Deniq] THE ASSINIBOIN' 405 



any of their " peaces " are liable to sudden and violent interruptions 

 and are not to be depended upon. 



Magnitude and Resources of Territory a Cause of the Multipli- 

 cation of Tribes. — There can be no doubt that magnitude and re- 

 sources of territory arc the principal causes of an increase of popula- 

 tion. All roving tribes live by hunting, and scarcity of animals 

 produces distress, famine, disease, and danger by forcing them to 

 hunt in countries occupied by their enemies, when game is not found 

 in their own. Such a state of things happened in this district in 

 1841, when during a total disappearance of buffalo and other game 

 some of the Assiniboin and Cree were under the necessity of eating 

 their own children, of leaving others to perish, and many men and 

 women died from fatigue and exhaustion. Although the above posi- 

 tion is evident, yet we do not see how it could multiply tribes, much 

 less dialects. A large territory with much game might induce por- 

 tions of other tribes not having these advantages to migrate, make 

 peace with the residing nation, and perhaps increase in a greater 

 ratio than they otherwise would have done, but the language would 

 remain the same, neither would it produce a separate tribe, but only 

 a portion of the tribe who migrated. 



The Gros Ventres of the Prairie were once Arapaho and lived on 

 the Arkansas. They have for a century past resided with the Black- 

 feet, yet have preserved their own language. True, by these means 

 they learn to speak each other's language, but they do not commingle 

 and make a separate dialect of the two. The Assiniboin from the 

 Sioux, the Cree from the Chippewa, the Crows from the Gros Ventres 

 are three other cases of separation, and in each the language is so 

 well preserved that they understand without any difficulty the people 

 whence they emanated. The causes of these separations, whether 

 feuds, family discords, or in quest of better hunting grounds, does 

 not now appear. Most probably it was dissatisfaction of some sort. 

 From all appearances we may reasonably expect to see ere long a 

 portion of the Sioux occupying the large disputed territory south 

 of the Missouri and along the Yellowstone, as game is becoming 

 scarce in their district since white emigration through it and Indians 

 are thronging there from St. Peters and elsewhere. 



The Sioux regard the Mississippi as once their home, and it is very 

 certain that nation came from thence, also the Cree and Assiniboin. 

 and perhaps others. It does not appear that the track of migration 

 pursued any direct course. From certain facts, similitude of lan- 

 guage and customs, it would seem some nations traveled from south 

 to north or northwest, such as the Gros Ventres of the Prairie who 

 we're once Arapaho. The Ankara speak the same as the Pawnee 

 and must have migrated westward. The Blackfeet moved from north 



