Section IL, 1909. . 3 ] Trans. R. S. C. 



I. — The Sacrificial Riie of the Blackfoot. 

 By K. N. Wilson. 



(Communicated by Duncan C. Scott, and read May 26, 190S.) 



The Indians here referred to as the Blackfoot are the Bloods, 

 Peigans and Blackfoot in the Province of Alberta, three kindred tribes 

 speaking a single language which, collectively, are known as the Blackfoot 

 naition, and as such form one of tlie widely dispersed branches of the 

 Algonkian linguistic stock of the American race. 



The people of the Blackfoot tribes believe that after death the spirit 

 of an Indian pursues an aimless, endless, and totally uninteresting career 

 in a ghost land which they locate in the Great Sand Hills near the 

 eastern border of the Blackfoot territory. 



They think that while the ghosts of a few individuals may wander 

 about among the living, with whom they have litlle or no means of com- 

 munication, the majority are gathered at the Sand Hills, and that there 

 is nothing of the nature of reward or punishment in connection with 

 that existence in the land of spirits. 



Fearing nothing and hoping for nothing beyond the grave, the 

 whole concern of the religious Blackfoot is with the affairs of this 

 material life. 



Old age, then, is the greatest favour tliat he can receive, and if to 

 this be added such pleasures as those arising from weaJtli, popularit}'-, 

 success in war, freedom from bodily ailments and family bereavements, 

 he desires nothing more. 



He knows, however, that the few live to a great age and the many 

 die young. Some people are wealthy and others are poor. One man 

 rears to maturity a large family, while other parents do not succeed in 

 preserving a single child. He reasons that all of these blessings are, 

 therefore, subject to influences not controlled by himself, and as he is 

 inclined to revere that which is beyond his understanding, he thinks 

 that in the powers of nature he recognises the masters of his destiny. 



The result is a pantheon of nature gods and a somewhat complicated 

 system of theology, which if faithfully explained in all of its ramifica- 

 tions, would present a complete exposition of Blackfoot thought, so ex- 

 tensively does religion enter into the affairs of everyday life. 



Of the numerous objects of worship, the Sun is the one which 

 receives the greatest adoration. More prayers are addressed to this 

 principal deity than to all the others combined, and the most important 

 of the religious rites and ceremonies are devoted to liim in particular. 



