Path Finding in the Kootenay Country, &c. 309 



A singular feature about the tribal relationship of the Flatbows 

 was the fact that the hunting grounds in the mountains round 

 Kootenay lake was laid out in sections, each brave and his family 

 having a huge slice of this American Switzerland, which was called 

 after him ; so that, when inquiring for the name of any prominent 

 peak, you were told the name of the buck in whose preserve it 

 happened to be located. Thus, we would find that a district the 

 size of the Engadine, and in many ways not unlike it, would be 

 known as Kankusco's hunting ground, and nobody else but old 

 Kankusco, or his sons and their females, would invade this vast 

 preserve. 



It is a widespread belief that all the British Columbia Indians 

 are rapidly decreasing in number. This is only the case among 

 those coast tribes where disease has been rife. In the interior no 

 great decimation by smallpox, diphtheria, and tuberculosis is to be 

 noted, and, indeed, in some few cases tribes are to-day more 

 numerous than they were a generation ago. These are unique 

 instances in North America, north of Mexico. 



In this connection I am tempted to give a brief summary of 

 my old friends the Flatbows, as it will throw light upon this 

 question. The fir>t quite unofficial count ever taken of this tribe 

 was obtained in December, 1848, by Edouard Berland, Mr. 

 Anderson's interpreter. The latter's MS. notes on the subject 

 were given to me by Dr. Tolmie. In this census the old division 

 of Indian tribes is still observed, for we find the tribe sub-divided 

 into warriors, lads bearing arms, and lastly women and children. 

 This census shows in a striking manner the preponderance of 

 the two latter when compared with other less warlike tribes. The 

 Kootenay tribe were a gallant lot, and from time immemorial they 

 had fought against heavy odds when they crossed the Rocky 

 Mountains and descended in their annual hunts upon the plains 

 in quest of the prized buffalo, which did not exist in their own 

 home. Their mortal foes were the bloodthirsty Blackfeet, whose 

 country extended up to the foothills of the Rockies. Retribution 

 was, of course, wreaked by the Blackfeet, who came down 



