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COTONAY? BLACKFEET. 



The Blackfoot nation is one of the most powerful in the northwestern region 

 of this continent ; for, notwithstanding their long and desperate conflicts with all 

 the surrounding tribes, they yet number thirty thousand souls. They are composed 

 of three principal divisions, of which the Cotonay is the most celebrated and best 

 known. They are proverbial for their uncompromising hostility to the trappers, 

 whom they attack and destroy whenever opportunity offers. They never ask for 

 mercy and rarely award it to their captives. Fierce, crafty and courageous, they 

 hold little communication with other tribes, and revenge themselves on all 

 strangers who intrude, whether for good or evil, within the limits of their hunting 

 grounds. 



PLATE XL. 



BLACKFOOT. 



The only two heads I have ever seen of this isolated nation, were brought to 

 this city by Mr. George Catlin, and by him presented to George Combe, Esq. 

 The latter gentleman has politely placed them at my disposal, and I have had the 

 largest of them figured on the annexed plate. It is the skull of a man who 

 appears to have received a mortal blow on the top of the head, near the junction 

 of the parietal bones, which has penetrated into the cavity of the cranium. This 

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