19 
ascendancy; but during the more peaceful era that succeeded the first 
colonization by white men a degraded form of the Chinookan language 
spoken in the state of Washington l)ecame the usual medium of inter- 
course l:ietween the different tribes, like the jargon of broken Iilnglish 
current in many parts of the South Seas. 
On the prairies another linguistic stock appeared, Siouan, spoken 
by the Assiniboines or Stonies who entered Canada from the south, 
probably around 1600. The Blackfoot, Blood, and Biegan Indians 
spoke an Algonkian dialect, as did also those Cree who migrated to 
the plains after tlie introduction of firearms. The Sai'cec, who now 
live on a reserve near Calgary, are the remnant of a once powerful 
tribe that moved down from the north a few centuries ago. Though 
assimilated to the Blackfoot in all their customs they still preserve 
their Atliapaskan tongue.^ 
The Iroquoian language of southeastern Ontario was not con- 
fined to the historic Five (later Six) Nations, but was shared by 
them with the Huron, the Tobacco, and the Neutral nations which 
they displaced or destroyed. Elsewhere in eastern Canada Algon- 
kian dialects prevailed; one of them, Cree, extended far into the 
northwest during early historical times, penetrating the great block 
of territory held by the Athapaskan tongue. The Eskimo language 
reigned exclusively along the Arctic and sub-Arctic coast-line outside 
the shores of James bay. 
The number of distinct languages in Canada raises the question 
whether they may not all be derived from a single source, even if 
they have changed so greatly that we cannot to-day detect their 
relationship. AVe know that every language changes in vocabulary, 
pronunciation, and even grammar. Many words in the English 
Bible, and in Shakespeare, are now obsolete; others, though still 
used, are pronounced differently; and grammatical forms that were 
formerly coi’rect are no longer so. These changes still continue, 
although the spread of education, and the printing press, with their 
tendency to standardize spelling, often mask and sometimes perhaps 
retard them; for in spite of such checks all the Dominions of the 
British Empire are slowly developing distinctive dialects. The lan- 
guages of tlie Indians have undoubtedly changed in the same way, 
though since the aborigines evolved no form of writing (except a 
1 For the Sirninn -speaking Gros-^’t-ntre, \\ lio also ai'pear on the map, See v'- 326. 
