BUSHNELL}! | VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 27 
Indeed not only at this Game, but in all their actions they far excell 
the other Natives. They are all well mounted ... Their Weapons, 
Bows & Arrows: Several have on Jackets of Moose leather six fold, 
quilted, & without sleeves.” Cocking evidently visited many of the 
tents, and on December 5 wrote: “Our Archithinue Friends are 
very Hospitable, continually inviting us to partake of their best 
fare; generally berries infused in water with fat, very agreeable 
eating. Their manner of showing respect to strangers is, in hold- 
ing the pipe while they smoke: this is done three times. Afterwards 
every person smokes in common; the Women excepted.... The 
tobacco they use is of their own planting ... These people are much 
more cleanly in their cloathing, & food, than my companions: Their 
Victuals are dressed in earthen pots, of their own Manufacturing; 
much in the same form as Neweastle pots, but without feet: their 
fire tackling a black stone used as flint, & a kind of Ore as a steel, 
using tuss balls as tinder, (1. e.) a kind of moss.” December 6, 1772: 
“ No success in pounding: the Strangers say the season is past.” On 
December 21 “we were joined by ten tents of Asinepoet Indians,” 
and the following day “by five tents of Nehetheway Indians.” The 
former were Assiniboin and the latter Cree. «(Cocking, (1), pp. 
110-112.) 
One of the reasons which inspired Cocking to undertake the long 
journey into the wilderness was the desire to win the Blackfeet away 
from the French interests, and to persuade them to carry their furs 
to the posts of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Soon the English were 
successful in their endeavors, and for several generations secured 
the furs and robes collected by the people of the ever-shifting camps, 
who followed the buffalo as the vast herds moved from place to 
place with the changing seasons of the year. Later, traders from 
another people penetrated the country to the upper waters of the 
Missouri, and certain of the Blackfeet began trading at the posts 
erected by these newcomers. The various tribes wandered over a 
wide region, and 60 years ago it was said: 
“The Blood Indians range through the district along Maria, 
Teton, and Belly Rivers, inclining west and northwest far into the 
interior. In this section, wood is more abundant, pasturage excel- 
lent, and, consequently, buffalo almost always abound there. The 
Blackfeet inhabit a portion of country farther north than the Bloods, 
extending to the banks of the Saskatchewan, along which they often 
reside. They have never altogether abandoned their English friends, 
and more frequently dispose of their furs to them than to the Ameri- 
can traders on the head branches of the Missouri. The Piegans 
roam through the Rocky Mountains on the south side of Maria River, 
on both banks of the Missouri. , , They also hunt as far down the 
