THE CREE INDIANS, OR EYTHINYUWUK:. 



319 



HUNTING BISON IN THE SNOW. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



THE CREE INDIANS, OR EYTHINYUWUK, 



Th3 various Tribes of the Crses. — Their Conque>its and suhsequcnt Defeat. — Their Wars with the Black- 

 feet.— Their Character.— Tattooing. -^Their Dress.— Fondness for their Children.— The Cree Cradle.— 

 Vapor Baths. — Games.— Their religious Ideas.— The Cr^-e Tartarus and Elysium. 



T^HE various tribes of the Crees, or Eythinyuwuk, range from the Rocky 

 -^ Mountains and the plains of the Saskatchewan to the swampy shores of 

 Hudson's Bay. Towards tlie west and north they border on the Tinne, towards 

 the east and south, on the Ojibbeway or Santeurs, wlio belong like them to the 

 great family of the Lenni-lenape Indians, and inhabit the lands between Lake 

 Winipeg and Lake Superior. 



About sixty years since, at the time when Xapoleou was deluging Europe 

 with blood, the Crees likewise played the part of conquerors, and subdusd even 

 more extensive, though less valuable domains. 



Provided Avith fire-arms, which at that time were unknown to tlieir northern 

 and western neighbors, they advanced as far as the Arctic Circle, imposing 

 tribute on the various tribes of the Tinne. But their triumphs were not more 

 durable than tho.so of the great European conqueror. 



The small-pox broke out among them and swept them away by thousands. 

 Meanwhile the Tinne tribes had remained untouched by this terrible scourge; 

 and as the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company, advancing farther and farther 

 to the west and north, had likewise made them acquainted with the use of fire- 

 arms, they in their turn became the aggi'essors, and drove the Crees before them. 



