700 REPORT—1885. 
and were put to good use. In November 1882 the agent writes that 
log-houses had ‘ gone up thick and fast on the Reserves, and were most 
creditable to the builders.’ In many cases the logs were hewn, and in 
nearly all the houses fireplaces were built. In the same year another 
official—the Indian Commissioner—going through the Reserves, was 
surprised at the progress which he saw. He found comfortable dwell- 
ings, well-cultivated gardens, and good supplies of potatoes in root- 
houses. Most of the families had cooking stoves, for which they had 
sometimes paid as much as fifty dollars. He ‘saw many signs of civilisa- 
tion, such as cups and saucers, knives and forks, coal-oil lamps, and 
tables; and several of the women were baking excellent bread and 
performing other cooking operations.’ Three years before these Indians. 
were wild nomads, who lived in skin tents, hunted the buffalo, and had 
probably never seen a plough or an axe. These facts are recorded, not 
merely as gratifying to a sense of humanity, but for their bearing on the 
question of the natural capacity of uncivilised men. Impartial investiga- 
tion and comparison will probably show that, while some of the aboriginal 
communities of the American continent are low in the scale of intellect, 
others are equal in natural capacity, and possibly superior, to the highest 
of the Indo-European nations. The fundamental importance of this fact 
Gf such it is) to the science of anthropology must be the excuse for 
urging its consideration in connection with the present inquiry. 
The Blackfeet have been known to the whites for about a century, and 
during that period have dwelt in or near their present abode. There is 
evidence, however, that they once lived further east than at present. The 
explorer Mackenzie, in 1789, found them holding the south branch of the 
Saskatchewan, from its source to its junction with the north branch. He 
speaks of four tribes—the Picaneux, Blood, and Blackfeet, and the Fail 
Indians (Atsinas), which latter tribe then numbered about 700 warriors. 
Of the three former tribes he says: ‘They are a distinct people, speak a 
language of their own, and, I have reason to think, are travelling north- 
west, as well as the others just mentioned (the Atsinas) ; nor have I heard 
of any Indians with whose language that which they speak has any affinity.’ 
The result of Mr. McLean’s inquiries confirms this opinion of the 
westward movement of these Indians in comparatively recent times. 
‘The former home of these people,’ he writes, ‘was in the Red River 
country, where, from the nature of the soil which blackened their 
moccasins, they were called Blackfeet.’ This, it should be stated, is the 
exact meaning of Siksika, from siksinam, black; and ka, the root of 
ogkatsh, foot. The meaning of the other tribal names, Kena and Piekané, 
is unknown. That they were once significant cannot be doubted, but the 
natives are now unable to explain them, and use them merely as appella- 
tives. 
The westward movement of the Blackfeet has probably been due to 
the pressure of the Crees upon them. The Crees, according to their own 
tradition, originally dwelt far east of the Red River, in Labrador and 
about Hudson’s Bay. They have gradually advanced westward to the 
inviting plains along the Red River and the Saskatchewan, pushing the 
prior occupants before them by the sheer force of numbers. This will 
explain the deadly hostility which has always existed between the Crees 
and the Blackfeet. 
_ It will seem, at first view, a perplexing circumstance that M. Lacombe, 
who, of all authorities, should be the best informed on this subject, and 
