140 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



nations — the Ottawas, Pottawattomies, and Saulteaux early obtained 

 firearms from th'e French, and with these improved weapons drove the 

 Sioux westward, wresting Michigan, Wisoonsin, and what is now no-rth- 

 eastern Minnesota from their hereditary enemies. The Saulteaux or 

 other Ojibways have to this day kept possession of the region about 

 Eed Lake, Minnesota. The name Sioux was first used by the French, 

 being the last syllable <oî the name Nadouessi — the people — with a 

 French termination added. The confederacy of the Sioux supplied 

 the name Dakotas — or Allies. How grim siuoh a name sounds, when 

 one reflects that even before the arrival of the whites a schism had 

 taken place, seemingly about 1600, by which the northern tribe af the 

 Dakotas broke off from their strong confederacy. From time to time 

 the Sioux made dashes into the Ked Eiver and Lake of Ithe Woods 

 country, but were invariably driven back by their Crée or Ojibway 

 neighbours. The massacre of one of the sons of Vérandrye, in 1737, 

 took place on one of these forays. To this day the Sioux war road 

 is pointed out on the west side of the Lake of the Woods; and in 

 Manitoba t'he Missonri trail from the country of the Dakotas was 

 known to the early settlers. 



THE ASSINIBOINES. 



As already mentioned these were a seceding tribe from the Sioux 

 i^lliance. Their name is Crée, meaning the Sioux (Bwan) from the 

 Stony Eiver (Assin — a stone). They were familiarly known as the 

 " Stoneys " or '*' Stonies." It is quite possible that the Stony river re- 

 ferred to in tihedr namie is that of the Upper Edd Eiver, rising in North- 

 ern Minneisota fnom Lake Traverse — a stony lake. The Assiniboines 

 have always been on friendly terms with the Plain Crées, have largely 

 married and intermingled with them, and it is not surprising that the 

 western tributary of the Eed Eiver — the Assiniboine — bears their name. 

 The Assiniboine is in appearance a finer Indian than the Saulteau ox 

 Crée. He is tall, refined, sharp-featured, and generally much less 

 robust than 'his northern neighbour. Alexander Henry, Jr. (Coues^ 

 edition) gives a good account of the Assiniboines found by him along 

 the Saskatchewan river. The habitat of the Assiniboines, however, 

 was on the Upper Eed river, on the Moo'se mountain, along the Inter- 

 national boundary, and even into the Eocky Mountains, west of Cal- 

 gary. It is not unlikely that the Sioux with whom Lord Selkirk made 

 treaty in common with the Crées and Saulteaux may have belonged to 

 the Assiniboine tribe. Of weaker constitution than their Crée allies 

 the Assiniboines of to-day are a sickly race, and promise soon to he a 

 mere reminiscence of the past. 



