414 INLAND TRIBES
Section V.— The Black-feet Indians.
The region lying to the westward of the Minetari and between
that people and the Rocky Mountains, traversed by
the southern branch* of the Saskatehawn River, which' descends
from that chain towards Lake Winnipeg, and by the
upper channel of the .Missouri and Yellow-Stone rivers-,"are
the buffalo plains inhabited by two Indian nations of distinct
language, the Black-feet and the Rapid or Fall Indians.
The Black-feet are a very powerful and numerous people;
they are estimated at 30,000 souls. Mr. Gatlm says that the
Black-fèet are one of the most numerous tribes^ They
occupy the whole country above the sources of the Missouri
from the mouth of the Yellow-Stone River to the Rocky
Mountains. They are fierce and warlike, and carry war
among their enemies in every part of the Roeky Mountains/-
The Black-feet proper are divided’ into four l barïds' or'faröiiè^
as follows:—The Pa-e-guns, of 500 lodges p the Black^fetet
Band, of 450 lodges; the Blood Band,: of=450 lodges'? an d '
the Small Rover, of 250 lodges.
Mr. Gallatin has had the kindness tó communidatetö me
vocabularies of the languages of the Black-feet Indians, of
the Crows or Upsarokas, and of the Gros Ventres or Rapid
or Fall Indians, who call themselves Ahnenim. These vocabularies
are in manuscript; -they were éollected sibbe the
publication of Mr. Gallatin’s work by Mr. Mackenzie, a very
intelligent man, who resides at the -junction of the Yellow-
Stone and the Missouri rivers as principal agent of the St. Louis
American Fur Company, and who trades principally with
these three nations. They appear to belong to three distinct
families; but the Crows speak a dialect decidedly cognate to
that of the 1 Sedentary Minetaris and Mandans, confirming
the opinion of Mr. Gallatin that this tribe belongs to the
great Sioux family.
EiLADK-FEET : PADUCAS. 415
S ection 'VI.—The Paducg.Sk and various Nations on the Red
River and o thg% countries in Louisiana.
. It-seems that several different,nations have been described
under the name p f Paducas, as the, Ietans, Hietans, or C|$t
xnanches, . the Kiatyas, and | Utjas, who, according, to Pike,
speak the same-language as the. Paducas, and are doubtless
of the .same race; These three nations thus form one great
people, the tribes of which %ve spread over a great extent of
country. Tbe.nam(b,of Paduca belongs to the wholeI race
collectively. It is the term given them by their neighbours
the, pawnees, n
Their chief positions are--indicated by Pike. The Kiawas
wander about the sources of the|River Platte; they possess
immense herds of horses, and a^e .at war with the- Pawnees
and Ietans, as well as with the ;Sioux. The Utahs wander on
the, sources pf the , Rio/del Norte. The Ietans are a powerful
nation* entirely erratic, without any attempt; at cultivation,
subsisting solely by the chase. , Their wanderings are confined
lip.the frontiers of New Mexico'on the west, $he nations of the
Lower Red River, on the south, th e, Pawnees and Osage on
the east, and the IJtabs, Kiawas, and various unknown nations
towards the north. Pike says the Utahs and Kiawas
reside in the mountains of. North Mexico, and the Ietans on
the borders of the Upper Red River, Arkansa, and Rio del
Norte.
In the high countries, round the sources of, the Platte, Arkansa,
and Red Rivers, tribes of the Kiawa and Kaskaia
nation wander in pursuit of the herds of bisons, without any
fixed dwelling. “ These Indians/’ US Mr. James informs us,
“ differ in many particulars from those of the Missouri. Their
average stature appears to be less considerable, and though
the general appearance of the countenance, is similar, yet their
faces have, perhaps, somewhat more latitude, and the Roman
nose is obviously less predominant; but still the direction of
the eye, the prominence of the cheek-bones, the form of the
lips, teeth, chin, and retreating forehead, are precisely similar.”