English: Title: Bulletin

Identifier: bulletin3011907smit Year: 1901 (1900s) Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Subjects: Ethnology Publisher: Washington : G. P. O. Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Text Appearing Before Image: BULL. 30] ASSINIBOIN 103 drifted northwestward to the region ahout L. Winnipeg, wiiere they were hy- ing as early as 1670, and were thus lo- cated on Lahontan's map of 1691. Chan- vignerie (1736) place them in the same

Text Appearing After Image: RED DOG—ASSINIBOIN region. Dobbs (Hudson Bay, 1744) lo- cated one division of the Assiniboin some distance n. w. of L. Winnipeg and the other immediately w. of an imidentified lake placed n. of L. Winnipeg. These divisions he distinguishes as Assiniboin of the Meadows and Assiniboin of the Woods. In 1775 Henry found the tri])e scattered along Saskatchewan and Assini- boine rs., from the forest limit well up to the headwaters of the former, and this region, between the Sioux on the s. and the Siksika on the w., was the country over which they continued to range until gathered on reservations. Havdcn (Ethnog. and Philol. Mo. Yal., IStiL') limits their range at that time as fol- lows: "The Northern Assiniboins roam over the country from the w. banks of the Saskatchewan and Assiniboin rs., in a w. direction to the Woody mts., x. and w. amongst some of the small outliers of the Kocky mts. e. of the INIissouri, and on the banks of the small lakes frequently met with on the plains in that district. They consist of 250 or 300 lodges. The remainder of the tribe, now [1856] re- duced to 250 lodges, occupy the dis- trict defined as follows: Commencing at the mouth of the White Earth r. on the E., extending up that river to and as far beyond its source as the Grand Coulee and the head of La Riviere aux Souris, thence n. w. along the Coteau de Prairie, or divide, as far as the beginning of the Cypress mts., on the n. fork of Milk r., down that river to its junction with the Missouri, thence down the INIissouri to White Earth r., the starting point. Until the year 1838 the tribe still numbered from" 1,000 to 1,200 lodges, trading on the Missouri, when the smallpox reduced them to less than 400 lodges. They M'ere also surrounded by large and hostile tribes, who continually made war upon them, and in this way their number was diminished, though at the present lime they are slowly on the increase." From the time they separated from the parent stem and joined the Cree until brought under control of the whites, they were almost constantly at war with the Dakota. As they have lived since the appearance of the wiiites in the N. W. almost wholly on the plains, without per- manent villages, moving from place to place in search of food, their history has been one of conflict with surrounding tribes. Physically the Assiniboin do not differ materially from the other Sioux. The men dress their hair in various forms; it is seldom cut, but as it grows is twisted into small locks or tails, and frequently false hair is added to lengthen the twist. It sometimes reaches the ground, but is

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