Oct. 1, 1885 | : 
NATURE 
531 
Johnston have already been published in the Procezdings of the 
Zoological Society for this year. The botanical collections were 
handed over to the Royal Herbarium at Kew, where they were 
arranged, named, and a set sent to the British Museum. The 
report upon them is ready, and will be presented to the Linnean 
Society for publication. Prof. Bonney has kindly undertaken 
to report on the rock and mineral specimens collected by Mr. 
Johnston, and his report is presented herewith, and will be read 
in the Geological Section. Mr. H. H. Johnston has in pre- 
paration a volume containing a narrative of his expedition and a 
summary ofthe results arrived at, which will shortly be ready for 
issue. The sum of 25/7. granted to the Committee at the 
Montreal meeting has been returned to the treasurer. 
Report of the Committee, consisting of Dr. E. B. Tylor, Dr. 
G. M, Dawson, Gen. Sir F. H. Lefroy, Dr. Daniel Wilson, 
Mr. Horatio Hale, Mr. R. G. Haliburton, and Mr. George W. 
Bloxam (Secretary), appointed for th? purpose of investigating 
and publishing Reports on the Physical Characters, Languages, 
Industrial and Social Condition of the North-Western Tribes of 
the Dominion of Canada.—The Committee have been in active 
correspondence with missionaries and others stationed among 
the Indians, but the unsettled state of the country during the 
past year has made it impossible to do more than collect materials 
for a preliminary report; the Committee, therefore, ask that 
they may be reappointed with a continuance of the grant. 
Report on the Blackfoot Tribes. Drawn up by Mr. Horatio 
Hale.—The tribes composing the Blackfoot Confederacy, as it is 
commonly styled, have been until recently less known than any 
others. A correspondence was opened with two able and 
zealous missionaries residing among these Indians. The Rey. 
Albert Lacombe, widely and favourably known as Father 
Lacombe, Roman Catholic Missionary among the Siksika, or 
proper Blackfeet Indians, and the Rev. John McLean, Missionary 
of the Canadian Methodist Church to the Blood and Piegan (or 
Kena and Piekané) tribes. Father Lacombe has been many 
years a missionary in the Canadian North-West, and hasa very 
extensive knowledge of the tribes of that region. His elaborate 
work, the ‘‘Grammar and Dictionary of the Cree Language” 
ranks among the best contributions to American philology. 
Mr. McLean has been engaged in his missionary duties for five 
years, has prepared a grammar of the Blackfoot language, and 
is at present occupied in translating the Scriptures into that 
tongue. The unfortunate troubles of the past season have for 
a time interrupted the correspondence, and the principal portion 
of the report on these Indians will therefore have to be deferred 
for another year. Some other sources of information, however, 
have been examined, particularly the valuable official reports 
and maps of the Canadian and United States Indian Depart- 
ments. 
Fifty years ago the Blackfoot Confederacy held among the 
western tribes much the same position of superiority which was 
held two centuries ago by the Iroquois Confederacy among the 
Indians east of the Mississippi. The nucleus, or main body is 
still composed of three tribes, speaking the proper Blackfoot 
language: the Siksika, or Blackfeet proper; the Kena, or 
Blood Indians; and the Piekané, or Piegans (pronounced 
Peegans), a name sometimes corrupted to ‘* Pagan” Indians. 
To these are to be added the Sarcees from the north, and the 
Atsinas from the south. The Sarcees are an offshoot of the 
great Athabascan stock, which is spread over the north of British 
America, through Oregon and California into Northern Mexico. 
The Atsinas, who have been variously known as Fall Indians, 
Rapid Indians, and Gros Ventres, speak a dialect similar to that 
of the Arapohoes, who now reside in the ‘Indian Territory ” of 
the United States. It is a peculiarly harsh and difficult lan- 
guage, and is said to bespoken only by those two tribes. None 
of the Atsinas are now found on Canadian territory, and no 
recent information has been obtained concerning them, except 
from the map which accompanies the United States Indian 
Report for 1884, and on which their name appears on the 
American Blackfoot Reservation, The five tribes were 
reckoned, fifty years ago, to comprise not less than 30,000 
souls, the terror of all the western Indians on both sides of the 
Rocky Mountains. It was not uncommon for thirty or forty 
war parties to be out at once against the Salish (or Flatheads) 
of Oregon, the Upsarokas (or Crows) of the Missouri Plains, the 
Shoshonees of the far south, and the Crees of the north and 
east. The country-which the Blackfoot tribes claimed properly 
as their own comprised the valleys and plains along the eastern 
slope of the Rocky Mountains, between the Missouri and the 
Saskatchewan, the favourite resort of the buffalo, whose vast 
herds afforded the Indians their principal means of subsistence. 
In the year 1836 a terrible visitation of the small-pox swept off 
two-thirds of the people, and five years later they were supposed 
to count not more than 1,500 tents, or about 10,000 souls. 
Their enemies were then recovering their spirits, and retaliating 
upon the weakened tribes the ravages which they had formerly 
committed. 
In 1855 the United States Government humanely interfered to 
bring about a complete cessation of hostilities between the 
Blackfoot tribes and the other Indians, and framed a treaty for 
them, accompanying the act by a large distribution of presents. 
Dr. F. V. Hayden, in his account of the Indian Tribes of the 
Missouri Valley, states : ‘‘ From my own experience among them, 
and from information derived from intelligent men who have 
spent the greater portion of their lives with them, I am con- 
vinced that they are among the most peaceable and honourable 
Indians in the West ; and in an intellectual and moral point 
of view they take the highest rank among the wild tribes of the 
plains.” This favourable opinion of Dr. Hayden is entirely in 
accordance with the testimony of the Indian agents and other 
officials of the Canadian North-West. Atthe present time, while 
constantly harassed on their reserves by the incursions of thievish 
Crees and other Indians, they forbear to retaliate, and honourably 
abide by the terms of their treaty, which binds them to leave the 
redress of such grievances to the Dominion authorities. Since 
the general peace the numbers of the Blackfeet have apparently 
qeen on the increase. Dr. Hayden reports the three proper 
Blackfeet tribes as numbering in 1855 about 7ooo souls. The 
present population of the three Canadian Reserves is computed 
at about 6000, divided as follows: Blackfeet proper, 2409 ; 
Bloods, 2800; Piegans, Soo. On the American Reservation 
there are stated to be about 2300, mostly Piegans. This would 
make the total population of the three tribes exceed 8000 souls. 
The adopted tribe, the Sarcees, have greatly diminished in 
numbers through the ravages of the small-pox. This tribe, now 
numbering less than 509 souls, have their Reserve near Calgary. 
They are reputed to be less cleanly and moral than the proper 
Blackfeet tribes. in this respect their habits and character 
correspond with those of other Athabasean tribes. During 
the past five years, as is well known, a great change has 
taken place in the condition of the north-western tribes 
through the extermination of the buffalo. The Blackfeet 
have been the greatest sufferers from this cause. The buffalo 
were their main dependence. Suddenly, almost without warning, 
they found themselves stripped of nearly every necessary of life. 
The change was one of the greatest that could well befall a 
community. The Governments both of the United States and 
of Canada came to the rescue; but in the former country the 
urgency of the case was not at first fully understood, and much 
suffering ensued. The agent on the Blackfoot Reservation in 
Montana (Major Allen) states in his official report that when he 
entered upon his duties in April 1884 he found the Indians in a 
deplorable condition. The supplies of food which had been sent 
for them had proved insufficient, and before these could be 
renewed many died from actual starvation. Some stripped the 
bark from the saplings which grew along their creeks, and ate 
the inner portion to stifle their sense of hunger. On the 
Canadian side, fortunately, the emergency was better understood. 
Col. McLeod, an able and vigilant officer, was in charge of the 
Mounted Police at that time, and through his forethought the 
necessary preparations were made. In 1879 and 1880 the 
buffalo disappeared from that region. Arrangements were at 
once made for settling the Indians on Reserves, and for supplying 
them with food and clothing, and teaching them to erect wooden 
houses and cultivate their lands. Daily rations of meat and flour 
were served out to them. Ploughs, cattle, and horses were 
furnished to them. Farm instructors were placed among them. 
The Indians displayed a remarkable readiness to adapt them- 
selves to the new conditions. According to the reports of all 
the agents, they have evinced a quickness to learn and a 
persevering industry which place them decidedly in advance of 
the other Indian tribes of that region. In 1882 more than 
500,000 Ibs. of potatoes were raised by the three Blackfoot 
tribes, besides considerable quantities of oats, barley, and turnips. 
The Piegans had sold rooo dollars’ worth of potatoes, and had a 
large supply on hand. ‘‘ The manner in which the Indians have 
worked,” writes the agent, “‘is really astonishing, as is the 
interest they have taken, and are taking, in farming.” Axes and 
