part 3.). New York, 1913.

The Sun Dance of the Crow Indians (_ibid._, XVI, part 1.). New York, 1915.

Notes on the Social Organization and Customs of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Crow Indians (_ibid._, XXI, part 1.). New York, 1917.

Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians (_ibid._, XXV, part 1.). New York, 1918.

The Tobacco Society of the Crow Indians (_ibid._, XXI, part 2.). New York, 1919.

Blackfoot

At the time of discovery, these Indians resided east of the Rocky Mountains in what is now Montana, and Alberta, Canada, and were grouped into three tribes: Blackfoot, Blood, and Piegan. The Piegan were the largest and dominant tribe, but all were in the habit of speaking of themselves as Blackfoot. How this name originated is not known, though there is a story that it was given them by other Indians because their moccasins were always stained with the black loam of the rich prairies of Alberta.

Closely affiliated with the Blackfoot were the Sarsi, a small Athabascan-speaking tribe, and the Prairie Gros Ventre, closely related to the Arapaho. Thus the Blackfoot group—confederacy of early writers—was composed of at least five distinct tribal units. Their nearest cultural contemporaries are the Plains-Cree, Assiniboin, Crow, and Shoshoni.

The Blackfoot speak a language belonging to the great Algonkian family of eastern North America. The presumption is, therefore, that they migrated from the woodlands of the east to the western plains, but this was very long ago.

The surviving remnants of the tribe now number less than 5,000, fully half of whom live in the State of Montana, and less than half of these are of pure descent.

For further information on the Blackfoot and other Plains tribes, the reader is referred to:

North American Indians of the Plains (Handbook series, No. 1 American Museum of Natural History, 1912), by Clark Wissler, and the following monographs by Dr. Wissler, published in the _Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History_:

Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians. vol. II, part 1.

The Material Culture of the Blackfoot Indians. vol. V, part 1.

The Social Life and Ceremonial Bundles of the Blackfoot Indians. vol. VII.

Societies and Dance Associations of the Blackfoot Indians. vol. XI,