Hunting at High Altitudes 



by no means peculiar. The Assiniboines separated 

 from the Sioux before probably a long time before 

 the coming of the whites, and moved north and 

 joined the Crees, living about the Lake of the Woods 

 and Lake Winnipeg. Alexander Henry was one of 

 the early white men to visit camps of the plains 

 Assiniboines in 1775, and at that time the people there 

 were so little familiar with white men that women 

 and children followed the traders about the camp, 

 staring at them with the greatest curiosity. The As- 

 siniboines were formerly regarded as one of the last 

 tribes of the north to have procured horses. They 

 .were reported to declare that they did not want horses, 

 which were only a trouble to them, as well as a 

 danger. Horses, they said, constantly wandered away 

 and had to be sought for, and were a continual temp- 

 tation to their enemies to attack them. They pre- 

 ferred dogs, which were as useful as beasts of burden, 

 and always remained with their owners, instead of 

 running away. I saw the dog travois in use among 

 them as late as 1895. 



i. The Assiniboines in the United States are chiefly 

 on the Missouri River near the mouth of Milk River, 

 and at the Little Rocky Mountains in Montana. In 

 Canada there are a number of small groups on streams 

 of the plains, and a considerable settlement at Morley, 

 Alberta, known as Stoney Indians. In fact, this is 

 the common name for the Assiniboines in Canada. 



12. Major Mitchell. Thomas J. Mitchell, of 

 Illinois, was appointed agent for the Indians of the 

 Milk River Agency (Fort Peck) in Montana, Jan- 



254 



