ed. A pretty wife, a handsome war bonnet,
a strong bow, a finely ornamented woman's dress,--any or all of these
things a man might obtain, if he had horses to trade for them. The
gambler at "hands," or at the ring game, could bet horses. The man who
was devoted to his last married wife could give her a horse as an evidence
of his affection.

We can readily understand what a change the advent of the horse must have
worked in the minds of a people like the Blackfeet, and how this changed
mental attitude would react on the Blackfoot way of living. At first, there
were but few horses among them, but they knew that their neighbors to the
west and south--across the mountains and on the great plains beyond the
Missouri and the Yellowstone--had plenty of them; that the K[=u]tenais, the
Kalispels, the Snakes, the Crows, and the Sioux were well provided. They
soon learned that horses were easily driven off, and that, even if followed
by those whose property they had taken, the pursued had a great advantage
over the pursuers; and we may feel sure that it was not long before the
idea of capturing horses from the enemy entered some Blackfoot head and was
put into practice.

Now began a systematic sending forth of war parties against neighboring
tribes for the purpose of capturing horses, which continued for about
seventy-five or eighty years, and has only been abandoned within the last
six or seven, and since the settlement of the country by the whites made it
impossible for the Blackfeet longer to pass backward and forward through it
on their raiding expeditions. Horse-taking at once became what might be
called an established industry among the Blackfeet. Success brought wealth
and fame, and there was a pleasing excitement about the war journey.
Except during the bitterest weather of the winter, war parties of Blackfeet
were constantly out, searching for camps of their enemies, from whom they
might capture horses. Usually the only object of such an expedition was to
secure plunder, but often enemies were killed, and sometimes the party set
out with the distinct intention of taking both scalps and horses.

Until some time after they had obtained guns, the Blackfeet were on
excellent terms with the northern Crees, but later the Chippeways from the
east made war on the Blackfeet, and this brought about general hostilities
against all Crees, which have continued up to within a few years. If I
recollect aright, the last fight which occ