ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 183 



immemorial, the presumption would seem to be that this tribe was the 

 source from which the others borrowed it. Careful inquiry among the 

 natives will frequently elicit information on such points. Thus the 

 Iroquois have many dances which they affirm to be peculiar to their own 

 people. They have also a war-dance which differs in its movements 

 entirely from the former. This dance they declare that they borrowed 

 from the Dakotas, and the statement is confirmed by the name which 

 they give it — the Wasase, or Osage dance. 



Apart fi'om the mythological legends, the genuine historical traditions 

 of the different tribes should be gathered with care. In obtaining these 

 it must be borne in mind that, commonly, only a few Indians in each 

 tribe are well informed on this subject. These Indians are usually chiefs 

 or councillors or ' medicine men,' who are known for their intelligence, 

 and who are regarded by their tribesmen as the record-keepers of the 

 community. Tbey are well known in this capacity, and should always 

 be consulted. Ordinary Indians are frequently found to know as little 

 about their ti'ibal history as an untaught English farm labourer or French 

 peasant commonly knows of the history of his own country. This fact 

 will account for the mistake made by some travellers who have reported 

 that the Indians have no historical traditions of any value. More careful 

 inquiry has shown that the Iroquois, the Delawares, the Creeks, and 

 other tribes had distinct traditions, going back for several centuries. 

 These are often preserved in chants, of which the successive portions or 

 staves are sometimes recalled to mind by mnemonic aids, as among the 

 Delawares (or Lenape) by painted sticks, and among the Iroquois by 

 strings of wampum. The Creeks and the Dakotas kept their recoi'ds by 

 means of rude pictographs painted on buffalo skins. Such records 

 should be sought with care, and the chants should be taken down, if 

 possible, in the original, with literal translations and all the explanations 

 which the natives can give. Colonel Mallery's memoir on ' Pictographs 

 of the North American Indians,' in the Fourth Annual Report of the 

 United States Bureau of Ethnology, and Dr. Brinton's volume on ' The 

 Lenape and their Legends,' might be referred to as aids in this inquiry. 

 It would be very desu'able that the music of these chants should be taken 

 down by a competent musician. 



Conclusion. — In this brief series of suggestions some published works 

 relating to the Canadian Indians have happened to be mentioned, but 

 many more have been left unnamed. These, however, are not left un- 

 noticed, but every available publication is now consulted for anthropological 

 purposes, and those who collect information in reply to the present 

 circular may feel assured that all evidence contributed by them will be 

 duly recognised in the study of savage and barbaric culture, which 

 furnishes data so important for the understanding of the higher civilised 

 life. 



The Rev. E. F. Wilson has furnished the Committee with the follow- 

 ing report of his proceedings : — 



Report on the Blackfoot Tribes. Braiun up by the Rev. Edward F. Wilson, 

 and supplementary to that furnished in 1885 by Mr. Horatio Hale. 



Before proceeding with my report I would like just to say, by way of 

 explanation, that I have been working nineteen years among the Ojibway 

 Indians of Ontario as a missionary, have two institutions for Indian 



