256 ON THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHILOLOGY OF THE 
and he and his followers retired to the Missouri, where they arrived in the fall, when the 
prairies are burnt by the autumnal fires. In their travels their moccasins and leggins 
became blackened by the burnt grass, and in this condition they were first seen by the 
Crows and other neighboring tribes, who at once gave them the name they now bear. 
This account undoubtedly forms a part of their mythology, but how much of truth there 
is in it, it is impossible to determine. So far back as 1789, before any of the nation roamed 
so far southward as the sources of the Missouri, we know that the same three divisions, 
bearing the same names as at the present time, constituted the Blackfoot nation. The 
name is derived from sik-si-nim’, black, and probably at-si-kin’, a shoe or moccasin, which 
could be easily abbreviated into sik-si-ka’, the name not only for a band or division, but 
also for the whole tribe. 
The name of the second band has been spelled in a variety of ways, as, Kahna, Kaenna, 
&c.; but as given to me by the best interpreter in the country, and approved by the chief, 
it is Kai’-e-na, people who counted a plenty of “coups,” that is, people who took in war a 
great many scalps and arms; and this appears to me to be the true interpretation. The 
meaning given by the Prince of Neuwied is essentially the same. ‘ Before the Blackfeet 
divided into separate bands, they were encamped in the neighborhood of five or six tents 
of the Kiitonas or the Sarcees, I believe the former. The Siksikai and the Kahna desired 
to kill the Kaitonas; and though the Piekanns declared against it, a part of those Indians 
attacked the few huts during the night, killed all the inmates, took the scalps, stained 
their faces and hands with the blood, and then returned. Disputes ensued in consequence 
of this cruel action; the Indians separated from each other, and the murderers received 
the name which they have ever since retained. ‘They have always manifested a more san- 
guinary and predatory character than the others, of whom the Piekanns have always been 
remarked as the most moderate and humane of this nation.” 
The name of the third band has also been spelled in a variety of ways, as, Picaneux, 
Piekan, Piekanns, Piegan, &c. From the best authority, the interpreter before-mentioned 
gave the name to me as, Pi-kun’-i, people with badly dressed robes. 
In the following grammatical sketch and vocabulary, I have presented only an abstract 
of the materials in my possession, and have made the whole as brief as possible. Farther 
researches will render much of the information not included in these papers more complete 
and reliable, and on that account it is omitted. 
