1892-93J SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE BLACKFOOl' INDIANS. 249 



SOCL^L ORGANIZATION OF THE BLACKFOOT 



INDIANS. 



By Rev. Johx Maclean, M.A., Ph.D. 



{Read igth November, iSg2.) 



The Blackfoot Confederacy is named by the three tribes comprising 

 it, Saketup'iks, the People of the Plains, and Netsepoye, the People that 

 Speak the Same Language. It is the custom amongst the mounted police 

 and settlers in Alberta, where the three tribes are located, to speak of 

 the Confederacy as simply the Blackfeet, and to name each gens after 

 the chief of the gens. The natives follow their own customs, calling each 

 gens by its own distinctive name, recognizing the fact that die chiefs may 

 be removed by death and other causes, which would change the names ; 

 but by following their own native method, the names of the gentes are 

 always retained. The Blood Indians are called Kaina, a name not 

 definitely understood, but from all I could gather from the old men in 

 the camps, it is derived from Aikaie, an old robe, and the application of 

 this name to the tribe means that the people at one period in their 

 history wore old robes, which were well-nigh useless, and it was at that 

 time and because of that circumstance that they were thus named. This 

 tribe is also named Aapaitupi, Blood people, and Sumukegtiiqkijnema, 

 and Sumukena, which mean that these people had large knives with 

 which they fought. 



The Piegan tribe is named in the Blackfoot tongue Pikuni, singular 

 Pikunikwan. which is derived from Apikuni, meaning a half-dressed hide 

 •of the buffalo. The Indians say that there was a period in the history 

 of the Confederacy when the Piegans were compelled through poverty 

 to dress themselves in buffalo robes, which were badly tanned and almost 

 worthless as an article of clothing. 



The Blackfoot tribe is called Siksikauo, meaning Blackfeet. The 

 singular number has always the personal termination kwdn, thus Siksi- 

 kaikwan = a Blackfoot Indian. It is a compound word made from the 

 combination of Siksiniim, Black, and Oqkuts, his foot. We have the 

 adjectival particle Siksi, the noun particles kai and kaiv, and the personal 

 termination kzvan, which completes the word. There are two meanings 

 given to this name, that is, as to its origin. The Indians have told me 



