184 REPORT— 1887. 



children at Sault Ste. Marie, and during the last three summers (since 

 the C. P. R-ailway was opened) have been visiting the Cree, Saulteaux, 

 Sioux, and other tribes in Manitoba and the North- West, in the hope of 

 inducing those Indians to send some of their children to our institution. 

 Last summer six Sioux boys and six Ojibway boys from the north-west 

 came to us, and this summer I have succeeded in bringing down two 

 young Blackfeet from their prairie home at the foot of the Rockies. We 

 have in our homes at present 52 Indian boys and 27 Indian girls. Mr. 

 Hale, hearing of my projected visit to the Blackfeet Indians, asked me to 

 act in his place in furnishing the following report ; and, as I am quite 

 unused to this sort of undertaking, I hope that any blunders I may make 

 in my style of writing or in the putting together of the material which 

 came into my hands will kindly be overlooked. I think I may vouch 

 for it that whatever I have offered in the following pages is the result 

 either of what I have seen with niy own eyes or have gained from the lips 

 of reliable Indians or from missionaries living on the spot. 



The Blackfoot Indians, as Mr. Hale mentioned in his report of 1885, 

 consist of three tribes, united in one confederacy, speaking the same 

 language, and numbering in all about 6,000 souls. The common name by 

 which they call themselves is Sokitapi, the prairie people. Siksikaw, 

 Blackfeet, is a title given to the northern tribe by those living in the 

 south (i.e. the Bloods and Peigans) on account of the black earth, which 

 soils their feet ; where the Bloods and Peigaus live (50 miles or so to the 

 south) the land is gravelly or sandy, so that their feet are not made black. 

 The Bloods call themselves Kainaw (meaning unknown). The Peigana 

 call themselves Pekaniu (meaning unknown). By the white people they 

 are all called, in a careless way, Blackfeet. 



Whence thet Came. 



Chief Crowfoot (Sapomakseka), the head chief of the whole confederacy, 

 with whom I had a long and interesting interview, was very positive in 

 asserting that his people tor generations past had always lived in the same 

 part of the country that they now inhabit. He entirely scouted the idea 

 that they had come from the East, even though I cautiously omitted any 

 reference to the theory that the Crees had driven them. ' I know,' he 

 said, ' the character of the soil in all parts of this country. The soil of 

 Manitoba I know is black, but that proves nothing, for this soil where we 

 are now living is black also, and hence our friends to the south call us 

 Blackfeet : our true name is " Sokitapi," the prairie people.' In answer 

 to further inquiries, Chief Crowfoot said that there were no people west 

 of the Rockies in any way related to them. His people crossed the 

 mountains sometimes to trade with the British Columbia Indians, but 

 their language was quite different, and they were entire strangers to them. 

 He informed me, however, that there were a people a long way to the 

 south in the United States who were related to them, and spoke the same 

 language as they did. One of his wives, he said, came from that tribe. 

 The woman was present in the teepee, and he pointed her out and ordered 

 her to tell nae what she knew. I questioned and cross-questioned the 

 woman closely, the Rev. J. W. Sims, who has been four years among the 

 Blackfeet, and is well acquainted with their language, interpreting for 

 me. The information I drew from the old woman appeared to me most 

 interesting. She said it was a journey of about thirty days' distance, and, 



