It is not known that these people ever made spears, hooks, or other implements for capturing fish.  They appear never to have used boats of any kind, not even “bull boats.”  Their highest idea of navigation was to lash together a few sticks or logs, on which to transport their possessions across a river.

Red, brown, yellow, and white paints were made by burning clays of these colors, which were then pulverized and mixed with a little grease.  Black paint was made of charred wood.

Bags and sacks were made of parfleche, usually ornamented with buckskin fringe, and painted with various designs in bright colors.  Figures having sharp angles are most common.

The diet of the Blackfeet was more varied than one would think.  Large quantities of sarvis berries (Amelanchier alnifolia) were gathered whenever there was a crop (which occurs every other year), dried, and stored for future use.  These were gathered by women, who collected the branches laden with ripe fruit, and beat them over a robe spread upon the ground.  Choke-cherries were also gathered when ripe, and pounded up, stones and all.  A bushel of the fruit, after being pounded up and dried, was reduced to a very small quantity.  This food was sometimes eaten by itself, but more often was used to flavor soups and to mix with pemmican.  Bull berries (Shepherdia argentea) were a favorite fruit, and were gathered in large quantities, as was also the white berry of the red willow.  This last is an exceedingly bitter, acrid fruit, and to the taste of most white men wholly unpleasant and repugnant.  The Blackfeet, however, are very fond of it; perhaps because it contains some property necessary to the nourishment of the body, which is lacking in their every-day food.

The camas root, which grows abundantly in certain localities on the east slope of the Rockies, was also dug, cooked, and dried.  The bulbs were roasted in pits, as by the Indians on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, the Kalispels, and others.  It is gathered while in the bloom—­June 15 to July 15.  A large pit is dug in which a hot fire is built, the bottom being first lined with flat stones.  After keeping up this fire for several hours, until the stones and earth are thoroughly heated, the coals and ashes are removed.  The pit is then lined with grass, and is filled almost to the top with camas bulbs.  Over these, grass is laid, then twigs, and then earth to a depth of four inches.  On this a fire is built, which is kept up for from one to three days, according to the quantity of the bulbs in the pit.

When the pit is opened, the small children gather about it to suck the syrup, which has collected on the twigs and grass, and which is very sweet.  The fresh-roasted camas tastes something like a roasted chestnut, with a little of the flavor of the sweet potato.  After being cooked, the roots are spread out in the sun to dry, and are then put in sacks to be stored away.  Sometimes a few are pounded up with sarvis berries, and dried.