THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 105 



of as little meaning, which seems strictly to be adhered to by every man in the tribe; 

 they separate the hair in two places on the forehead, leaving a lock between the two,. 

 of an inch or two in width, which is carefully straightened down on to the bridge of 

 the nose, and there cut square off. It is more than probable that this is done for the 

 purpose of distinction; that they may thereby be free from the epithet of effeminacy, 

 which might otherwise attach to them. 



These two tribes, whom I have spoken of connectedly, speak two distinct and 

 entirely dissimilar languages ; and the language of each is different, and radically 

 so, from that of all other, tribes about them. As these people are always at war, and 

 have been, time out of mind, they do not intermarry or hold converse with each 

 other, by which any knowledge of each other's language could be acquired. It 

 would be the work of a man's life-time to collect the languages of all the different 

 tribes which I am visiting ; and I shall, from necessity, leave this subject chiefly for 

 others, who have the time to devote to them, to explain them to the world. I have, 

 however, procured a brief vocabulary of their words and sentences in these tribes, 

 and shall continue to do so amongst the tribes I shall visit, which will answer as a 

 specimen or sample in each, and which, in the sequel to these letters (if they should 

 ever be published), will probably be arranged. 



The Blackfeet Sioux are, perhaps, the most powerful tribe of Indians on the conti- 

 nent, and being sensible of their strength, have stubbornly resisted the traders in their 

 country, who have been gradually forming an acquaintance with them, and endeav- 

 oring to establish a permanent and profitable system of trade. Their country 

 abounds in beaver and buffalo, and most of the fnr-bearing animals of North America : 

 and the American Fur Company, with an unconquerable spirit of trade and enter- 

 prise, has pushed its establishments into their country ; and the numerous parties of 

 trappers are tracing up their streams and rivers, rapidly destroying the beavers 

 which dwell in them. The Blackfeet have repeatedly informed the traders of the 

 company, that if their men persisted in trapping beavers in their country, they 

 should kill them whenever they met them. They have executed their threats in 

 many instances, and the company lose some fifteen or twenty men annually, who 

 fall by the hands of these people, in defense of what they deem their property and 

 their rights. Trinkets and whisky, however, will soon spread their charms amongst 

 these, as they have amongst other tribes, and white man's voracity will sweep the 

 prairies and the streams of their wealth, to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific 

 Ocean ; leaving the Indians to inhabit, and at last to starve upon, a dreary and 

 solitary waste. 



The Blackfeet, therefore, having been less traded with, and less seen by white 

 people than most of the other tribes, are more imperfectly understood; and it yet 

 remains a question to be solved — whether there are twenty, or forty or fifty thousand 

 of them, for no one, as yet, can correctly estimate their real strength. From all I 

 can learn, however, which is the best information that can be got from the traders, 

 there are not far from 40,000 Indians (altogether), who range under the general de- 

 nomination of Blackfeet. 



From our slight and imperfect knowledge of them, and other tribes occupying the 

 country about the sources of the Missouri, there is no doubt in my mind, that, we 

 are in the habit of bringing more Indians into the computation than are entitled 

 justly to the appellation of u Blackfeet." 



Such, for instance, are the "Gros Ventres de Prairie" and Cotonn^s,* neither of 

 which speik the Blackfeet language, but hunt, and eat, and fight, and intermarry 

 with the Blackfeet, living, therefore, in a state of confederacy and friendship with. 

 them, but speaking their own language and practicing their own customs. 



The Blackfeet proper are divided into four bands or families, as follows: The "Pe- 

 a-gans," of 500 lodges; the "Blackfeet" band, of 450 lodges; the "Blood" band, 



* The Blackfeet with whom Mr. Catlin came in contact and of whom he heard probably included 

 the entire Sioux Nation in their estimates.— T. D. 



