Cree Indians

An important Algonquian tribe, formerly ranging throughout what are now the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and north-eastwards to Hudson Bay. First mentioned in Jesuit Relations , 1640, 1661, and 1667, and in the early journals of the Hudson's Bay Company. They formed an alliance with the A iniboines, formerly of Siouan stock, and carried their raids against hostile tribes westwards to the Rocky Mountains, and north to the Mackenzie River. In 1776 they numbered about 15,000, but were reduced by smallpox in 1786, and again in 1838. By the end of the nineteenth century they had again regained their former numbers. Bib. : Hodge, Handbook of American Indians ; Harmon, Journal ; Mackenzie, Voyages .