The Blackfeet now are willing to work in the same way that the white man works. They appreciate, as well as any one, the fact that old things have passed away, and that they must now adapt themselves to new surroundings. Therefore, they work in the hay fields, tend stock, chop logs in the mountains, haul firewood, drive freighting teams, build houses and fences, and, in short, do pretty much all the work that would be done by an ordinary ranchman. They do not perform it so well as white men would; they are much more careless in their handling of tools, wagons, mowing-machines, or other implements, but they are learning all the time, even if their progress is slow.
The advance toward civilization within the past five years is very remarkable and shows, as well as anything could show, the adaptability of the Indian. At the same time, I believe that if it had not been for that fateful experience known as "the starvation winter," the progress made by the Blackfeet would have been very much less than it has been. The Indian requires a bitter lesson to make him remember.
But besides this lesson, which at so terrible a cost demonstrated to him the necessity of working, there has been another factor in the progress of the Blackfoot. If he has learned the lesson of privation and suffering, the record given in these pages has shown that he is not less ready to respond to encouragement, not less quickened and sustained by friendly sympathy. Without such encouragement he will not persevere. If his crops fail him this year, he has no heart to plant the next. A single failure brings despair. Yet if he is cheered and helped, he will make other efforts. The Blackfeet have been thus sustained; they have felt that there was an inducement for them to do well, for some one whom they trusted was interested in their welfare, was watching their progress, and was trying to help them. They knew that this person had no private interest to serve, but wished to do the best that he could for his people. Having an exaggerated idea of his power to aid them, they have tried to follow his advice, so as to obtain his good-will and secure his aid with the government. Thus they have had always before them a definite object to strive for.
The Blackfoot of to-day is a working man. He has a little property which he is trying to care for and wishes to add to. With a little help, with instruction, and with encouragement to persevere, he will become in the next few years self-supporting, and a good citizen.
INDEX
Above Persons, Adoption of captives, Adultery, penalty for, Adventure, Stories of, Adventures of Bull Turns Round, Affirmation, solemn form of, Ah-kaik'-sum-iks Ah-kai-yi-ko-ka'-kin-iks, Ah-kai'-po-kaks Ah-kwo'-nis-tsists, Ahk-o'-tash-iks, Ahk-sa'-ke-wah, Ah'pai-tup-iks, Ai-sik'-stuk-iks, A[=i]-sin'-o-ko-ki, Ai'-so-yim-stan, Alcohol, agent of destruction, Algonquin myth, Algonquin tribes, All-are-his-children, All Comrades, All Crazy Dogs, Allen, Major, All-face man, Almost-a-Dog, Amelanchier alnifolia, American Anthropologist, American Hero Myths, Ancient customs dying out, Ancient Times, Stories of, Animals, birth of, creation of, Animal powers, Animal powers and signs, Animals to be food, Antelope, method of taking, song, where created, Anthropologist, American A'pi, Ap'-i-kai-yiks, Ap'i-kunni, Api-su'-ahts, Ap-ut'-o-si-kai-nah, Armells Creek, Arrows, Assinaboines (tribe), A'-tsi-tsi, Authority of "sits beside him" woman, A-wah-heh',
Back fat (of buffalo),
Creek,
Bad Weapons, The,
Bad Wife, The,
Badger,
Badger Creek,
Bags,
Basins,
Battle near Cypress Mountains,
Bear,
Bears, The
Beaver, how taken,
Creek,
Indians,
Medicine, The,
song,
Belly River,
Buttes,
Belt,
Berries created,
Berry of the red willow,
Big Eagle,
Big Nose,
Big Topknots,
Bighorn, where created
Birch tree
Bird, Thomas
Birds created
Birth of the animals
Biters
Bitter-root
Black Elks (Blackfoot gens)
(Blood gens)
Blackfat Roasters
Blackfeet
as known to the whites
Blackfoot
cosmology
country, boundaries of
Crossing
Genesis, The
in War, The
Black Doors
Black Patched Moccasins
Blood (tribe)
Blood People
Boiling meat
Bow River
Bowls of stone
Bows
Box Elder Creek
Boys, advice to
Brave (band of the I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi),
Bravery held in high esteem
proofs of required
Braves, duties of
Braves' society
Brinton, Dr.
Brush created
Buckets
Buffalo
bringing to camp
corral of Cheyennes
created
driven over cliffs
Dung (gens)
eating the people
hunting disguised
hidden
slaughter, modern
value of to the people
surrounding
Buffalo Lip Butte
Buffalo Rock, The
what it is
Buffalo song
Bull bats
Bull berries
Bulls
Bulls' society
Bunch of lodges
Burial
Buttes created
Camas
root, how prepared
Camp arranged in circle
Camp, order of moving
Canadian mounted police
Casey, Lieutenant
Catchers
Cattle issued
Cause of disease.
Centre post of Medicine Lodge
Ceremony of Medicine Lodge
of unwrapping pipe-stem
Cheyennes
buffalo corral of
Chickadee
Chief
Children in lodge
sports of
training of
Children, The Lost
Chippeways
Chippeweyans
Chinook winds
Choke-cherries, how prepared
Clark (W.P.)
Clay images, of buffalo
in human shape
Clot of blood
Clothing
made of buffalo hide
Cold Maker
Confederation of three tribes
Corral of Cheyennes, buffalo
Cosmology, Blackfoot
Counting coup
coup at Medicine Lodge
Country of the Blackfoot
Coup, et seq.
among Blackfeet.
different tribes.
counting, in early times.
"Covering" the slain.
Cowardice, penalty for.
Coyotes, how taken.
Creation, et seq.
Creator.
Cree (tribe), et seq.
Crimes to be punished.
Crops in Blackfoot country.
Crow (tribe).
Cups, how made.
Custer, General, xiv.
Customs, ancient, dying out.
Customs, Daily Life and.
Cut Bank River.
Cutting rawhide for Medicine Lodge.
Cypress Mountains.
Daily Life and Customs.
Dance, medicine pipe.
young women's.
Dawson, Mrs. Thomas, xiv.
Dead return to life.
Death, origin of.
Deer, how taken.
Deer Lodge.
Diet.
Disease.
Diseases introduced by whites.
Dishes.
Divorce.
Doctors.
Dog and the Stick, The.
Dogs beasts of burden, et seq.
killed at grave.
not eaten.
Dogs Naked.
Don't Laugh band.
Double Runner, vii, xv.
Doves.
Dream helper, et seq.
originates war party.
person, et seq.
Dreaming for power, et seq.
Dreams, 3 et seq..
belief in.
Dress.
Dried meat.
Dried Meat (gens).
Dwelling.
Duties of first wife.
Eagle catching.
songs.
lodge.
Early Finished Eating.
Riser.
wars bloodless.
Ear-rings.
Eggs of waterfowl, how cooked.
[=E]-in'-a-ke.
E-kus'-kini, et seq.
Elbow river.
Elk, how taken.
The.
tushes.
Elkhorn arrow.
Elk River.
Elopement.
E'-mi-tah-pahk-sai-yiks,.
E'-mi-taks,.
Esk'-sin-ai-t[)u]p-iks,.
Esk'-sin-i-t[)u]ppiks.
[)E]ts-k[=a]i'-nah,.
Everyday life, et seq.
Family names.
Fast of Medicine Lodge woman.
Fast Runners, The.
Fat Roasters.
Feast, invitations to.
Feasting in the camps.
Fighting between Bloods and Piegans.
Fire, how obtained.
carried.
First killing in war.
mauls.
medicine pipe.
people.
pis'kun.
scalping.
shelter to sleep under.
stone knives.
Fish.
hooks.
Fish spears,
Flat Bows,
Flatheads,
Flesh of animals eaten,
Fleshers, how made,
Flint and steel,
Folk-lore,
Food of war party,
Forest and Stream,
Fort Conrad,
McLeod,
Pitt,
Union,
Four Bears,
Fox, The,
Fox-eye,
Frogs,
Fungus for punk,
Fur animals, how caught,
Future life,
Gambling,
Game, hidden,
in Blackfoot country,
Game played by prairie dogs,
Genesis, The Blackfoot,
Gentes of the Blackfeet,
Bloods,
Kai'nah,
Piegans,
Pi-k[)u]n'i,
Sik'si-kau,
now extinct,
Ghost,
bear,
country,
Woman, Heavy Collar and The,
Ghosts,
Ghosts' Buffalo, The,
Ghosts, camp of the,
Girls, carefully guarded,
instructed,
outfit for marriage,
Girl stolen,
Gown of women,
Grasshoppers,
Grease on red willow bark,
Great Bear (constellation),
Falls,
Grizzly Bear,
Grooved arrow shafts,
Gros Ventres,
Ground Man,
Ground Man (of Cheyennes),
Ground Persons,
Hair, care of, mode of wearing, Handles of knives, "Hands," Hats of antelope skin, Head chief, how chosen, Heavy Collar, and the Ghost Woman, Runner, Help from animals, Hill where Old Man sleeps, Horned toad, Horns, Horses cause of war, killed at grave, when obtained, How the Blackfoot lived, Hunting, alone punished, Husband's personal rights in wife, power over wife, property rights in wife,