325 
two tribes assign them a common origin. Present-day Sarcee claim 
that their territory ranged from the Peace to the Red Deer rivers, 
and that they allied themselves more closely with the Blackfoot tribe 
than with either the Blood or the Piegan. Mackenzie estimated that 
they consisted only “of about thirty-five tents, or one hundred and 
twenty men,’’ which w'ould give a population of about 280;^ but their 
real number was two or three times this amount, judging from other 
estimates made in the early years of the nineteenth century.- In 
53312 
A Siircee cliiof iiiwide bis tipi. ( /*hoto hy I). fleiineNn.) 
any case they constituted a small and rather unimportant tribe, which 
would almost certainly have disappeared from the prairies had it 
not sought the protection of the Blackfoot. In organization, cus- 
toms, and religious beliefs it was a weak reflection of its more power- 
ful ally, only its language, and perhaps a slight inferiority in the 
average stature, betraying its separate origin. For the Sarcee had 
similar divisions into bands and military societies, similar marriage 
1 Mackenzie: Op. cit., p. Ixx. 
- " The iSussees arc about ninety tents and may number about 650 .souks ” (David Thompson's 
Xarrative, p. 327). Franklin allows them 100 tents (Franklin, J.: “Journey to the Shores of the Polar 
Sea,” vol. 1, p. 170 (J.ondon, 1824)). TJ;c same estimate appears in the private papers of Sir James 
Douglas quoted in a preceding footnote. 
