The Blackfeet are a ferocious tribe, numbering among their enemies all the nations within their reach. They roam about, seeking their foes wherever they are to be found. To show the hostility of the other tribes to the Blackfeet, Catlin relates the following event as having occurred when he was present. A party of Knistenaux came from the north for the purpose of making their summer’s trade at the station of one of the fur companies; and whilst there, a party of Blackfeet came from the west, also to trade. They encamped on opposite sides of the fort, and spent some weeks together in apparent good-fellowship, their arms, according to the regulation at the fort, being locked up in the arsenal. The Knistenaux had completed their trade, yet loitered about the premises, until all, both Indians and white men, were getting tired of their company, and wished them quietly away. When they were ready to start, with their goods packed on their backs, their arms were given them, and they started, bidding every body, both friends and foes, a hearty farewell. They went out of the fort, and though the party gradually moved off, one of them, undiscovered, loitered about, until he got an opportunity to poke the muzzle of his gun between the pickets. He then fired it at one of the chiefs of the Blackfeet, who stood within a few paces, talking with Mr. McKenzie, and shot him with two musket-bullets through his body! The Blackfeet and the Frenchmen in the fort ran forth with their arms, and, after several shots were exchanged, drove off the Knistenaux, they having lost one man, and having several others wounded.
The Blackfeet are described as of a Herculean make, though of middling stature; they have broad shoulders, and great expansion of chest. They probably acquired their name from the black leggins or moccasins which they wear. They are divided into four bands or families, the Pe-a-gans, of five hundred lodges, the Blackfoot band, of 450 lodges, the Blood band, of 450 lodges, and the Small Robes, of 250 lodges. These four bands comprise about 1,650 lodges, and, probably averaging ten to a lodge, amount to about 16,500 souls. There are also, in the vicinity, the Grosventres des Prairies, 430 lodges; Circees, of 220 lodges; and Cotornés, of 250 lodges. These have languages distinct from each other and from the Blackfeet, yet they seem to be their confederates, and hunt, eat, fight, and intermarry with them.