KUTENAI INDIANS

THESE PEOPLE FORMED A DISTINCT LANGUAGE LANGUAGE OF THE SIKSIKA WHO LIVED IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, NORTHERN MONTANA AND IDAHO. ACCORDING TO THEIR MYTHS THEY LIVED EAST OF THE ROCKY'S . THE SIKSIKA AND THE KUTENAI INTERMARRIED. THEY HAD JOINT HUNTING EXPEDITIONS. TO GET BUFFALO. THE LOWER KUTENAI HAVE BEEN MORE PRIMITIVE. AND NOMADIC AND THEY LIKED TO GAMBLE. THEY HAVE BEEN RIVER AND LAKE PEOPLE. THEY THEY BUILT BARK CANOES. LATER IN HISTORY THEY BECAME HORSE RIDERS. . THE UPPER KUTENAI KEEP CLOSER TO THEIR SETTLEMENTS. IN HISTORIC TIMES THEY SERVED THE SETTLERS AND MINERS. THEY ALSO LIKE HORSE RIDING. BOTH UPPER AND LOWER KUTENAI DEPEND ON FISH AND HUNTING. THE LOWER DEPEND MORE ON FISHING. THEY HAVE AVOIDED ALCOHOL MORE THAN ANY OTHER TRIBES IN THE COUNTRY. THEY ELECT A CHIEF FOR EACH FOR EACH VILLAGE. THEY WORSHIPPED THE SUN. THEY BELIEVED THE LAND OF THE DEAD WAS IN THE SUN.ONCE SOMEONE DIED THEY BELIEVED THEY WOULD DESCEND TO LAKE PEND D'OREILLE TO MEET THE LIVING. THEIR MEDICINE MEN WERE VERY POWERFUL. THE PAINT THEIR FACES ON DAYS AND RARELY HAVE USED TATTOOS. MOST ARE ADDICTED TO GAMBLING. THEY WERE GREAT BUFFALO HUNTERS. THEY BUILT SKIN AND RUSH LODGES. THEY OF COURSE HAD A SWEAT LODGE. THEY CAUGHT FISH USING WISKER WEIRS. THEY ARE KNOWN FOR WATER TIGHT BASKETS OF SPLIT ROOTS. THEY ORIGINALLY DRESSED MORE LIKE THE PLAINS. INDIANS. THEY USE TOBACCO FROM WILLOW BARK . BY 1900 A LARGE AMOUNT OF THEIR FOODS.CAME FROM SETTLERS. THEIR FOLKLORE CONSISTS COSMIC AND ETHNIC MYTHS. COYOTE IS A DOMINANT WHO IS A DECEIVER AND A CREATOR OF MAN. THEY HAVE MANY ANIMAL TALES. SOME OF THEIR TALES SUGGEST OLD WORLD ANALOGIES.

THEY MADE FEW PICTOGRAPHS. BUT ORNAMENTED THEIR MOCCASINS AND OTHER ARTICLES IS ELABORATE. THEY MADE NO POTTERY. THEY HAD FEW SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH THE WHITES. THEY HAD 550 PEOPLE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA IN 1904. IN IDAHO AND MONTANA THERE WERE ABOUT 500 IN 1980.

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