The Old North Trail: Life, Legends and Religion of the Blackfeet Indians (Forgotten Books)

Walter McClintock went to Montana with a US Forestry Service expedition in 1896. He spent the next four years living on the land with the Blackfeet, one of the most northern of the Great Plains tribes. He was adopted into the tribe by the Chief Mad Dog, and got a chance to learn their traditions firsthand. The book presents Blackfeet folklore and religious traditions in context. The narrative of his gradual adoption into Blackfeet society is a classic Western tale, but it is also a classic of 19th century ethnography. Unfettered by modern anthropological protocols and given total access by his hosts, McClintock produced the primary source on the Blackfeet just after the collapse of their traditional way of life. (Quote from sacred-texts.com)

About the Author

Lewis Spence (1874 - 1955)
James Lewis Thomas Chalmbers Spence (November 25, 1874 - March 3, 1955) was a Scottish journalist, folklorist, poet and occult scholar.

A prolific writer, Spence has been credited in reviving the study of Scottish folklore. After an early career in Scotland as a journalist, about 1906 he began to take a keen interest folklore and mythology. He wrote about Brythonic rites and traditions in The Mysteries of Britain (1905). In this book, Spence theorized that the original Britons were descendants of a people that migrated from Northwest Africa and were probably related to the Berbers and the Basques-this claim is being supported by recent DNA studies.

He then turned to ancient Mexican and Central American mythology. In 1908, he published The Popul Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiche Mayas. This was followed by A Dictionary of Mythology in 1910 and numerous additional volumes.

Spence's researches into the mythology and culture of the New World, together