126 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



that it could not be removed without assistance ; the 

 captives were then separated and dismissed singly to find 

 their way to their friends. One only reached his tribe, 

 and was lying in a tent not far from the spot where we 

 were encamped. 



Mis-tick-oos, when relating these adventures, raised 

 the pipe he held in his hand and exclaimed, " This is 

 what my Blackfoot friend gave me one day, the next he 

 killed my young men ; he is now my enemy again." 

 I expressed a wish to purchase the pipe ; the chief's 

 reply was " Take it," handing it to me with a gloomy 

 frown, and silently extending his hand for the Wapekan- 

 cuspwagan, or clay pipe, which I was smoking at ihe 

 time. 



The great chief of the Plain Crees is styled " the Fox ;" 

 he is held in high estimation by all the Plain Indians with 

 whom he comes in contact, either in peace or war. He 

 is dreaded by the Sioux, the Blackfeet, the Bloodies, the 

 Fall Indians, the Assinniboines, and the tribes who oc- 

 casionally hunt on the Grand Coteau de Missouri and 

 the South Branch of the Sackatchewan. 



The barbarous and cruel treatment of prisoners so 

 often described in narratives of Indian warfare, is common 

 even now in the prairies south of the Qu'appelle and the 

 Assinniboine. On that part of Eed Eiver which lies 

 in the State of Minnesota, Indian warfare, with all its 

 horrors, is constantly carried on between the Ojibways 

 and Sioux. 



Not a year passes without the loss of several Eed 

 Eiver half-breeds by the scalping knife of the Sioux ; 

 and, as was the case in the autumn of 1858, quite close 

 to the settlement of St. Joseph, near the boundary 

 line, about thirty miles west of Eed Eiver. When a 

 prisoner is taken, the Sioux sometimes adopt a terrible 



