggeration). 

 1 667-1 670 {Jesuit Relations), 400. 

 1 7 14 (Charlevoix), 500. 

 1761 (Wise. Hist. Soc. Coll. i: 32), 350. 

 1763 (Col. Dioc. N. Y. 10: 583), 320. 

 1777 (Houck, Spanish regime, i: 146), 300-350. 

 1783 (Mass. Hist. Coll. I. 10 I1809]: 123), 300. 



5^ Article Wachegami in Handbook of American Indians. Bur. Amer. Ethnol. 

 Bull. 30. 



