INDIAN TRIBES OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY. 253 
when white men are found by them in their enemies’ country, they are regarded as giving 
aid and comfort to their foes, and are liable to be treated accordingly ; at least, this was 
the case until after the treaty with the United States Government in 1855. Since that 
time, they have been, for the most part, at peace with all nations. 
Very little reliable information has ever yet been given to the world in relation to 
this tribe, and it is only within a comparatively recent period, that the true affinity of 
their language was known, some supposing them to speak an independent language ; 
others a remote dialect of the Dakota stock. In the Transactions of the American 
Ethnological Society, Vol. II, Gallatin proved conclusively that they belonged to the great 
Algonkin Group. So far as I can ascertain from the books within my reach, I desire 
to present a brief account of the statements of travellers, who have noticed them, and 
to allude to the different vocabularies of their language, which have already been given 
to the world. 
So far back as 1789, Mackenzie, in his “ General History of the Fur Trade,” says: “On 
the head waters of the South Branch (Saskatchewan), are the Picaneux, to the number of 
twelve to fifteen hundred men. Next to them, on the same water, are the Blood Indians, 
of the same nation as the last, to the number of fifty tents, or two hundred and fifty men. 
From them downwards extend the Blackfeet Indians, of the same nation as the two last © 
tribes ; their number may be eight hundred men. Next to them, and who extend to the 
confluence of the South and North Branch, are the Fall or Big-bellied Indians, who may 
amount to about six hundred warriors.” Again, he says, ‘The Picaneux, Blackfeet, and 
Blood Indians are a distinct people, speak a language of their own, and I have reason to 
think, are travelling northwest, as well as the others just mentioned, nor have I heard of 
any Indians with whose language that which they speak has any affinity.” 
Umfreville, in a well-written work, published about 1791, says (on page 200) that the 
three bands, Blackfeet, Piegan, and Blood Indians, all speak the same language, and have 
the same laws and customs. ‘They were the most numerous and powerful nation with 
which he was acquainted. In this work he gives a list of forty-four words of their lan- 
guage, which, so far as I know, was the first ever published of their tongue. He also 
mentions the occurrence of the small-pox in 1781, which spread generally throughout the 
Indian country. It proved very destructive, not one in fifty of those attacked surviving, 
and it seriously injured the trading interests. 
In Lewis and Clarke’s Journal, quite extended and interesting accounts are given of 
their intercourse with this tribe, but nothing definite in regard to their former history, 
and no vocabulary of their language. It would appear that at the time of their visit to 
the West, in 1804, 5, and ’6, these Indians had taken up their abode near the sources of 
the Missouri. * 
