e confederacy consisted of
three tribes, the Blackfoot or Siksika proper, the Kaina and the Piegan.
During the early years of the 19th century the Blackfoots were one of
the strongest Indian confederacies of the north-west, numbering some
40,000. At the beginning of the 20th century there were about 5000, some
in Montana and some in Canada.

See Jean L'Heureux, _Customs and Religious Ideas of Blackfoot Indians
in J.A.I._, vol. xv. (1886); G.B. Grinnell, _Blackfoot Lodge Tales_
(1892); G. Catlin, _North American Indians_ (1876); _Handbook of
American Indians_ (Washington, 1907), under "Siksika."

BLACK FOREST (Ger. _Schwarzwald_; the _Silva Marciana_ and _Abnoba_ of
the Romans), a mountainous district of south-west Germany, having an
area of 1844 sq. m., of which about two-thirds lie in the grand duchy of
Baden and the remaining third in the kingdom of Wurttemberg. Bounded on
the south and west by the valley of the Rhine, to which its declivities
abruptly descend, and running parallel to, and forming the counterpart
of the Vosges beyond, it slopes more gently down to the valley of the
Neckar in the north and to that of the Nagold (a tributary of the
Neckar) on the north-east. Its total length is 100 m., and its breadth
varies from 36 m. in the south to 21 in the centre and 13 in the north.
The deep valley of the Kinzig divides it laterally into halves, of which
the southern, with an average elevation of 3000 ft., is the wilder and
contains the loftiest peaks, which again mostly lie towards the western
side. Among them are the Feldberg (4898 ft.), the Herzogenhorn (4600),
the Blossling (4260) and the Blauen (3820). The northern half has an
average height of 2000 ft. On the east side are several lakes, and here
the majority of the streams take their rise. The configuration of the
hills is mainly conical and the geological formation consists of gneiss,
granite (in the south) and red sandstone. The district is poor in
minerals; the yield of silver and copper has almost ceased, but there
are workable coal seams near Offenburg, where the Kinzig debouches on
the plain. The climate in the higher districts is raw and the produce is
mostly confined to hardy cereals, such as oats. But the valleys,
especially those on the western side, are warm and healthy, enclose good
pasture land and furnish fruits and wine in rich profusion. They are
clothed up to a height of about 2000 ft. with luxuriant woods of oak and
beech, a