The Great Lone Land: A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of AmericaButler, William Francis, Sir
History
The Great Lone Land: A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America
Butler, William Francis, Sir
Northwest, Canadian -- Description and travel
Passing west from Edmonton, we enter the country of the Rocky Mountain
Stonies, a small tribe of Thickwood Indians dwelling along the source of
the North Saskatchewan and in the outer ranges of the Rocky Mountains,-a
fragment, no doubt, from the once-powerful Assineboine nation which has
found a refuge amidst the forests and mountains of the West. This tribe
is noted as possessing hunters and mountain guides of great energy and
skill. Although at war with the Blackfeet, collisions are not frequent
between them, as the Assineboines never go upon war-parties; and the
Blackfeet rarely venture into the wooded country.
Having spoken in detail of the Indian tribes inhabiting the line of
fertile country lying between Red River and the Rocky Mountains, it only
remains for me to allude to the Blackfeet with the confederate tribes of
Blood, Lurcees and Peagins. These tribes inhabit the great plains lying
between the Red Deer River and the Missouri, a vast tract of country
which, with few exceptions, is treeless, and sandy--a portion of the
true American desert, which extends from the fertile belt of the
Saskatchewan to the borders of Texas. With the exception of the Lurcees,
the other confederate tribes speak the same language--the Lurcees, being
a branch of the Chipwayans of the North, speak a language peculiar to
themselves, while at the same time understanding and speaking the
Blackfeet tongue. At war with their hereditary enemies, the Crees, upon
their northern and eastern boundaries--at war with Kootanais and
Flathead tribes on south and west--at war with Assineboines on the
south-east and north-west--carrying on predatory excursions against the
Americans on the Missouri, this Blackfeet nation forms a people of whom
it may truly be said that they are against every man, and that every man
is against them. Essentially a wild, lawless, erring race, whose natures
have received the stamps of the region in which they dwell; whose
knowledge is read from the great book which Day, Night, and the Desert
unfold to them; and who yet possess a rude eloquence, a savage pride,
and a wild love of freedom of their own. Nor are there other indications
wanting to lead to the hope that this tribe may yet be found to be
capable of yielding to influences to which they have heretofore been
strangers, namely, Justice and Kindness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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