Year: 1877

J


still the most numerous and powerful Of


the nations who live wholly or partly in


British North America. In person they
have developed an unusual degree of beau.
ty and symetry. Though Of less stature
than many other Indians, they are still
tall and well made. Their faces are very
intelligent, the nose is aquiline, the eyes
clear and brilliant, the cheek bones less
prominent and the lips thinner than usual
among other tribes. The dress of the men
differs little from the ordinary costume of
the Indian of the plains, except in being
generally cleaner and in better preserva-
ton, The Bloods dress more neatly and
are finer and bolder-looking men than the
Blackfeet, who, in turn, surpass the Peag-
ins in these respects. The Bloods are said
to have among them many comparatively
fair men, with gray eyes, and hair both


finer and lighter colored than usual in the
case of the pure Indians. This tribe is
supposed to bear its savage name, not from
any particular cruelty of disposition, but
because, unlike the other tribes, its war
riors do not steal horses, but only seek for
the blood of their enemies, whom they
generally overcome, for they are among the
bravest of all the natives. The faces of
both Blackfeet men and women are gen.
orally highly painted with vermilion, which
seems to be the national color. The dress
of the latter is very singular and striking,
consisting of long gowns of buffalo skins,
dressed beautifully soft, and dyed with
yellow ochre. This is confined at the
waist by broad belt of the same material,
thickly studded over with round brass
scales the size of silver half dollar piece
brightly polished. The Blackfeet, how
ever, in common with other Indians, are
rapidly adopting blankets and capotes, and
giving up the beautifully painted robes of
their forefathers, The ornameuted robes
that are now made are inferior in work
manship to those of the days gone by.


The mental characteristics of the Black
feet resemble closely those Of Indians else
where. Similar circumstances give shape
and force to thoughts and emotions in all.
Intellectual yigor is manifested in shrcwd-
ness Of observation, and strong powers of
perception, Imagination and eloquence.
They are quick of apprehension, cunning,
noble.minded and firm of character, yet
cautious in manner, and with a certain ex-
preston of pride and reserve. They are
strong and active, and naturally averse to
an indoent habit. Their activity, how
ever, is rather manifested in war and the
chase than in useful labor Pastoral, agri-
cultural and mechanical labor they de-
spise, as forming sort of degrading sla-
very. In this they are as proud as the
citizens of the old republics whose business
was war. Their labors are laid upon the
women, who also are, upon occasion, the
beasts of burden upon their marches; for
the egotism of the red man, like that of
his white brother, makes him regard wo.
man as an inferior, and predestined SER
want to minister to his comfort and pleasure,
The Blackfeet have, moreover, both a
local attachment aud strong patriotic or
national feeling, in which respect they DIFF
fer favorably from all other tribes In
their public councils and debates they cx-
hibit genuine oratorical power, and a
keenness and closeness of reasoning quito
remarkable. Eloquence in public speak
ing is gift which they earnestly cultivate,
and the chiefs prepare themselves by pre-
vious reflection and arrangement of topics
and methods of expression. The scope of
thought is as boundless as tho land over
which they roam, and their speech the
echo of the beauty that lies spread around
them. Their expressions are as free and
lofty as those Of any civilized man, and
they speak the voices of tho things of
earth and air amid which their wild life is
cast. Their language being too limited to
afford wealth of direction, they make up
in ideas, in the shape of metaphor furnish
cd by all Nature around them, and read
from the great book which day, night and
the desert unfold to them.--APpIetoa's
.LonrnnL