ON THE NOETH-WESTEEN TEIBES OF CANADA. 



197 



Notes by Mr. H. Hale on the Report of the Bev. E. F. Wilson. 



Mr. Wilson having submitted to me his valuable report, I add a few 

 notes, comprising some facts whicli have come to my knowledge since my 

 report of 1885 was prepared. 



In that repoT't I suggested that the non-Algonkin element of the 

 Blackfoot language, as well as their peculiar religious ceremony, the ' sun- 

 dance ' (which is not found among the eastern Algonkins), might have 

 been derived from some tribe west of the Rocky Mountains. The natives 

 of that region who are nearest to the Blackfeet are the Kootenais, a people 

 in some respects of noteworthy and superior character. 



Father De Smet, in his 'Indian Sketches,' describes them as 'the 

 best disposed of all the mountain Indians.' They are highly esteemed 

 among the traders for their good qualities, and particularly for their 

 scrupulous honesty. With this people the Blackfeet have had close 

 relations, in peace and war, from time immemorial. My intelligent cor- 

 respondent, Mr. J. W. Schultz, an educated gentleman, who has resided 

 for several years among or near the American Blackfeet, and has written 

 much about their usages and traditions, informs me that the Kootenais, 

 before their recent conversion by the Roman Catholic missionaries, prac- 

 tised the sun-dance. This he had learnt from Indians of that tribe. 

 He adds : ' In old times, however, the Kootenais lived as much on this 

 side of the mountains as they did on the other.' This accords with other 

 information which I have received to the same effect. As the Blackfeet 



