ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OP CANADA. 187 



every article they use, and they make the copies. They never try to 

 make new things, unless instructed to do so in a dream. Nevertheless, 

 they make no difEculty about using things made by white people. 



Religion. 



These people, notwithstanding that missionaries of the Roman 

 Catholic Church, the Church of England, and the Methodist Com- 

 munions have been working among them for several years past, are still, 

 nearly all of them, with scarcely an exception, heathen. They seem to be 

 more than any other north-western tribe opposed to adopting either the 

 customs or religion of the white man. Their own system of religion has 

 been already well explained by Mr. Hale, but I may perhaps add a few 

 additional items of interest which I have gathered. The following is from 

 the lips of ' Big Plume ' : — 



' Young men go up on to a hill, and cry and pray for some animal or 

 bird to come to them. Before starting out they wash themselves all 

 over and put off all their clothing and ornaments except a blanket. For 

 five or six days they neither eat nor drink, and they become thin. They 

 take a pipe with them and tinder and flint, and a native weed or bark for 

 smoking (not matches or tobacco). When the pipe is filled they point 

 the stem to the sun and say, " Pity me, that some animal or bird may 

 come to me ! " Then they address the trees, the grass, the water, and the 

 stones in the same manner. If anyone crosses their path while so 

 engaged, they call aloud to them to warn them off, saying, " I am living 

 alone. Do not come near ! " While in this state they dream, and what- 

 ever animal or bird they see in their dream becomes their medicine or 

 guardian through life. They are told also in a dream what description 

 of herbs or roots to gather as their medicine, and this they collect and 

 put carefully into a small bag to keep as a charm. They also kill the 

 animal that they dreamed of, and keep its skin as a charm. No one 

 knows what is the medicine they have gathered ; it is kept a profound 

 secret. The little bag is kept in the tent, and no one may touch it but 

 the owner. Other Indians would be afraid to meddle with it. There is 

 no particular age for young men to engage in the above rites. They start 

 away in the evening — only in summer. Some go of their own accord, 

 others are bid to do so by their fathers or elder brothers. If they do not 

 go, any sickness that comes upon them will certainly be fatal, or if shot 

 by an enemy they will certainly die.' 



I asked ' Big Plnme ' what did he think became of the soul after death ? 

 He replied that the souls of all Blackfeet Indians go to the sandhills north 

 of the cypress hills (this would be to the east of the Blackfeet country). 

 What proof had he of that ? I asked. ' At a distance,' said the chief, ' we 

 can see them hunting buffalo, and we can hear them talking and praying 

 and inviting one another to their feasts. In the summer we often go 

 there, and we see the trails of the spirits and the places where they have 

 been camping. I have been there myself, and have seen them and heard 

 them beating their drums. We can see them in the distance, but when 

 we get near to them they vanish. I cannot say whether or not they see 

 the Great Spirit. I believe they will live for ever. All the Blackfeet 

 believe this ; also the Sarcees, Stonies, Atsinas, and Crees. The Crees 

 after death will go to the sandhills farther north. There will still be 

 fighting between the Creea and the Blackfeet in the spiritual world. Dogs 



