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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre filmAs d des taux de reduction ditfArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 A partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthade. ata slure, A 3 I2X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 No. ^ -OF- W^t dfanadtan ^nixMt. No. 7.] TMIKRCH, 1S94. [Vol. IV. Part 1. Toronto: The Copp, Clark Company, Limited 1894. PRICE $ l.OO, '•^^ii^'^ 5 i 1004 m €ll I HiWi™i. = i K 1892-y3] MOTES ON THf WESTERN D^N^S. CONTENTS. m ] i PAGE 1 ii* :.duction , 5 CHAPTER I. £thnologicaI Sketch 8 The Name " DiR6" 8 Distribution of the D^n^s 10 Main Characteristics of the Ddn^ Race 17 Distribution of the Western D6n6s 22 CHAPTER II. Preliminaries 32 Philological 32 ■Works and Implements Unknown Among the Western Denes 35 CHAPTER III. Stone Implements 39 Industrial Stone Implements 43 Stone Weapons of War and of the Chase 53 CHAPTER IV. Bone and Horn Implemer ;s 66 CHAPTER V. Traps and Snares 84 Fish Traps 84 Land Animal Traps 93 Snares 98 Observances of the Hunter and Trapper ro6 • CHAPTER VI. Wooden Implements in CHAPTER VII. Bark Implements 120 Esculent and Medicinal Plants 127 Other Bark Implements 132 i I w > 4 TRAN8A0TIOMS 01' THB CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. IV. CHAPTER VIII. Copper and Iron Implements '3^ Copper Implements '■ • • • '3^ Iron Implements '4° CHAPTER IX.' Skin Objects, and Twined and Textile Fabrics MS Skin Objects ^^5 Objects of Mixed Material ' j'^ Textile and Twined Fabrics '5^ CHAPTER X. Dress and Personal Adornment '62 Common Dress '62 Ceremonial Costume '7* CHAPTER XI. Habitatiqns '84 CHAPTER XII. Monuments and Pictography "9^ Carved Monuments '99 Pictography 206 Index 213 Works quoted or referred to 219 Addenda et Corrigenda ^21 ' f\ I 1892-93] NOTES ON THE WESTERN DEN^S. INTRODUCTION. i^\ " ArchcBological " is rather inappropriate in connection with the present monograph, whose scope embraces nothing archasan or really ancient. The prehistoric D^n^s are the D^-n^s of but yesterday. For,, what are the one hundred years which have elapsed since the discovery of their country compared with the twenty or more centuries which separate us from the famous civilizations of ancient Egypt and Assyria ? Yet, to check possibly too sanguine expectations from such archaeologists as may happen to read these lines, I hasten to declare that it is perhaps more easy to present the lover of technological lore with graphic illustra- tions of the arts and industries which flourished among the subjects of the Pharaohs and the Assyrian monarchs, than to thoroughly illustrate from actual specimens the ensemble of the arms, working implements,, household utensils and ceremonial paraphernalia, which should concur in reconstructing the peculiar mode of life pursued by the primitive D^n^s. The original Egyptians and Assyrians have left us, besides authentic records of their own doings on imperishable material what promises io prove well nigh unlimited stores of practical illustrations of their past sociology in their tombs, their temples and other public monuments. So that the antiquarian's task is greatly facilitated by the abundance of the material at his command. Furthermore, where the hieroglyphic and cuneiform chronicles fail to clear up difficulties of interpretation or to enlighten him on the particular use of ancient implements, he has only to delve into Herodotus and other historians for the desired light. Not so, however, with regard to the prehistoric D^nds. As I have elsewhere demonstrated,* that family of Amer'can aborigines, and more especially the Carrier tribe to which prominence will be given in the following pages, is characterized by ■\ wonderful power of imitation and self-adaptation which prompted it, upon the advent of the whites, to dis- card most of its native customs, indigenous weapons and working implements. As a natural consequence, many of the latter are now in a fair way towards complete obliteration. Moreover, the nation's historians, I mean the old men who witnessed the manufacture and use of some archaeological articles the duplicates of which have caused speculations from more than one antiquarian, are fast disappearing from * Are the Carrier Sociology and Mythology Indigenous or Exotic?" Canada, Section II. 1892. Traas. Roy. Soc- « TKAN8ACTI0N8 OF THB CANADrAN ISSTITUTK. [Vol. IV. the scene of this world. So that the sooner the D^n6 technology is brought to light, the better it will be in the interest of science. Indeed, should any value whatever be attached to the present monograph, I feel quite certain that it will be entirely on account of its •opportuneness. Undertaken twenty five yea'-s ago, it could probably have been made more exhaustive. After the lapse of an equal space of time, its usefulness as a contribution to archaiological knowledge would be problematical. I am at present the possessor of the only remaining specimens of some objects illustrative of the past Carrier sociology, and my familiarity with the language and original customs of the Indians to whose spiritual wants I minister, might not be enjoyed by a successor among them until time and circumstances deprive its use of much of its value. These considerations, corroborated by the requests of scientists whose advice I have not the right to disregard, have emboldened me to attempt a description of such technological objects as can be illustrated from specimens in my possession or which are still in common use among the Western D^n^s. The number of these, as will soon appear, is somewhat limited, and therefore my task cannot be very arduous. I only regret that my mineralogical shortcomings render an exact description of the material used in the fabrication of stone implements in a few cases impos- sible. For the identification of such rocks as are adequately described, I am under obligation to Dr. G. M. Dawson, Assistant Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa. As technology is the prime object of this monograph, the industries of the Western D^nds will be mentioned in so far only as may be necessary for the clear understanding of the nature and use of the objects therein described. Which statement should not convey the idea that I intend to make light of their claims to importance in an ethnological contribution. With a little reflection, it will become apparent that all human industries need material aids or means to manifest themselves, and their results must also take a concrete form. Now, these pal;>able data, be they the products of human ingenuity or the instruments employed in thei. development, are per se technological items, and by reviewing the latter, one cannot help treating of the former. Therefore I simply mean to say that the archaeological, rather than the industrial, plan will be adopted in the following pages. In other words, our divisions shall be based, not on the industries of the Western D6n6s, but, as far as practical, on the material of the weapons, tools, utensils, fishing devices and other implements under consideration. . X 1892-93] NOTKB ON THB WKBTERN Dl^N^S. As for the third, or sociological scope of this paper, I think that our title will be justified not only by numerous transient mentions of native customs and practices, but more especially by extended descriptions of the Aborigines' usages and superstitions in connection with fishing and trapping, their domestic economy as regards diet and remedies, their ceremonial dress, their habitations, etc. However, for more systematic information concerning the D^n6 sc'>'3gy, the reader must be referred to another paper published some ye. t ago under the title of "The Western D^n^s ; their Manners and Customs,"* Mythology may be regarded h a mi'Tor wherem the psychological ideas and the particular social institutions and mode of life of a people are faithfully reflected. Therefore T \.c numerous offshoots it has spread out through the Western and Southern States of the American Union, and whose term for " man," and consequently for themselves considered as aborigines, is practically identical with " D^n^."+ Why then should we not call the whole stock D^n^, after the native name of the most central — taking into conside.-ation the southern scattered tribes — and one of the most populous branches thereof ?J We could perhaps find a precedent for this in the names of such European peoples as the Italian, the French and even the English, which came to be given the entire nation after they had long represented one of the most imports nt of its original tribes, the Itali, the Franks and the Angles or Angli. Despite their minuteness, the foregoing remarks have been deemed necessary since their substance, as embodied in a foot-note to a former paper bj '.he writer does not appear to have received the attention he cannot help thinking it deserved at the hands of Ethnologists. Even the few who have notic d it now seem to labour under the impression that the D6n6s are a branch of the Athapaskan family lately made known to the scientific world !§ Such is the force of habit! Others suppose that Tinne and D^n^ are the same word under two different dialectical forms.! DiSTKIBUTION OF THE D^N^S. No other aboriginal stock in North America, perhaps not even excepting the Algonquian, covers so great an extent of territory as the Ddn^. The British Isles, France and Spain, Italy and any tv/o or three of the minor European coKimonwealths taken together would hardly represent the area of the region occupied by that large family. And yet it is no exaggeration to say that few American races are less known than the Northern D^nds who, in point of territory, constitute the main bulk • Tiiii is the TsiiKoh'tin word (or " man." + It should be remembered in thi.s connection that in all the Den^ dialects the vowels have almost no linguistic importance whatever, ihe quintessence of the words being condensed in the initial consonants of each syllable. Also, it may be worth noting here that T and D, P and B, G and K, ttc, are commutable even within eacli .separate dialect. } The aboriginal race of the Alaskan littoral is called Tlingit after the word it uses to say "man." Why should this not also be the case with the Dene family? 8 The Athapaskan Bibliography, /a^i'm, 1892, II Language as a test of Mental Capacity, by H. Hale. Transact, R. S. C, p. 81, 1891. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN Dl^N^S. 11 of the whole nation. West of the Rocky Mountains, they are to be found from 51° 30' of latitude to the borders of the Eskimo tribes, while on the east side of the same range they people the immense plains and forests which extend from the Northern Saskatchewan down almost to the delta of the Mackenzie River. From West to East they roam, undisputed masters of the soil, over the almost entire breadth of the American Continent, though a narrow strip of sea shore country separates their ancestral domain from the waters of the Pacific and those of the Atlantic. With that unimportant restriction, they might be said to occupy the immense stretch of land intervening between the two oceans! In the words of Horatio Hale, this is, east of the Rocky Mountains " a dreary region of rocks and marshes, of shallow lakes and treacherous rivers, oftering no attractions except such as the hunter finds in the numerous fur-bearing animals which roam over it and afford the native tribes a precarious subsistence. When this resource fails, they live on lichens which they gather from the rocks."* West of the Rockies, the country inhabited by them is rugged and heavily timbered, dotted with numerous deep lakes, and intersected by swift, torrential rivers. Their staple food is venison and salmon, according to the geographical position of their tribal [grounds. I have already given, in a volume of the " Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, "t the names and habitat of the northern tribes together with their approximative population. Let me only remark that in that list I classed the Beaver Indians as a separate tribe merely to conform to the long established custom of the traders and missionaries. But as in America, Ethnography is based chiefly, if not entirely, on Philology, I must explain that, from a philological standpoint, the Beavers {Tsa'tenne in Carrier) are genuine Ts^'k^hne. The idiomatic differences noticeable in the speech of these two artificial divisions are not any more pronounced than those which exist between the dialects of the Lower and the Upper Carriers. The reason the Beavers go by a distinctive name even among their congeners is that, being citizens of the plains, they cannot with propriety be called Ts(^'k«^hne or " Inhabitants of the Rocks" viz. : the Rocky Mountains. For the perfect completeness of our aboriginal census, we should add to the above the Sarcees, a band of Ts^'k^hne who, upon a difference * Language as a test of Mental Capacity, p. 81 ; Transact. K. S. C. Vol. IX., Sec. il, 1891. + 'rhe Western Denes, etc., I'roc. Can. Inst. Vol. vii., p. 113, 12 TRAJfBAOTIONS OF THE CANADIAN IN8TITUTB. [Vol. IV. arising from a trivial offense,* separated, not very long ago from the main body of the D6n6 nation and were adopted by the Blackfeet, an Algonquian tribe, among whom they have since lived, while keeping their linguistic autonomy. They do not number more than loo souls. An ethnologic problem which is not yet, and will perhaps never be solved, is the question, How did it come to pass that large portions of the D^nd nation detached themselves from the main stock and migrated south ? When did this exodus occur ? What was the route followed by the adventurous bands ? The man is probably yet unborn who will satisfactorily answer these questions. It may be that the interested tribes have some legends or traditions which might throw some light on the subject ; but I think this is hardly the case.f As far as the northern D^n^s are concerned, they do not even suspect the existence of any kinsmen south of the TsiiKoh'tins' territory. Two facts only seem pretty safely est blished, namely : the separation of the southern from the northern tribes happened centuries ago ; and, moreover, the national movement resulting in the division of the nation into two different camps was from north to south. The first assertion is proven by the fact that " when the Spaniards first met them [the Navajos] in 1541, they were tillers of the soil, erected large granaries for their crops, irrigated their fields by artificial wa' r-courses or acequtas, and lived in substantial dwellings, partly underground." J In support of the second staterrient, I need only refer to a tradition current among some western tribes according to which " days were formerly exceedingly short ; so short indeed that sewing the edge of a muskrat skin was all that one woman could do between sunrise and sunset." This unmistakably points to the arctic regions as places of previous residence. Unknown to themselves, important branches of the great D^n^ crte thrive thousands of miles away from the parental stem. As far as I can ascertain from the latest and most reliable source § available, they are, or were until recently ; — * According to Mr. W. E. Traill, an H. B. C'o's officer who has passed many years in close proximity to the Sar.ees, this separation was caused by the following circumstances : A party of Tse'kehne were target shooting when a dog happened to take on the arrow planted in the ground as a target one of tiic;,e liberties of which the canine gent is so fond. Thereupon the dog was shot by the possessor of the arrow, upon which that of the shooter was killetl by the master of the original offender. Then followed numerous reprisals which could only be stopped by the voluntary departure of one band of related families which became the Sarcees. t The above had been written for some time, when I read in Dr. Hrinton's American Rae( that "the Navajo-i have no reminiscence of their ancestral home in the North." X Hrinton's American Race, p. 72, citing A. A, Bandelicr " Indians of the Southwestern U. S." §6oth Annual Report Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1891. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. ' IS 1. The Kwalhiokwas *, the Umkwas and the Totunies in Oregon. The Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for 1891 (Vol. II . p. 82), gives 78 as the number of the Umkwa population in the Grande Ronde Agency, with additional, though undetermined, numbers in the Siletz Agency. According to the same authority, the Totunies on Rogue River aggregate 47, while their congeners on the Siletz reserve cannot be numbered owing to their intermarriages with alien tribes. 2. The bands respectively called Hoousolton, Miscolt, Hostler, Matil- den, Kentuck, Tishtangatang and Siaws in Californiaf, but better known under the collective name of Hupa, from that of their common reserva- tion in the Hupa Valley. They aggregate 492. 3. The Waildki, likewise on the Pacific (Gatschet), numbers unknown. 4. The Navajos, in Arizona, the most populous and flourishing of all the D^n^ tribes, since they number, according to the latest and most accurate accounts, no less than 16,102 souls. J 5. The various tribes of Apaches of which the following is a list showing their habitat and present population : — (a) The Oklahoma Apaches, in Oklahoma Territory .... 325 (d) The Jicariila Apaches, in Colorado 824 (c) The Mescalero Apaches, in New Mexico 531 (d) The White Mountain Apaches, in Arizona 130 (e) The Coyotero Apaches, in Arizona 423 (/) The San Carlos Apaches, in Arizona 831 (g-) The Tento§ Apaches, in Arizona 760 (/i) The Apaches of Camp Apache, in Arizona 1,878 1 * Contradictory statements and apparently misapprehension as to the names and present status of the -Southern Pacific Coast I)6nes render an exact classification of them difficult. Thus Mr. Horatio Hale {Language as a Test of Mmtal Capacity, p. 85, 1891) speaks of the Kwalhiokwas as still lingering in one of the Pacific States, while Dr. A. S. Gatschet, in his work on "The Klamath Indians of Southern Oregon, Vol. I. p. 45," published one year earlier, states that they have disapjieared together with the Tlatskanai, another Dene tribe. The same ethnographer mentions side by side (op. cit.) with the Hupas the Waildki, reference to whom I find in no other author. The Totunies are called Totutunies by H. Hale (op. cit. ), Tututenas by Dr. Brinton (op. cit.), Tootoonas by Mr. Morgan (60th Ann. Rep.), Tutatamy by P. de Lucy-Fossarien (Extrait du Compte Rendu sthiographique du Congrh international des sciences ethnographiquts ... .Etude de philologie ethnographique par At. P. de Lucy-Fossarien, Paris, r88i). t After Prof. O. Mason (The Ray Collection from Hupa Reservation, pp. 206, 207). ♦ According to Horatio Hale ( Language as a Test, t^c, p. 90), that tribe was erroneously thought to number in 1889 as many as 2i,(xxi members. § These are not all pure Denes, many being mixed with the neighboring tribes, or even alto- gether aliens as to the race to which they belong. St M 14 TRANHACTI0N8 OF THE CANADIAN IN8TIT0TK, [Vol. IV. In Mexico, the number of Apaches is doubtful, since, according to Dr. D. G. Brinton, "although the Mexican census of 1880 puts the Mexican Apaches at 10,000, no such numbers can be located."* The same author then goes on to state on the strength of information emanating from Mr. Henshaw, of the Smithsonian Institution, that " the only Apache band now known to be in Mexico are the Janos or Janeros in Chihuahua, made up of Lipans and Mescaleros.f 6. The Lipans, in New Mexico, who have dwiiiidled down to forty individuals. Their original home appears to ha\ie been on the Rio Grande.J It would not be pleasant to be represented as playing the role of the carping critic. Yet even the fear of appearing to n erit this uncompli- mentary epithet, cannot deter me from pointing out how utterly meagre and unreliable are the data possessed, even at the present time, by the best ethnographers relatively to the D^n6 stock. Despite the correct list of the Northern tribes given by the writer in the last volume of the " Proceedings Canadian Institute," I find that Dr. D. G. Brinton in his recent book " The American Race," published at Washington two years after the aforesaid classification had been printed in Toronto, omits no less than six D^n^ tribes of the great northern division. To sho v how utterly mixed ethnography appears to be when it is a question of locating the various D6n^ tribes, and thereby to excuse the details into which I find myself obliged to enter, I take the liberty of quoting the following sentences from the above mentioned work : — " These [the D^n^s] extend interruptedly from the Arctic Sea to the borders of Durango, in Mexico, and from Hudson Bay to the Pacific. . . The Loucheux have reached '.he moath of the Mackenzie River, the Kuchin are along the Yukon the Kenai on the Ocean about the penin- sula that bears their name, v hile the Nehaunies, Sekanies and Takullies are among the mountains to the south. The Sarcees lived about the southern head waters of the Saskatchewan." § Now, with all the deference due to such a veteran ethnographer as Dr. Brinton, truth bids me state that : — First, It is almost absolutely cer- tain that no branch of the D(5n6 family is stationed on the Arctic Sea, the whole toast of which is occupied by Eskimo tribes. Second, There * "The American Race," p. 69, Washington, 1891. + Ibid. X The Karankawa Indians, etc., by A. S, Gatschot ; Cambridge, Mass., 1891. gThe American Race, pp. 68, 69, 1892-93.] MOTKS ON THR WESTERN D^Nl^S. 15 are no D^nds on the Hudson Bay any more than on the Pacific. The former is peopled on the north by the Eskimos and on the south by tribes of Algonquian parentage, while several alien races cover the whole northern coast of the latter, with, perhaps, a single insignificant excep- tion.* Third, The Loucheux and the Kuchin are one and the same tribe under different names, the first being that originally applied to it by the French-Canadian voyageurs, while the second (which should read Ku-tchin or Ku-t'qin, the last syllable being exploded with the tongue and teeth) is more in honour among English-speaking ethnographers. The latter vocable is the exact equivalent of the Carrier " hwo'ten ", the Ts^'k^hne "hwot'qen", the TsiiKoh'tin " kwo'tin ", all of which, as we have already seen, signify " Inhabitants." Fourth, The Kenai spoken of by Dr. Brinton are probably the K'naia-Kho-tana of Dr. Powell and both authors may be right in placing their habitat on the Pacific Ocean. Yet it must be admitted that this would be more evident, were not Dr. Brinton to transport it. ten pages further on, among the immense plains ■claimed by the Blackfeet as their ancestral home.f 5th, The would-be Nehaunees, Sekaunies and TakuUies call themselves Nah'ane, Ts^'kehne and TaKe[ne respectively. 6th, The Sarcees now live about the southern head waters of the Saskatchewan, but formerly lived some degrees further north among the Beaver Indians with whom they are congenerous, even as a subdivision of the Ts^'k^hne tribe. I'ti Nothing but a desire of serving the interests of ethnological science has prompted the above remarks. That I can prove all I advance will not be doubted by those who are cognizant of the opportunities I enjoy of ascertaining the real ethnologic status of the tribes by which I am surrounded or of those which are so closely related by blood and language with that among which I now live. The inaccuracies which they are aimed at correcting must also be my excuse for venturing to present below the list, as complete as I can make it, of all the D^n^ tribes. A very few of the southern tribes may be unwittingly omitted; but I would rather sin by omission than by exaggeration. All the northern tribes • This is the fCnaia-Kho-tana who are now snid to reach the coast on Cook's Inlet (Dr. Powell's " Indian Linguistic KamiUes," 7th .\nn. Rep. Hi:r. Ethnol.). But the fact that this learned ethnographer associates thereto the " Ahthena " of Copper River renders the identifica- tion of that tribe somewhat doubtful, inasmuch as the ".^hiena," unless they are misnamed _ must be exogenous to the Dene stock, since that very name means in Dene " foreigners," and is used by our aborigines to designate all Indians of non-Dene stock. K'naia-Kho-tana, however, seems to have the right linguistic ring about it, and apparently refers to the "people of the river K'naia," whatever this last noun may rriean, t "Their [the Blackfeet] bands include the Bloot! .-- A't-wd/ and the Piegan Indians" p. 79. The italics are mine. \ 'I' pi I '< I 'ill » I II ! 16 TRANSACIiONS OP THE CANADIAN 1K8TITUTK. [VoL. IV. are given without an exception, though I do not detail the ramifications or subdivisions of the Loucheux, and therefore omit any mention of the Kenai or K'naia-Kho-tana. The figures represent the population of each tribal division. In the case of the southern tribes they are com- piled from the latest official accounts available. For the north-eastern divisions they are those of Rev. E. Petitot corrected down to date by Mr. Rod. Macfarlane, an H. B. Go's officer who has passed over 40 years of his life among the Indians he enumerates. I am my.self responsible for the figures representing the numbers of the north-western tribes. CLASSIFICATION OF THK D6n6 TRIBES. Northern D]£n6s. About Loucheux : Lower Mackenzie River and Alaska 4,400 Hares : Mackenzie, Andersen and MacFarlane Rivers 600 Bad-People : Old Fort Halkett 200 Slaves : west of Great Slave Lake and McKenzie Rivei 1,000 Dog-Ribs : between Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake. . . . 1,000 Yellow-Knives : north-east of Great Slave Lake 500 Cariboo- Eaters : east of Lake Athabaska 1,200 Chippewayans : Lake Athabaska, etc 3,000 Tse'k^hne : both sides of Rocky Mountains 500 Beavers : south side of Peace River 700 Sarcees : east of Rocky Mountains, 51° lat. north and south. lOO Nahane : Stickeen River and east 700 Carriers : Stuart's Lake, north and south 1, 60c TsijKoh'tin : Chilcotin River 46a Southern D^n^s. Umkwas, Totunies and (?) Kwalhiokwas : Oregon 150' Hupas : Hupa Valley, California 492 Wail&kis : Northern California (?) I30 Navajos : Arizona 16,102 Apaches : Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona 5,702 Lipans : New Mexico 40' Total of the Northern Tribes 1 5,96a Total of the Southern Tribes* 22,616 Total of the whole nation* 38,576 • Exclusive of the probleinatic Kwalhiokwas, the Unikv/as of the Sileti Agency, the Mexican Apaches, or any such bands as are not controlled, even remotely, by the office of the U. S.. Commissioner Indian Affairs. 18'J2-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN DEN^S. IT A tribe of Atnas, Adenas, Atnahs or Ahthenas, whose habitat would be the extreme north-west of this continent, is occasionally mentioned in ethnographic literature as belonging to the great D^n^ family. Pilling gives it a place in his " Bibliography of the Athapaskan Languages.'^ There must be here a mistake either of name or of identification. " Atna," etc., is a Den6 word which means " foreigner, heterogener," and is used to qualify all aboriginal races which are not Ddn6. Either then the Atnas of the travellers and ethnographers are not Dtin^, or if they belong to that race they must be misnamed. Main Characteristics of the Di^n^ Race. If there is in the broad world a family of human beings which, though a mere subdivision of a larger group of the genus homo, plainly demon- strAtes, through the diversity of its many branches, the fallibility as ethnic criteria of all but one of the various sciences which go to make up Ethnology, this is most certainly the Dene family. Savants now-a- days seem too prone to study man as they would a mere animal. Per- haps they overlook too easily the fact that he is a rational being. If a part of the animal kingdom, he is there a king without peer ; and to judge him after the same standard as we do the brutes of creation should he considered unscientific. We hear constantly of bodily measure- ments, of anthropometry and craniology. Now, without entering into^ the technicalities of these sciences, let us apply their test, I do not say to those portions of the Dt^n(§ people which live thousands of miles apart, but to a few coterminous tribes of that nation. On the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains live side by side three tribes, the Ts^-'kdhne, the Carriers and the Tsi[-Koh-'tin, which may furnish us with convenient material to experiment upon. The Tse'kt^hnc are slender and bony, in stature rather below the average, with a narrow forehead, hollow cheeks, prominent cheek bones^ small eyes deeply sunk in their orbit, the upper lip very thin, and the lower somewhat protruding, the chin very small and the nose straights Go and inspect them, and perhaps out of every ten men, five who have long been fathers will appear to you like mere children. I have never seen but one fat person among them and none that was bald. Now the Carriers are tall and stout without, as a rule, being too corpu- lent. The men, especially, average i"', 660""" in height. Their forehead is much broader than that of the Ts^'kt^hne, and less receding than is usual with American aborigines. Their face is full, with a nose generally aquiline and in every case better formed than that of their heterogeneous, neighbours ; their lips are thicker and their chin more prominent than \ >l ' If 18 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. those of the Ts^'kdhne. Their eyes are also much larger and of a very deep black. Baldness, though rare, is sometimes noticed among them, while a few are literally obese. I am very much mistaken if two crania, one of an individual of each of these tribes, would not be pronounced by a craniologist as belonging to representatives of diametrically dififcrent races. The TsiiKoh'tin, on the other hand, are short in stature, broad faced and broad shouldered, with prominent cheek bones, heavy jaws and a nose which is not uncommonly thick and flattish. They may be said to have some physical resemblance to the Chinese. This description applies also to the Babines, who might be considered as a branch of the Carriers. The only points in common Ketween the three tribes are the dark eyes, the black, coarse and straight hair and the small hands and feet. Large h^nds and feet, however, are occasionally met with among Carrier men.* I do not spe«!. of the complexion, because it varies even in the same tribe according to the occupation and food of the natives. A hunter will never return from a tour of two or three months in the woods without being considerably bronzed, while his fellow tribesman who has remained at home, without being as white as a European, will yet be fairer complexioned than most individuals of the Salish race of the South. Even in the matter of beard, a notable difference is observ- able, inasmuch as full beards, dark and coarse, heavy with hardly any shaving, are by no means rare among the Babine sub-tribe, while the rest of the Western D^nes are remarkable for the scarcity, or sometimes the total absence, of facial hair. If we now consider the D^iie nation from a psychological standpoint, the contrast between its divers branches will be still more startling. The Northern D^n^s are generally pusillanimous, timid and cowardly. Now, can this be said of the Apaches ? The Northern D^nes are more- over lazy, without skill or any artistic disposition. Is it so with the Navajos? Even among our Carriers, the proudest and most progressive of all the Western tribes, hardly any summer passes off but some party runs home panic stricken, and why } They have heard, at some little distance, some " men of the woods " evidently animated by murderous designs, and have barely escaped with their lives. Thereupon great commotion and tumult in the camp. Immediately everybody is charitably warned not to venture alone in the forest, and after sunset every door is •I have also seen several really fair-haired Carriers, a peculiarity which is so .'■uch tlie more remarkable as it certainly can not he ascribed to blood mixture with persons of Caucasian descent. 1892-93.] K0TK8 ON THK WESTERN DI^N^S. 19 carefully locked against any possible intruder. Compare these puerile fears of the Carriers with the indomitable spirit, the warlike disposition of the "terrible Apache." Compare also the rude, unartistic implements, the primitive industries of the same tribes with the products of the Navajo ingenuity, their celebrated blankets and exquisite silverwork cspecially- and tell me if in this case psychology is a safe criterion of ethnologic certitude. A noteworthy quality of the Northern Den^s, especially of such as have remained untouched by modern civiIiz:ition is their great honesty. Among the Ts^'k^hne, a trader will sometimes go on a trapping ex- pedition leavinf his store unlocked, without fear of any of its contents going amiss. Meanwhile a native may call in his absence, help himself to as much powder and shot or anj- other item as he may need ; but he will never fail to leave there an exact equivalent in furs. Now compare this naive honesty with the moral code in vogue among the Apaches. Read also what is said of the Lipans, another offshoot of the D(^n^ stock : they " live in the Santa Rosa mountains from which they stroll about making inroads in the vicinity to steal horses and cattle."* With regard to mental attainments and force of character, I have shown in a paper read before the Royal Society of Canada.f that all the north-western tribes, Nah'ane Carriers and Tsi[Koh'tin, which have come into contact with alien races have adopted the most prominent practices and customs of the latter. Such i.-?, to a grr-«- extent, the case even as regards mythology. Nay more : they have gone as far as to borrow the language of their neighbours in connection with their traditional songs and ceremonies. On the other hand, many TsijKoh'tin and not a few Babines speak Shushwap or Kitiksop, while not one full blood individual of the two latter stocks has acquired enough of the D^n^ languages to decently hold conversation through them. The D^nes think it a mark of enlightenment to imitate the alien races with which they have intercourse, while these show the little esteem they profess for them by calling them " stick savages." Now hear what a competent authority says of the D^n^s of North California: "xNext after the Karoks, they are the finest race in all that region, and they even excel them in their statecraft, and in the singular influence, or perhaps brnte force, which they exercise over the vicinal tribes. They are the Romans of North California in their valour and in their far-reaching dominions. They are the French in the extended •The Karaukwa Indians, by A. S. Gatschet, p. 41 ; 1891. + Are the Carrier Sociology and Mythology Indigenous, etc? Trans. R. S. C. Sec. n, 1893. i s result. They are co-terminons with the Shushwap in the south and the TsijKoh'tin in the immediate west. I do not think that fifteen individuals of that sept now remain 2. The Nazkutenne (people of the river Naz). They are likewise greatly reduced in numbers, there not being actually more than 90 members of that sub-tribe, though they still inhabit two villages Quesnel and Black-Watcr.f The same causes, especially the former, as played havoc among the ^thau'tenne, are slowly but surely working out the A\ * Ibid. p. 25. tT.ie iUack -Water or West River follo\vl"(l' up b> 3ir. A^ "'>vkef^i€ to r-ach the Pacific Coac* 1892-03.] Notes OY. THE WESTERN D^N^S. 25 ultimate destruction of the Nazku'tenne. them are on the Fraser River. Both villages inhabited by 3. Due west of tho Black-Water village and ascending the river of that name to its source, we meet with a third subdivision of the Carriers, the Nu-ica- tenne (probably corrupted from Nti-tcah-*enne, people down against the island). These people dwell in four small villages, Trout Lake, qus'kaz,* Pe-i'ka-tc^k,-f- and q'ka-tco.J The latter is composed of a mixed population of D^n6 and Belqula descent whose first white visitor was the writer, ten years ago. The Nu-cha-'tenne formerly had several other villages (Tsitsi, qrak, etc.), the sites of which are jtill dis- cernible through small clearings in the forest. Their present total number may be a little over 135. 4. Immediately north of the Black-Water village, at the confluence of the NutcaKoh with the Fraser River, we have one village, Fort George or 'jeitH,\ the population of which forms one separate sept, the Tano- ^ic fine {people a little to the north). It numbers actually 130 persons. The Fort George Indians have on the east side of the Fraser very large and productive hunting grounds as far as, and comprising, the Rocky and Caribou mountains and spurs thereof. A village of the same sept, Tcinlak at the junction of the Na'kralKoh or Stuart's Lake River with the NuchaKoh had formerly a flourishing population which was, not very long ago, practically annihilated in one night by the Tsi|Koh'tin. 5. Two villages on Fraser Lake- furnish us with our fifth tribal sub- division of the Carriers. Their population goes under the common name of Naty tenne (contracted from Naileh-lnvo' tenne or people of Natleh.||) About 135 persons form the population of their two villages Natleh and Stella, ** one at each end of the lake. The aggregate of the above enumerated septs constitutes what I generally designate under the collective name of Lower Carriers. Though slight linguistic peculiarities give to each of them a real individu- ality, yet the dialect of all contains very important characteristics com- mon to the whole aggregate which differentiate it from that of any of the septs or subtribes which remain to review. * " Half-qus," the name of a oarp-like fish. t " Wherewith one catches fat." t "The Big-fattening." §" The Junction." II " It (i.e., the salmon) comes back again." **The Cap«, 3 iii 26 TRANSACTIONS OF THR CANADIAN INBTITUTK. [Vol. IV. Under the name of Upper Carriers I include :- 6. The Na-kra-ztli-tenne or people of Na'kraztli* Stuart's Lake They inhabit two villages, Na'kraztli and Pintcei* on the southern end^ and on the middle of Stuart's Lake. They number i8o souls, and they are of all the Carriers those who have made the greatest strides towards civilization. 7. Immediately to the north-west, on the same lake and its tributaries,. Lakes Tremblay, That'jah, t and Connolly, a second subdivision of the Upper Carriers, the seventh of the whole tribe, occupies four smal villages, two only of which are regularly organized with a chief and the us jal native officers. These are Tha-tce, || and Sas-th(it§ respectively at the confluence of Thatce river on Stuart's Lake and near Fort Connolly on the lake of that name. The others are 'Kaztce ** formerly an important locality on Thatce river and Ya-Ku-tce -f"!- at the north-western extremity of Stuart's Lake. The original home of all these bands was at the end of that lake, as is manifest from their common name as a sept: Tjaz-tenne, people of the bottom or end of the lake. Their total population is not over 90. Some nine or ten years ago, Drs. Tolmie and Dawson published conjointly a valuable ethnological map of this province, J+ which does not tally in every respect with my description of the northern limits of the Carriers' territory. The line of demarcation between the Carriers and the Ts^'k^lines' hunting grounds passes, on that map, through the middle of Thatlah lake, giving the latter a large strip of land wkich I grant to the former. I must explain that the authors of that map thereby point to the de jure or original territory of the Carriers, while I sketch above the de facto or actual limits thereof By right Bear's or Connolly lake and adjacent country belong to the Ts^'kehne tribe ; but", as a matter of fact> the village which is situated close to the H. B. Co's. fort is now the * For the etymology of this name, see "The Den^ Languages," Trans. Can. Ip'a. 1889-90, p. 188. t Confluence of the Pin river. X " Bottom of the vVaar," dve'<»'}m«alent of the French "Fond du Lac." The real native- name of this lake is R3 river. i\ The confluence of the river V»Kuzi/i, (the outlet of YaKo lake). tt Appended to " Comparative Vocabularies of the Indian tribes of B. C. ; Montreal, 1884.. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^NliS. 27 rendezvous of representatives of three different tribes, namely : the Ts^'k^hne who periodically congregate there for trading purposes and have no permanent residence ; the Carriers, a band of whom now inhabit the village and hunt in the vicinity of the lake with the consent of the former ; and the gtnas or Kitiksons from the Skeena river who are considered as mere intruders and as such live there only on sufferance. Both the Na'kraztli'tenne and the T'jaz'tenne receive from the Babines the name of 'Kutsne. The following subdivisions might be depignated under the collective name of Babines, since in language they are practically one, and the custom of wearing labrets which gave its distinctive name to one of them was common to both. They are : — 8. The Nttu'tinni (in Upper Carrier Nato'tenne) or Babines who inhabit the northern half of Babine lake in three villages and number actually some 310 souls. 9 The Hwotsu'tinni (in Upper Carrier Hwotso' tenne) or people of the river Hwotsutsan.* They are called Akwilg^t, " well dressed," by the Kiliktons, their immediate neighbours of Tsimpsian _«arentage, and after them by the whites. They inhabit two villages, Ts^-tcah,+ KeyaR- hwotqat,:}: and two smaller places now organizing, Tsei-'kaz-Kwoh,§ and Moricetown on the HwotsotsanKwoh or Buckley river and what is known in the country as the telegraph trail. All of these localities are within the northernmost extremity of these Indians' hunting grounds which extend from Fran^ais Lake up to the Skeena River. Several members of that sept are allied by blood with their alien neighbours, the Kitiksons. They number about 300. Tl'e language of these different branches of the Carrier tribe, while remaining essentially the same, undergoes however marked variations corresponding to its ethnographical subdivisions. Upon that ground 1 have even sometimes asked myself whether distinct individuality as a tribe should not be granted to the Babines whose linguistic or even psychological peculiarities are so glaring that they cannot escape detection even by the most careless observer. Much of their dialect would indeed be " greek " to an qthau'ten visitor, It is al.so but right to warn the reader that the three main divisions of the tribe into Lower Carriers, Upper Carriers and Babines, although • Almost equivalent to "Spider." + Down against the Rock. + 01d Village. $ River of the axe edge. '' \ ■; J I m , ti'i 28 TRAMflACTIOKS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. founded on language and geographical distribution, are not recognized by the Carriers themselves, who know of no other than the above enumerated minor subdivisions. The 1 siiKoh'tin and Carriers have a well organized society composed of the hereditary " noblemen " who own the land, and the common people who hunt with and for them. They formerly had no local head- chiefs. Moreover, irrespective of the ethnographic divisions based on language and habitat, they are divided into several genres the members of which believe themselves bound by ties of the strictest relationship. They were originally exogamous, and throughout the entire Carrier tribe matriarchate or mother-right is the law governing succession to titles and property. Among the Ts^-y/t-ne, or "People-on-the-Rocks" a simpler and more primitive social organization obtains. That tribe, through necessity a.s much as from natural inclination, is entirely nomadic. As salmon is unknown throughout their territory, these aborigines have to be almost constantly on fhe move after the moose, cariboo and other large animals on whose flesh they mainly subsist. Father-right is their national fundamental law, and the whole tribe is composed of bands slightly differing in language, and with no regular chiefs. In fact, their society, such as it is, might almost be termed a perfect anarchy, were it not that the advice of the oldest or most influential of each band is generally followed as far at least as regards hunting, traveling and camping. Though each band has traditional hunting grounds, the limits of these are but vaguely defined, which is not the case with those of the Carriers. Furthermore, several members of one band will not unfrequently be found hunting unmolested on the land of another. Therefore no very strict boundaries can be assigned to the following tribal subdivisions which comprise all the Ts^'k^hne population within the political borders of British Columbia : — 1. The YA-tsA-fqenne, or "people down over there" {i.e., in the direction of an expanse of water) are the band vvl ich from time immemorial bartered out to the Carriers the axes and other primitive implements of whi..h due mention shall be made further on. They are so called by the rest of the tribe by allusion to their commercial relations with the Carriers of Stuart's Lake. Their hunting grounds lie from Salmon River* to MacLeod's Lake and thence to the Fraser, by 53° 30'. 2. The Tsi-k^h-ne-az, or " little-people-on-the-rocks" roam over the • There are so many Snlmon rivers in the north of British Columbia that it may be necessary to explain that the one here mentioned empties itself into the Fraser a little above Fort George. 1892-93.] NOTRS ON THB WERTKHN D^N^S. 2» land which extends between the latter lake and the summit of the Rocky Mountains. They are often to be found hunting on the western slope of that range. 3. The To-ta-fqenne (" people-a-little-down-thc-river ") inhabit the eastern slope and adjacent plains of the Rocky Mountains within British Columbia. 4. The Tsa-f qenne (who call themselves Tsa-hiih) or Beaver-people, roam over the large prairies contiguous to the Peace River, on the south side of that stream and east of the Rockies. 5. The Tsif-ta-ufqe. (the people against the Rocks) as hinted by their name, have their habitat chiefly at the base of the Rocky Mountains on the north side of the Peace River. 6. This is perhaps the proper place to mention the Sarcees* who have been adopted by the Blackfeet Confederation, and actually live east of the Rocky Mountains by about 5 1 ° lat. north. 7. To the north of all the above sub-divisions, from the 56° to the north, we find the Sas-chAt-'qenne or "people of the Black Bear" whose trading post was until last year Fort Connolly on the lake of that name. 8. Anothei band called Otzsn-ne (people between or intermediary) claims the land which intervenes between the territory of the Saschut- 'qenne and that of the Ts^lohne on the west side of the Rocky Mountains. 9. Those Tsd-loh-ne (people of the end of the Rocks) live immediately north of the latter and their chief trading post is now B. L. O. (Bear-Lake- Outpost) on the Finlay River by 57° of latitude north. Their name is due to the fact that their habitat is an immense plain which is said to intersect the whole of the Rocky Mountains which are popularly believed not to extend any further. The aggregate population of all these bands does not exceed 1,300. The T'^'k^hne are known to the Carriers under the name of j'tat-tenne or " people of the beaver-dams," while the latter are responsible for the distinctive name of the Carriers— 4 /v/«^, "packers." The nickname Ta-Kej-ne by which this tribe sometimes calls itself f is of recent origin It has no meaning in its language to which it is exotic, and I cannot • Their aboriginal name as a sept is unknown to me. A century ago they had 35 tents with a population of 120. (History of Manitoba, p. 85), t Indeed they even call thus all the races of Indians by opposition to the whites. H 30 TRANSACTIOKS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. It is the would-be Tacullies or Takullies imagine whence it originated of the ethnographers. * The foregoing information will be found recapitulated in the following list showing the tribal subdivisions from south to north of the Tsilkoh'tin^ the Carriers and the Ts^'kdhne. Tsilkoh'tin Tribe. Stone Tst^Koh'tin ; immediately south of Chilcotin River. TpsKoh'tin ; ten miles north of the mouth of Chilcotin River. Tjotheil'f^oJitin ; north bank of Chilcotin River, 45 miles from its mouth. Independent septs ; Fort Alexander and Nakflntrfln. Carrier Tribe. jthaiitenne ; Fort Alexander. Naskti' tenne ; Quesnelle and mouth of Black Water River. Nutca'tenne ; on Black Water and throughout its basin. '^ no tenne ; Fort George. Natlo' tenne ; Frastr I.,ake. Na' kraztli" tenne ; Stuart's Lake. V^az' tenne ; upper end of Stuart's Lake and tributaries. Babine Subtribe, N^tu'tinni ; Babine Lake. Hwots''tinni ; Buckley River and Fran^ais Lake. Ts^'k^hne Tribe. YiltsMqenne ; from Salmon River to McLeod's Lake. Tsd' ktfhneas ; from McLeod's Lakes to the Rocky Mountains. Totat'qenne ; immediately east of Rocky Mountains. Tsat'qenne (the Beavers) ; south side of Peace River. Tsk'taufqenne ; bao2 of Rocky Mountains close by preceding. * The number of different orthographical readings of the names of the north-western D^n^ tribes is truly wonderful. Thus the Carrlirs (TaKe;ne, the " Porteurs" of the French Canadians) are called Tahkaii and Tahcully by Anderson, Teheili, by Dawson and Takully, Tacully, Takulli by others. The Tse'kehne are Thi-kka-ni to Petitot, Thekentuh to Kennicott, and Sicany, Siccani, or Sikani to others. I am ashamed to own that I have myself countenanced in former papers the wrong reading "Sikanais" of my predecessors here. ! ( ^. 1 892-93. 1 MOTES ON THB WESTERN D^N^S. 31 Sarcees ; immediately east of Rod./ Mountains, 51" lat. north. SaschMqenne ; Connolly Lake and north. West side Rocky Mountains. Ots^nne ; north of preceding, same side of mountains. TsHohne ; north of preceding, same side of mountains. To the above I should add the Nahane* whose hunting grounds lie to the north of those of the Ts^'kdhnc.^ But I am not familiar enough with their tribal divisions to state them with any degree of certainty, nor •do I sufficiently possess their technology to speak authoritatively of it. It may however be broadly stated that from an archaeological standpoint the Western Nah'ane may be classed as Carriers, while the Eastern Nah'ane are to all practical purposes regular Ts^'k^hne. * The so-called Nehawni of Pilling, the Na"ane of Petitot, the Nahiwncy of Kennicott, the Nehawney of Ross and the Nahaiuntes of others. 83 TKAM8ACT10M8 OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. i ; CHAPTER II. Preliminaries— Phi lological. Even Philology is not without bearing on Archaiology. More than once the former will prove a great help towards elucidating such problems as the relative age or history of the human products whose aggregate constitutes the raison d' etre of the latter. Thus the necessaries of native life, those objects which are the most indispensable to savage man and whose appearance as technological items must therefore have been the earliest are, as a rule, expressed in D^n6 by monosyllabic roots as thA,. water ; Kzv9n, fire ; /o, fish ; isa, beaver ; 'kra, arrow ; ///, snare ; ku/i, trap ; etc. Other objects or implements of more complex nature or less general import, or the use of which supposes higher steps in the industrial ladder, are rendered by polysyllabic words. In the language of the D^nes, the more primitive an object, philologically also the simpler its name. Implements of complicated structure or of recent introduction among the aborigines have almost invariably names of similarly composite fabric. These considerations have led me to give, either in the text or through foot-notes, the aboriginal name of each item of native technology men- tioned in the present monograph. As we shall presently see, some of these names admit of no literal translation ; but when such translation is possible, it shall accompany the Indian word. Unless otherwise noted, those names will be in the Carrier dialect. That the reader may the more easily re ognize the category to which, such words etymologically belong, and thereby judge of the place the objects they represent occupy in the D^n^ technology, I deem it not irrelevant to reproduce here the following paragraphs from a former paper on the D6n6 languages. " Considered in their material structure and etymology, the D^n6 nouns may be divided into four classes. These are the primary roots which are all monosyllabic as in Chinese. Such are_>'a, sky ; i/iii, water ;, ts^, stone ; s^s, black bear ; etc. Theyarc essentially nominative : they neither define nor describe the object they designate ; they merely differentiate it from another. I consider them as the remnants of the primitive D6n6 language, inasmuch as they are to be found with little or 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WE8TEHN DEN^H. 33 no alteration in all the dialects of the family, whatever may be the dis- tance intervening between the aborigines who speak them.*" No etymology or other explanation than that of the text v/ill be given of words belonging to this category, because they admit of none. Thus the context will indicate for instance that R^/ is a war club, that rve is a kind of fish trap, etc., without any attempt being made at explaining the origin of either word, or at giving a more literal sen.se of them than that -4il£iiished by the translation, which would be impossible. They have no derivMioij, but on the contrary may serve as the compounding elements of other words of secondary import. " The second category comprises roots of simple import which are genuine un.synthetical substantives though polysyllabic, generally dissyll- abic, in form. To this category belong words as tsne, man ; isbkhk, woman ; psnrdn, lake ; etc. They possess, to a limited extent, the properties of the monosyllabic roots, being likewise merely determinative and oftentimes varying but little with the change of dialect."-!- Here it may be added that even in these nouns there is generally one syllable which is more important and contains, as it were, the quintessence of the word. Thus it is with the ne of tdne ; the t'sb of fstkhi, the/^« o{ p9flrin. In composite words, such syllables only are retained. So the Carriers will more commonly say ne-dran murderer, than tdtie-^ran, while in such compounds as ji-t's^, she-dog, and pdn-tco, big lake, the weak or secondary syllable has also disappeared. " The third class contains composite nouns formed, as a rule, by com- pounding, though sometimes by agglutinating, monosyllabic or dissylla- bic roots. Such are ne-na-pa-ra (literally : man-eyes-edge-hair) eye lashes ; tdpe-ti, wild sheep horns ; viai-ri\ vegetable oil instead of ntai-v.^, literally, fruit-oil. These nouns being mere compounds of roots belong- ing to the two former categories have the same degree of relative immutableness with regard to the various dialects as the radicals which enter into their composition."^ In like manner, implements designated by names of this category may be of as ancient origin as t.'iose denominated by words of the first. Thus, tsa-m-pij, beaver snare, contains two ideas of simple import — the medial ;« being merely euphonical and demanded by the following /. That words of this class may not be confounded with terms of the preceding, their compounding roots will be separated by a hyphen. •The Dene Languages, etc. Transact Can. Inst. vol. i, 1889-90, p. i8r. \Ihid. Xlbid, p. 182. *i m i. ■ -IS 11 Zi TRANSACTIONS Of TlIK CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. " The fourth and last class is made up of verbal nouns which, as their name indicates, are nothing else than verbs in the impersonal or personal moods employed to qualify objects of secondary import with the help sometimes of a radical noun, sometimes of a pronoun, and always of a prepositive particle prefixed to, or incorporated in, the verbal substantive. Of this description are the words /^->'.?«-^/'^^/ (lit. with-earth-one cleaves), plough; ti- k%v9t- sazta (lit. it-on-onc sits), seat; y'ten-pa-yni. (lit. work- for-house) work-shop."* Very few of the objects or implements designated by words of that class can be regarded as of really ancient origin. As for the orthography followed in the present monograph for render- ing aboriginal words, it is as follows : — The vowels have the continental sounds. When accentuated, they undergo the same phonetic changes as French letters do when affected by similar accents. Thus d, t, 6, have the same sound as in French ; e and « as in Italian ; d is sounded as the e of " mets ", b as that of the English " ten ", while » corresponds to the so-called French e muet in such words as je, te, le. W is always a consonant. Subject to the following remarks, the consonants have also the con- tinental sounds. H is strongly aspirated ; fl represents a nasal n followed by a common or sounding »; / is a lingualo-sibilant which is obtained by the emission of a hissing sound on both sid2s of the tongue curved up- wards previous to its striking-; "ihe lingual letter ; r is the result of uvular vibrations, and when tnime lately following a guttural {£, k, kh, 'k, or K) it is almost impreceptiblc to the ear ; K, and R, are respectively k and r pronounced with a very r;uttural inflection ; q nearly resembles ty, both letters being simultaneously sounded; f represents the English double consonant sh. The apostrophe (') prefixed to k, /, ij, adds to the regular pronunciation of those letters the exploding sound peculiar to most Indian languages. J is intermediate between s and c. Th, kh, are equivalent to t-|-h and k-|-h and are produced by a single emission of voice. T's and t'[ are " exploded " and their exact value cannot be realized otherwise than by hearing therh pronounced by a competent person. The hiatus is represented by a period in the upper part of the line (•). * IbiJ., ibid. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THK WBf-... R.S.C. Sect. II., p. 55, 1891 ; " Th»! Coast Indians of .Southern Alaska," otc, by A f, Niblack, p. 333, 1890. tin Tse'kehne : "his hair is plentiful," perhaps by allusion to the wig or queue worn by Sir Alex. Mackenzie. § The derivation of the word }te'ka, by which the Carriers designate tobacco, has long puzzled me. it must l)e either a borrowed word or a word formed liy ajjglutination, as the name of the horse (yc:ih-/i, "elk-dog" or domestic elk). Now 1 have studied tliat word in the vocabulary of over twenty tribes, all contiguous, mediately or immediately, without iiting able »o discover anything like an homonymous equivalent. On the other hand, the two parts of which it is composed, 3te and 'ka. are genuine Carrier pr.rticles which, taken separately, are not with- out meaning, but to which no rational signification can be ascribed when joined together. Vet the names of all new objects in the '>cne langu.iges are either borrowed from foreign dialects, or more generally formed by compounding, that is by the juxtaposition of two or more names of objects already known. Thus, in TsiiKoh'tin the name of the tobacco is tsaj-yu, which means " .moke-medicine." Altogethei, the Carrier (and Tse'kehne) A'ord designating that imported plant has the appearance of an old root of the second category, which is to me inexplicable. It y\ ' I'll I m m I 'Pi -■.j^ 38 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. Pipe Fig. 2 is of recent manufacture, and bears testimony to the TsiiKoh'tin's faculty of imitation. It has been wrought out of an impure steatite or soap stone. Its stem is a wooden tube connected with the base of the bowl by a double string or chain of black beads. The stem of such pipes is more generally lengthened through the insertion of a perforated brass cartridge shell between the base and the mouthpiece. Fig. 2. Specimens of pipes identical in form, and sometimes in material, though many are of serpentine, are ako found among the Ts^'k^hne. But now-a-days the poorest Carrier scorns them as utterly unsuited to his oresent state of civilization. 1892-03.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. 39 CHAPTER III. Stone Implements. Some scientists seem to have an innate fondness for the mysterious and the insolvable. Upon th? =''^htest pretext they delight in creating difficul- ties or propounding problems. They long for novelties and must soar above the concepts of such weak-minded mortals as are naive enough to pay any attention to the " Hebrew myths " of the creation of man and his comparatively recent appearance on the scene of this world. Whereas in modern times we have no authentically recorded instance of mound building by American Aborigines,* and because some of those artificial works are of considerable magnitude, they jump to the conclusion that the so-called mound-builders must have been a very ancient race, more advanced in civilization than the Indians of our days and altogether different from them.f In like manner, b.icause in Europe, and in some parts of America stone implements have been discovered which are of a particularly rude pattern, they infer that these remains being found in river beds or, in Europe, imbedded in geological strata supposed to have been formed at a very remote epoch prove the existence, not only of prehistoric, but even of pre-Adamite man. Students who prefer to rely on tbp authority of such an unerring guide as the Bible to following modern savants through their ever shifting, if not conflicting, theories, cannot but remark, I fancy, ihat, in the same way as the latest researches tend to confirm the opinion of those unprejudiced antiquarians who from the beginning doubted the great antiquity of the American mounds and the extra- ;>L.3 nationality of iheir builders,^ even so it must ultimately • As wUI appear fior>' ;>ote J the Chero tees did erect mounds, though unobserved by the whites, within the present century. t " So strong in fact is the hold which this theory . . . has taken of the minds of both American and European archasoiogists, that it not only biases their CDnclusions b'>t also moulds and modifies their nomenclature, and is thrust into their speculations and e^en into their descrip- tions as though no longer a simple llieory, but a conceded fact," Burial AfoiinJs of the Northern Section of the U. S. hy Prof Cyrus Thomas ; Fijth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol. p. 80. J Evidence corroborative of this assumption would fill many pages. Scientists in every way qualified to speak on this subject and to whom nobody can refuse a hearing have clearly shown the futility of the theory which ascribes the erection of the mounds to non-Indian races. Prof Cyrus Thomas, than whom I think there is no more reliable authority on the subject, lays down as one of the conclusions derivetl from the mound explorations under the auspices of the Smith" sonian Institution that " nolh'ng trustworthy has been discovered to justify the theory that the mound builders belonged to highly civilized race, or that they were a people who had attained a \\ I l-;fi! 40 TIIANSAOTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. 189-2 prove to be the case with regard to the fabulous age ascribed to what are called palzeolithic implements. By the end of the last century Voltaire and his school were wont to adduce the pretended enormous antiquity of the Egyptian monuments as an irrefutable evidence of the inaccuracy of the Mosaical chronology. Time went on, and the days came when Cham- pollion and Sir. H. Rawlinson deciphered the Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions. Then the very same works which fifty years before were instan. ' as an excuse for the encyclopedists' sneers at the Scriptures were co..\ into the be.st extrinsical proof of the accuracy of the Mosaical a». t I am not an archjEologist, much less a geologist. Yet, upon entering into a question in connection wherewith so many strange and, to me, evidently higher culture status than the Indians. It is true that works and papers on American Archaeology are full of statements to the contrary which are generally b.ised on the theory that the mound- builders belonged to a race of much higher culture than the Indians. Yet, when the facts on which this opinion is based are examined with sober scientihc tare, the splendid fabric which has been built upon them by that great workman, imagination, fades from sight. . . The links discovered directly connecting the Indians and the mound-builders are so numerous and so well established that there should be no longer any hesitancy in accepting the theory that the two are one and the same people. . . The testimony of the mounds is very decidedly against the theory that the mound builders were Mayas or Mexicans " /ForX' in Mound Exploration of the Bur, Ethiwl., Washington, /SSj, p. ii-ij. To corroborate by actual facts my position on this question, I glean from the same paper the following extracts : — "In another Wisconsin mound . . . was found lying at .! e bottom on the original surface of the ground, near the center, a genuine, regularly-formed gunflint. In another Tenneisee mound some 6 feet high and which showed no signs of disturbance, an old fashioned horn handled case-knife was discovered near the bottom. . . From a group in Northern Mississippi in the locality formerly occupied by the Chickas-.aw were obtainwl a silver plate with the Spanish coat of arms stamped upon it, and the iron portions of a saddle. At the bottom of a North Carolina mound, part of an iron blade and an iron awl were discovered in t'e hands oi the principal personage buried therein. . . At the bottom of an undisturbed Pennsylvania mound, accompanying the original interment . was a joint of a large cane wrapped in pieces of thin and evenly wrought silver foil, smoothly cut in fancy figures." Ibid. p. g and jo. I have underlined the names of the states mentioned to show that mound-building in post-Columbian timts was by no means local or exceptional. To the above should be adde4/»/(/ Christian Anthropology, p. 320. iBooic VII.,81. § Amfh^re, Hist aire lilU'raire. II Christian Anthropol()i,'y, fp-falsite. Although they were .°xtensively used among the Western D^n^s, it would hardly be consistent with truth to credit the latter with their manufacture. Indeed I am rather inclined to believe — and this is borne out by the declarations of living aborigines — that, in ..7 far at least as the Carrier tribe is concerned, most of them were imported from among the neighbouring tribes. The Carriers of the old stock were exceedingly poor workmen, and their old men are unanimous in asserting that their best axes were bartered from the Ts^'k^hne and the sea-coast Indians. It is therefore quite possible that the implement above figured had an extraneous origin. Fig. 9. All these various types of axes were hafted to a handle generally of 1892-93.] NOTKS ON TUB WE8TKKN U^JN^S. 47 black thorn,* Prunus spinosa, as is shown through fig. 9. The adzes thus obtained never had a cutting edge fine or hard enough to serve crosswise against wood, and the axeman's strokes had always to be directed obliquely.f It must be noted also that, among the Carriers, such instruments were possessed by thef notables- and a Jew \vefil thy heads of families only. The common people had recourse to fire to cut their provision of wood. After having freed the main roots of a tree of the earth adhermg* thereto by means of slight excavations undcrneatli, they would light there a small fire with vegetable matter with the result that the tree would inevitably topple over at 'the latest on the morrow thereafter. Then the smaller limbs were trimmed off cither with a hard stick, with a stone club if any was at hand, or, among the Babiiies, with a bone or horn implement specially fashioned for the purpose. Smaller trees were next crossed over the trunk at the proper intervals to give the desired length to the pieces of wood, after which a fire was started at each point of intersection and maintained by the children or the women until both the larger and the smaller trunks were burnt asunder. If too bulky to easily burn in the fire-place, the wood was then split with the help of wedges and a roughly formed wooden maul. Except among the TsijKoh'tin, the stone hammers and sledges .so common among the coast Indians were unknown. For peculiarly heavy work such as sinking down the stakes on the solidity of which depends the firmness of the salmon weirs, they .sometimes did, and even now do, use such elongated stones as bear the greatest resemblance to their hwofsdz or wooden maul ; but these are r.ever pecked or fashioned into regular sledges. % 'A\ I: I Jl m fy 11 I'iu. 10. The Carriers' wedgesj were either of hard wood, of the part of the * In Carrier v^vus-tco, " Wg tliorn." + The axe i< called Istj in 'I i|Koli'tin, toy in Tse'keiine and tsi; in Babine ; whilst, curiously enough, the Carriers now call it, and seem to have done so as loni; as any old man can remember, tsMsii, or stone-axe. Nevertheless, the Dene name of this piiniiti> ■ implement is evidently tsei or Isii, a primary root. J Yil, pr. root. 48 TKAN8ACTION8 OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol.. IV. cariboo horns next to the skull of the animal, or, in some cases, of stone (Fig. lo). Kit;. II. r'«- >^. The implement illustrated above (Vv^. ll) is a pestle* of a coarse variety of quartzite, of which F'v^. 12 gives a side view. The lower half of the instrument has been left undisturbed by the aitist, the handle only being pecked and smoothened to a fine enough finish. This pestle did service among the Habine Indians. Fijj Kig. 14. }i size. Kig. 15. yi size. A very difttrent model is shown in Fig. 13, wherein we have an implement of TsiiKoh'tin origin. It served a double purpo.se, beiny at * Pe-itsil, " wheiewitli one pouinlN," V. n. I Hi 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. 49 the same time a pestle and a hammer.* But the mode of using it was identical in both cases ; the contact between the matter pounded or hammered was only at the bottom of the larger end, tne hand grasping the instrument in the middle. I have witnessed old men working with such stone hammers among the Skwahomishf with whom the TsijKoh'tin have occasional intercourse. All races of American Aborigines are proverbially improvident, and our Western Ddn^s cannot be said to form an exception to the rule. Yet the.se very implements, when used as pounders or pestles, testify to the fact that the Carriers at least had at times a thought for the morrow. In times of plenty, they pounded therewith dried salmon previously well grilled by the fireside, and kept the mash in a tca]yaj, one of their bark ve.ssels which shall be described further on. When this had been sprinkled over with salmon oil, tlic vessel was hermetically closed and the whole laid aside for use when, owing to the failure of the fishing season or any other cause, the natives were hard pressed by famine. Under similarly strained circumstances, salmon bones, or indeed the bones of any animal, were, and arc, also likewise treated, and made to obviate similar needs. Fig. 1 6. Here(figs. 14 and 1 5) are slickstones or stone scrapers,^ which serve in the process of tanning hides. As may be seen, they are of a very primitive pat- • Pe-tWitz, "wherewith one pounds or hammers," a verbal noun. + The Sk'qo'mic of Dr. Boas. tPe-sltz^h "wherewith one scr.ipes" in Carrier; tst'-tq/l, "stone-broad" in Tse'k^hne. '-■m 1^ "11 50 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADiVN INSTITUTK. [Vol. IV. tern, and neither of t. .e two evidences any regard for elegance. And yet they are fair represe ttatives of their class, even of those which are still in Use among the modern Carriers. They generally consist of flat halves of oblong pebbles one end of which has been slightly trimmed by chipping with a hard stone. The object of such implements being to soften by repeated pressure the hide which has already been stripped of its hair and adherent blood and fat, these scrapers receive no polish whatever. This is why I rather hesitate in classing among the skin scrapers the instrument represented b) fig. 1 6, which is a "find," and was not, like those above figured, in actual use among the natives when handed to me. It is of a very fine grained black volcaiiic rock polished at the broadest end a, and as it is drawn natural size, it is, if any, the smallest skin scraper I have ever seen. T Most of these tools have received very little artificial treatment in their manufacture. In fact, they are almost invariably made as follows : ary flat pebble which is likely to split as desired and thus yield easily suit- Fig. J 8. able material for the intended t-craper is secured up between two .stones on the ground and then split asunder by vigorously throwing a large stone on its upper end. The half which best answers the purpose in 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. 61 view is then trimmed to the proper shape by chipping off any too prominent asperities, or blun*^'ng the edges, should these prove too sharp. The scraper is finally hafted, as shown herewith, by inserting it in the cleft end of any stick at hand ^ver which a rope or buck line is secunjly lashed. This hafting is but temporary, as the stone part only ot the implement is usually kept aniong the family chattels. To the unthinking reader unmindful of the straits to which man may be reduced in the absf^nre of the proper material and while too hard pressed by more urgent needs to look for it, the above (Fig. i8) might not be more than a useless piece of quartzite. But an experienced architologist will not fail to detect therein uiiipistakable signs of human handiwork, and its fine, if somewhat serrated edge will at once suggest that it did formerly duty as a cutting tool. It is a salmon knife, which served first to rip the fish open, and then to cut longitudinal furrows through its i1«s1j previous to exposing it to the action of the air. The large flaking noticPible near its blunt end is not accidental, but served as a grip for the ti. amb, while the index and medius fin-jjcrs rested respectively on the back or thick side and on the reverse sur ace of the implement. if'I •H '\i^ !'.r Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Figs, ig and 20 represent stone knive;,* of different pattern and use. They are skinning knives and their material is augite-porphyrite. ■I •The t^airier «onl for "knife" is the same as tiiat for " iron," viz,, pzthih in Upper Carrier and >lhh in Lower Carrier. 52 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN 1M8TITUTE. [Vol. IV. Both are drawn n/jtural size and their cutting edge is at the fore-end. Knive fig. 19 was used without handle, but fig. 20 was hafted to a short stick as is manifest from the side notches discernible therein. The identity of these instruments is beyond the possibility of a doubt, as it has been established by the testimony of an old Indian who used him- self similar knives in his youth when no better ones were obtainable. The most serviceable and therefore most highly priced working or carving knives in use among the prehistoric D^n^s were nothing more or less than beaver teeth sharpened when necessary, by friction on a hard stone. But owing to the perishable nature of the material, none is now available for illustration. The only stone carving knife which has ever fallen under my observation is that herewith figured (fig. 21). I be- lieve it to be of genuine black flint. The cutting edge is at a and it is still very keen. Notches at d and c, though slight enough, appear neverthe- less to be quite intentional, and were it not for the symmetrical rounding ofif of the broadest end, they would suggest a double handle as the original means of facilitating work therewith. The Indians neither account for these notches, nor satisfactorily explain the mode of handling the knife. }4 size. yi size. Fig. 22, represents a picece of broken object the original use of which is likewise problematic. It is of a variety of green marble variegated with yellow and rusty red. The broadest end has been thinned to a dull edge and, except where it shows signs of accidental breakage, it has received an exceedingly fine polish. Indeed, though ii has been found here, at Stuart's Lake, I believe it far too skillfully finished to be of D^n^ manufacture. It must have been imported from the Coast. But 1892-93.] NOTES ON TIIK WESIERN D^Nfe. 53 what renders this relic particularly remarkable is the presence of the very fine grooves noticeable on each of its three unthinned edges, two only of which appear in the cut above, the third being on the reverse of the implement. This peculiarity, while rendering the identification of the find more difficult, suggests a similarity of form though certainly not of use, with an implement formerly common among the Carriers under the name of azih, " it grinds through." It consisted of two stone tablets can-f^iUy polished at least on one side so is to permit of dieir being closely joined together. In the middle of their polished surfaces was a groove obtained probably by pecking, not friction, which when both tablets were superposed formed a cylindrical hole through which gam- bling sticks, arrow shafts, etc., were repeatedly passed and thereby g'ven an exquisite finish. None of these implements is now extant. 'I'hey were the equivalent of the wooden wrenches used by the Hupas under similar circumstances. :-E? Weapons of War and of the Chase. Prominent among these were, of ;i)urse the arrow,* and its correlative the bow.f The arrow heads J of the m D<^nes were either of stone, of bone or horn, or of wood. The forrii, no less than the material, of tlv stone arrow points greatly differed. In fiy. 2"? ill be t(_)und si)eciii: ii> repres- entative of the most common patterns. Many of them are quite diminutive in proportions, and would seem iw partake ni re of the nature of play-things than of that of the deadly weapons they undoubtedly were. As regards shape, those marked a and b may be described a tlu typical arrow-points of the Western Denes. In common witn specimen c, whose main peculiarity is the absence of one of the usual side notches, they are of a blackish resonant rock which I long mistook for a variety of flint, but which Dr. G. M. Dawson declares to be a very fine -ained augite- porphyrlie. The Carriers call this stone pts, anc' one of the i6 varieties of rocks known to their vocabulary. They used it in the making of the largest number of their missile weapons, arrows, spears, etc. It is but right to remark here that the point a is so much larger than most genuine Ddne arrow heads, that some Indians claim it was a bow, not an arrow point. Of the bow points further mention will soon be made. *'A'f(J, prim. root. + y/////. Sinj;ul.Tily enougli llie Cirricrs have .i olleclive ni\me for bow and arrow t'.Ken to- gether. This is ' Kia-zxa. X l^^nlai, secoiul. root. 64 TIIANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN IN8T1TUTR. [VoL. IV. A less common and more valued material, called n^/re in Carrier, is the obsidian of which the arrow-poinL marked d h formed. Such points are generally very small, e represents the most beautiful of all the arrow heads in my possession. It has been ingeniously chipped of a hard crystalline rock identified by Dr. Dawson as smoky quartz. Its form and finish display evidences of exceptionally good workmanship, too good in fact to be Ddne ; and I cannot 1 'Ip supposing that it must be some relic left among the Carriers by somi ast warrior after one of those many conflicts recorded in the traditions of the old men. Other points, such as those labelled /, /i, are of a species of translucent vitreous rock which probably does not essentially diflfer from that of specimen e. That marked /i is remarkable for the absence of both notches. It is long, narrow, and so thick that but for its intentionally thinned edges it might be taken for a drill point. A few arrow heads as that marked g- are of chalcedony, fsi'-lkrai (stone-whitish) They are as a rule of a rather rude description. All the above are drawn full size. Specimens d and /', when seen otherwise than on paper, appear very sinall and tiny indeed. Yet it would be erroneous to suppose them to be mere anomalies or exceptions. Judging from the number of D^n^ arrow heads in my collection, such diminutive implements form at least one quarter of all the arrow heads now extant. Hi92-93.] NOTES UN THE WESTERN D^NES. 65 Lastly, a few points are of a black, very hard and fine-grained stone, differing from the material of all the arrow heads already described. Such is that marked j. It is the only one of that description which I have ever seen. It is blunt-tipped, and \ ith hardly any edge or sign of flaking. It has the exact appearance of an implement very much the worse for wear. There are to-day no well-authenticated Western D^n6 arrow-heads of bone or ivory in existence. Their tip was not pointed like that of the stone weapons. They were mere beaver teeth in their natural state secured co a shaft. Some of these were also of the root part of the cari- boo's antlers, and both bone and liorn arrow-tips were considered exceptiona'ly effective. I n, ^ Fig. 24. !«■ 25- In Figs. 24 and 25 I have .. ed to illustrate the modes of v,onnecting the stone points with the shaft, as formerly practised by our aborigines- Sometimes the shaft was simply cleft open to receive the point (Fig. 24), and sometimes it was slit at the end as in Fig. 25. In either case, point and shank were firmly fastened together with sinew and pitch. The forc- shalts used along with the arrows of some American races were unknown here. The shaft* of the Western D^ne arrows was invariably of seasoned amelanchier (A. alnifolia) wood. As partially visible in Fig. 25, delicate grooves, one on ^ach opposite side, ran through the shank of the weapon and were inteni.ctl to facilitate the detection of the game when it had been only v, ounded. The blood issuing from the wound, by wowing Kas, a immary root. C6 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. freely through these grooves, dropped on the snow or bare ground in a less-scatterc^ condition, thus aiding the hunter in tracking the animal ere it was fii ai y dispatched. Fig. 26. Fig. 26 gives a fair idea of a Carrier arrow ready for use. As may be seen, the feathering is triple. The tips only of the feather quills are fast- ened to the shaft. Sinew and pitch were res|oi-ed to in order to secure the part of the quills adhering to the shaft end, while sinew alone generally sufficed to fasten the lar.^jer or root end of the feathers. A variety of arrow* which was entirely of amelanchier wood with- out stone or bone point or shaft grooves did service in connection with tarj^et practice or one of the games which shall be described further on. (Chap. VI.) The Ts^'k^hne, who to this day live almost entirely on the spoils of the chase, formerly far excelled the Carriers in the manufacture and use of hunting weapons. Some of these, which were indeed in actual use among the Carriers, were nevertheless of undisputed Ts^'k^hne origin. Such were the " cut arrow," the triple headed arrow and the blunt arrow. I'ly. 27. The "cut-arrow " {^kra-tc3n-kwJi, lit. " arrow-stick-cut off") was so called on account of its peculiar shape (fig. 27). Its point was made of a cariboo horn and " was awl-like in i^rva. Its broader extremity was hollowed out to receive a wooden shaft which served to dart it off from the bow as a common arrow, with this difference however that, when in motion, the horn point detached itself from the shaft. This projectile was deadly, and intended only for use against a human enemy or for killing large gamc."t Fi{j. 28. To shoot smaller game they had recourse either to the triple headed *'kc-squh, verb, noun, meaning as far as it can be ^ranslate(l : "it shoots in as far as the feathering. " + The Western DenAi, etc. Proo. Can. Inst., Vol. vii., p. 140. 18!)2-93.] NOTES ON THE WKSTEKN D^N^S. 57 arrow shown in fig. 28, or to a wooden blunt arrow (fig. 29). The former* consisted of three flat pieces of bone, or more generally horn, cut trans- versely at their broadest extremity and fastened to the shaft through their smaller end and sides by strong sinew threads. It did good service even against large animals, and it is not more than 40 years since it has entirely fallen into disuse. Fig. 29. . The latterf has been drawn from a specimen obtained from a Ts(^-'k^hne who, in common with the majority of his fellow huntsmen, to this day finds this simple and primitive looking projectile invaluable against grouse, rabbits, etc. Even such an apparently insigni'icant act as that of releasing the arrow while shooting has been analy; ed so as to yield modern scientists material for ethnic divisions. Professor Mor.se thus clas.ses the different methods in vogue among American, European or Asiatic archers : — (i) Primary. — The notch of the arrow is grasped between the end of the straightened thumb and the first and second joints of the bent fore- finger. It is practised by children generally, and by the Ainos, Dema- raras, Utes, Micmacs, etc. (2) Secoftdary. — The notch of the arrow is grasped with the straight- ened thumb and bent fore-finger ; while the ends of the second and third 'ingers are brought to bear on the string to assist in drawing. Practised by the Zunis, Ottawas, etc. (3) Tertiary- Tn this release the forefinger, instead of being bent, is nearly str light with its tip as well as the tips of the second and third fingers, pressing or pulling on the string, the thumb, as in the primary and secondary release, active in assisting in pinching the arrow and pull- ing it back. It is practised by Siou.x, Arapahos, Cheyennes, Assini- boins, Comanches, Crows, Blackfeet, Navajos, Siamese, Great Andamanese. (4) Mediterranean. — The string is drawn back with the tips of the first, second and third fingers, the balls of the fingers clinging to the string with the terminal joints of the lingers slightly flexed. The arrow is lightly held between the first and .second fingf^rs, the thumb straight and incictive. Practised by nations around the Mediterrarvean, by modern • Ta'BLWH, second, root. + This., prim. root. 5 fid TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. IVOL. IV, archers, Flemisli (using first and second fingers only), Eskimos, Little Andamese. (S) Mongolian. — In this release the string is drawn by the flexed thumb bent over the string, the end of the forefinger assisting in holding the thumb in position. The thumb is protected by a guard of some kind. It is practised by Manchus, Chinese, Coreans, Japanese, '1 urks and Persians* Our Carriers followed the first or primary method of arrow release, while the Ts^'kdhne conformed to the fourth or Meditterrancan. I am not acquainted with that in vogue among the prehistoric Tsi[Koh'tiii. The above details are given to show to what advantage even the slight- est difierences in the performance of an act common to all primitive peoples can be turned by the acute observer and reflecting scientist. Although the scope of this paper, to be consistent with its heading,^ should be restricted to stone implements, I feel that I cannot well separ- ate bows from arrows in my treatment of the weapons of the chase. As far as my information goes, three varieties of bows, exclusive of cross- bows, obtained among the Western D6n^s. Of these two were proper to- the Ts^'k^hne, and the third to the Carriers and probably the TsiiKoh'tin as well. fig. 30. The regular hunting or war bow of the Ts^'k^hne was of mountain maple {Acer g/nbrum, Tow.) and five feet and a half or more in length. The edges, both inner and outer, were smoothened over so as to permit of strips of unplaited sinew being twisted around to ensure therefor the necessary strength. These pieces of sinew were fastened on with a glue obtained from the sturgeon sound, which also did service for all kinds of gluing purposes among each of the three tribes, while still in their pre- historic period. The central part of the bow, which was so thick a^ to appear almost rectangular, was finally covered with a tissue of differently- tinged porcupine quills. Great care was taken to obtain a bow-string impermeable to snow and rain. With this object in view, delicate threads of sinew were twisted together and afterwards rubbed over with sturgeon glue. This first string was then gradually strengthened by additional sinew threads twisted round the first and main cord, each pverlaying of sinew being ' ."See AiUhroi>oUnjy in 1886, by C. T. Mason, p. 538. 1892-y3,] N0TK8 ON THE WESTKKN D^NlilS. 59 thoroughly saturated with glue. Finally when the string had attained a sufficient thickness for efficient service, it was repeatedly rubbed over with the gum of the black pine {Abies balsamea). F'B- 3«- A less elaborate bow (Fig. 31) is still to this very day in use among the Ts^'k^hne in connection with the blunt arrow already mentioned. It is of seasoned willow {Sa/ix loitgi/olia), and being devoid of any sinew backing or other strengthening device, its edges are more angular than those of Fig. 30. Its string consists merely of a double line of cariboo skin slightly twisted together. The specimen figured above measures four feet ten inches. Fig. 32- The Carrier bow was never much more than four feet in length, and the wooden part of it was invariably juniper (/. occidentalis). Instead of being twisted around as in the Ts^'kehne bow, the shreds of sinew were glued on the back after the fashion of the Eskimo bow, with this difference, however, that in the Carrier weapon the sinew was not plaited. When a layer of thin sinew strips had been fastened lengthwise on the entire back of the bow, it was allowed to dry, after which others were successively added until the desired strength had been obtained. A process analogous to that whereby the Ts^'k^hne bow-string was made was followed in cording the string of the Carrier bow. It is hardly necessary to remark that both of the aforesaid war and hunting bows disappeared almost simultaneously with the establishment of the North- West Company's posts throughout Western Den^ territory. However, it may be said that as late as 60 years ago fire-arms were still desiderata among the poorest class of Aborigines. ■ Here is a Ts^'k^hne crossbow* of modern manufacture. It does duty against small game or for target practice, and is also used by children as a plaything. Although the old men assure me that they have always seen such weapons among their fellow huntsmen, I cannot believe that cross- bows were known to the original T.s^'k^hne. It is much more probable that they have been derived from the bs^nd of Iroquois established in close proximity to the territory of the Beaver Indians. My purpose in m '•I'i 1 * TVkii t, "tliat which ilarls off," in Tsc'kehne. 60 TRANHACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN IN8TITIITK. [Vo. IV. mentioning them here is to show that the faculty of self appropriation and adaptiveness which more particularly characterizes the Carrier mind, Fig- 33- is, to some extent, shared in even by the Ts^'k^hne tribe which to this day has little reason to boast of its material progress. A detail which it may also be worth noting is the mode of holding tin: bow while shooting. The Carriers, who almost invariably knelt while shooting, held it in a horizontal position, while the Ts^'k^hne used it perpendicularly, one end of the weapon resting on the ground. To return to stone implements. Besides the arms already described the Western Ddnes had recourse, when on the offensive, to five other varieties of weapons; the spear, the dagger, the war club, the temple- lancet or skull- cracker, and what might be termed the counterpart of the modern bayonet. This latter arm was called dithi'-la-dtnai* which may be freely translated " fixed at the end of the bow." Its name explains its nature. It was brought into requisition by the warrior or the hunter when too closely pressed by the enemy to shoot, and was used as a spear. Such points were of identical material with that of arrow-heads, a, h and c, fig. 23, and were chipped to the shape of figs. 34 and 35. The latter point is rather ruder in appearance than the average bow-points. Indeed from •Lit. " bow-end-appended to ; " plural. ?/Mi-/a-b'- 4.V Yi '■iJie- The innocent-looking little piece of jwrtly pOished stone designed in fig. 43 was, in the hands of a Habine Indian, a rather treacherous weapon. It is the temple-lancet or skull-cracker '* referred to above. After it had been secureh' hafted to a wcoden handle three or four feet * Tii^rinu 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTEKN DENlilS. 65 long, stone lancet and handle forming, when connected, a scythe-like implement, the waiTior — or indeed assassin, as the case may have been — struck therewith his victim on the temp ?, oftentimes thus causing instant death. Before bringing' to a close this chapter devoted to stone implements, it may not be amiss to say a word concerning the art of stone chipping as practised by the prehistoric Dt^ncs. I remember having read in a publi- cation emanating from a learned society, m elaborate dissertation on this subject wherein the author took great pains to elucidate difficulties ivhich to me appeared to be mainly of his own making. It may bt* that the rules of the craft varied with the localities and the material em- ployed ; but here, among the Wl ^tern Denies, there was no great mystery about the operation. The material chosen in preference to fashion arrow or spear heads with was loose, broken pieces of the rock such as were found on the surface. Of course these were confirmed to a few localities only, wherein were situated sorts of quarries which were very jealously guarded against any person, even of the same tribe, whose right to a share in their contents was not fully established. A violation of this traditional law was often considered a casus belli between tlie co-clansmen of the trespasser and those of the proprietors of the quarry. The first operation consisted in roughly blocking off wit^h a hard stone the pieces of the flint, the removal of which was necessary to obtain a vague resemblance to the intended weapon. Then grasping the flint length- wise with the closed fingers of the left hand (fig. 44), the arrow-smith carefully pressed ofl" the flakes with an elongated stone held in his riyht hand, until the desired form and finish were obtained. V'k- 44- A piece of buckskin served as a pad to protect the hand against the asperities of the point. I owe the.se details to an old chief who has been an eye-witness to the operation. I should add that in not a few cases a moose molar tooth replaced the long chipping .stone. I know also of a very few points the sharp edges of which have been polished off by friction. ;i I - «6 TRA»8.\CTI0SS OF THB CANADIAN ISSTrTlJTR. [Vol. IV. CHAPTER IV. Bone and IIorx Implemlnts. \ Several bone or horn objects formerly in use amon^ the Western Den^s have already been mentioned in connection with stone implements of congenerous nature. As they were tnostly weapons or working tools which have long been replaced by iron or steel substitutes, few of them could be illustrated from e.visting specimens. Such as will be found described in the present chapter are, however, still largely used by the natives, even of the Carrier tribe. They are, with few exceptions, industrial implements. Among those which serve in connection with hunting or trapping, one of the most conspicuous is the tsa u-thej (beaver-medicine-recipient, or castoreuin bottle). As will be seen further on, this same vessel is of birch bark riijong the Carriers. But the Ts6'k(!;hne, who are essen- tially huntsmen and whose country abounds in large game, make it out of a cariboo horn, and adurn (?) it with such BVi \a primitive designs as may be noticed in fig. 45. Therein the trapper keeps the castoreum which he dilutes either on the steel trap, or in the mud contiguous thereto, in order tig. 45- to decoy the beaver into its ultimate capture. Of course this mode of trapping is practicable only during the spring or summer months. In the winter, beaver is sought after with nets set in holes cut in the ice a short distance from the rodent's habitation and store. I have elsewhere given an account of this winter trapping which will, perhaps, bear reproduction here. "Once they have found his [the beaver's] lodge, an indispensable preliminary to secure his capture is to discover the exact location of hi;} path or trail under ice. It appears that he follows well marked routes when swimming from, or returning to his winter quarters. These our D^n^s easily find out by sounding the ice in different directions with cariboo horn.s. Their well exercised ears readily discover by a peculiar resonance of the ice where the rodent's usual path lies. So, at a given point, they cut a hole wherein thej' set their babiche beaver net,"* taking care to plant at a short distance a •"The Weslerii Dene»," etc, Proc. Can. InM. vol. vii., p. 131. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WK9TKKN D^;Nfe. 67 Stick the upper end of which is provided with little bells— the counter- part of the beaver nails and pebbles which did duty in prehistoric years. To this upright stick the side ropes of the net are attached in such a way as to be ready for use when the <,'ame is to be ensnared. " 'J'hen the hunter (should I not say fisher?) proceeds to demolish the beaver'.s lodge, in order to drive him off. Should the game not be found there the same operation is repeated at his adjoining provision store. When the undulations of the water tell of his presence therein, he is fright- ened away to where the net is .set. Supposing that the beaver is .swifter than his hunter and reaches the net before the latter, the efforts he will make to extricate himself therefrom will agitate the small bells before mentioned, and the hunter will immediately make for the hole and draw him out before he has time to cut himself clear of the net."* Fig. 40. Fig. 46 represents the t/tas, a bone device indispensable to the efficiency of the beaver net. It is attached to the end of the net which is laid out at the opening in the ice wherein it float? on the water. The side strings of the net are passed through the centre hole of the bone piece (mas) and thence connected with the little bells at the top of the outstanding stick, so that by pulling them up, the farthest end of the net, which is under ice, will be drawn back to where the mas is secured, and thereby the game will be bagged, as it were, and speedily killed on the ice. These bone pieces affect divers forms, several of which are symbolical. Thus the mas shown above, is intended to represent ;. beaver. It will be remarked that the design is highly conventionahzed. Yet, even a child (of Ditn6 parentage, of course) will recognize at once its significance- Barbed harpoons t such as those shown in the accompanying figures are resorted to when the Dtin^ is out beaver hunting — not trapping or snaring, — that is in such cases as when the beaver is met with free of any trap or net. Until a short time ago those beaver harpoons were made of cariboo horn ; but to-day implements of identical shape wrought out of steel files or pieces of iron have almost entirely superseded the */6id, p. 132. f^/at't»n, "lip or l)arb-bone." 4if 1 i il 68 TRANSACTIONS OF THS CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. original horn weapon. To-day, as formerly, they are securely fastened to a handle three or four feet long, wherewith they are launched at the ^■'K- 47- }i size. game much as would be done with a regular lance. The shaft is intended to secure greater impetus and efficiency to the weapon. The specimen illustrated by fig. 47 is a find, and is therefore more ancient - n Fig. 48. yi size. than that shown in fig. 48 which is quite modern. A comparison between these implements and those of similar intent in use among widely different races of Indians all over North America cannot fail to elicit the remark that the same needs create the same means. * In the act of dressing hides several bone or horn implements are still used among the Western D^ntis. These are the fai-scraper, the hair- scraper, the bone-awl, and the skin-scraper. ^\ 49- The firstf is made of a split cariboo horn (fig. 49) and, as its name indicates, it serves to scrape off the fat adhering to the fresh skin. This fat is received in the concave part of the implement and thence t»-ans- ferred to a bark vessel clo.se by. In the form above delineated, it is more of a Ts^'kchne than of a Carrier tool, and as such it docs service more particularly in the treatment of marmot {Arctomys mounx and caligatus) and wild goat {Aploceriis montaiuis) skins. The Carrier equivalent therefor generally consists of the socket end of the shoulder blade of the cariboo, left almost in its natural state. * See fi.v.a. Rep. Cnnad. Inst. i888, \>. 58, figs. 100, loi. i Pe-tfia-)lzo, "wherewith the Hcsh-side Is scraped " (of a liquid or fat substance): fourth category ot nouns. 18D2-93.1 NOTES CN TIIK WKSTKHN DiilN^S. 61) This implement is used in connection with grease or fat scraping of any description. Once the hide has been freed of most of its fat and blood, it is soaked in cold, and then in warm, watei, after which one of its extremities is lashed up around the smaller end of a stout pole leaning on any kind of support, a wall, a fence, etc The hair is then removed by energetic action on the skin hanging down over the pole with a scraper * formed of the tibia of a cariboo (fig. 50). Hy reason of the peculiar tenacity of the hair, moose skins arc now operated on with a short curved steel knife. But the bone instrument shown above is still very extensively employed in connection with any other kind of hair scraping. After having been thoroughly rubbed with the brain of the animal, its skin is next extended within a wooden frame as is practised by most tribes of Aborigines. The holes near the edges through which the line Fi;,'. 51. which fastens it to the frame is passed, were formerly and arc still in some localities, pierced with bone awls "f* identical in form and material with those occasionally found in mounds. They are of the fibula bone of the cariboo, or, as in fig. 52, of the black bear. The latter are more common among the Tsi[Koh'tin. In times past such awls were resorted to when- ever any skin or bark perforations, such as are incident to the art of canoe building or sewing bark vessels, were found necessary. They are now obsolete, steel having almost entirely repKiccd bone in the fabrica- tion of any such tools. Yet the specimens illustrated above were in u.se among the Carriers and the TsilKoh'tin immediately prior to their being given me. II • /'e-na-f/t/t', " wlierewilh one scrapes off" {i.f., hnir) ; fourth category. •^Shift-ts^l, " kiiee-bone awl " j third category. 70 THANSACriOSS OF TIIK CANADIAN IXSTITUI'E. i:: [Vol. IV. The object in view while spreading the skin in its wooden frame is to remove its " mack " or inner cutic' ?. This is accomplished by means of bone scrapers * which are every where essentially the same, but whose form or even material varies accordinij to the tribe by which they are used. •"'«■ 53- Vi size. Thus the TsijKoh'tin scraper (Fig. 5.3) is of bear bone and wedge-like in form. The skin wrapping shown in the cut is quite often wanting. t'g- 54- /4 size. The Carrier scraper (Fig. 54) is of cariboo bone and shaped somewhat like a chisel. Its main peculiarity consists in the teeth cut in its edge to prevent its slipping too easily over the skin and ensure better gripping power. Identical implements are at times found as relics ol extinct races in many parts of the northern American continent, and I still remember how the perplexity as to their probable destination evi- denced through the lines of an antiquarian, who some years ago was describing one of them, brought home to me the advantages enjoyed, even Irom an archaeological standpoint, by persons actually passing their life among the aborigines. ••"'e- 5S- }i size. Amonjj the Tsii'kdhne the skin scrapers arc of cariboo horn, thinned and reduced to the form of that delineated in fig. 55. A piece of buck- skin wrapped around the end held in the hand facilitates the handling f>f that rather awkward implem Mit. The serrated edge of the Carrier scraper is also reproduced by the Ts^'kt^hne. Or indeed it is quite as likely that the Cairiers have Ic-irncd this peculiarity from the Tsti'kehne, who in their turn have borrowed it from the Crecs and other Algonquian * 3tha-iihto3t, "it scrapes (by pecking) tlic fle.h siiie." 1892-93.] NOTK8 OS THK WESTKRN DENIES. 71 tribes of the East, all of which observe it in making their skins crapers^ while the Tsi[Koh'tin, who are the most distantly situated from theni» seem to be ignorant of it. All of these scrapers also do service in the process of skinning animals as means of separating the hide from the flesh. If we now pass from bone implements connected with hunting to such as are laid under contribution as means of furthering the fishing industry, we m;,iy note in tlic first place the ta-kn't* or fish harpoon (fig. 56), The cut renders a detailed description of it unnecessary. The only wooden parts are the shaft and the socket, round which is wound the skin line which fastens the two side-hooks of the harpoon, while it secures in its proper place the middle prong. The hook pieces are fastened with sinew. An archaeologist fond of comparisons cannot fail to notice the resemblance of this weapon to its Eskimo equivalent such as illustrated in fig. 453 of Dr. F. iioas' " The Central Eskimo, "f The ta-kr^t serves to dart a large species of whitc-flcshed salmon (Oncorrynchiis c/iouic/ta, VValbaum), calleJ kes by the Carriers and qes by the TsiiKoh'tin. Now- adays these implements are mostly of iron or steel ; but their shape has remained unaltered. Kij;. 57. f size. The TsijKoh'tin spear salmon with a harpoon of a totally different pat- tern (fig. 57). It is double darted, and .so made that upon fastening in the flesh of the fish, both darts detach themselves from the forked shaft to ' n • " l.ip-ilait," hy allusion to its mouth-like appearance. + Sixth Ann. Kep. Hure.iu of Kthnology, 1884-85. 72 TKAMSACIIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. which they are secured by means of a plated raw-hide line. The whole detachable points of this implement were originally of mountain sheep horn ; but in modern specimens the tip is generally of iron and occasion- ally of copper, the barbs only being of horn. Both the Carrier and the TsiiKoh'tin harpoons are hafted to shafts sometimes as much as 1 2 or 15 feet long, so as to render them serviceable from the top of rocks or precipitous river banks emerging from the rapids where that species of fish is wont to congregate. Implements of that size are designed exclusively for salmon fishing. For smaller fish, besides the nets, which will be described in their proper place, the Carriers have recourse to a bone or steel harpoon of analogous model with that of fig. 56, but reduced in dimensions and hafted to a short handle. If in the winter time, bait is used as a means of attracting the fish. Having cut in the ice a hole of sufficient diameter to ob.serve the movements of the trout underneath, the Carrier drops and gently Fij;. 58. oscillates in the water bone imitations of Coregone fry (fig. 58), hanging through a sinew line from a wood or bene piece held in the left hand. Upon biting the bait, the fish is speedily speared with the above mentioned harpoon. Here (fig. 59) we have a fishing implement which, though of a rather primitive style, yet requires but little explanation. The lancet or pin-like part of the hook* only is of bone, while the shank is of wood. This implement is drawn natural size. In remote localities, during hunting expeditions away in the woods, it is found to this day very serviceable. A fishing device less modern in appearance is shown in fig. 60. It is called by the Carriers th^-sateil a word which cannot be better translated than by "lying on the bottom," though the actual equivalent of that phrase would be t/u'K-9sihaH. A very small fish is used as bait and fastened in • Qfs ; prim. root. 1892-93.] hOTES ON THE WESTERN DEN^M. this wise to the implement ; the whole of the bone pin including the sinew line to which it is attached is passed through the anal part of the fish H),'. 60. Fig- 59- and then one-half of it is inserted lengthwise through the body of the fish commencing from the point of initial insertion of the sinew line to the head, after which the whole is dropped in the water and held as in the case of the bone coregone bait. The larger fish, generally the loche or turbot (^Lota maculosa) which is very voracious, overlooks the other half of the implement left bare, and by gulping down the small fish gives warning to the fisherman, who instantly pulls up the whole, thereby sinking the bone pin in the gills of the large fish which is thus easily secured. As a rule, the small end bones of the loon's wings, or occasionally even young beaver ribs, are the material chosen to make the two last mentioned implements. The same probably served also to fabricate the needles of the prehistoric D^n^s. But none of them is now extant, and this may be a mere conjecture. Before proceeding further, a word about the species of fishes more extensively sought after by the Carriers and the TsijKoh'tin may not be out of place. They are of course very numerous, but king among them all is the salmon, and of the five species which are now known to ascend their rivers, the suck-eye {Oncorhynchus nerka, Walbaum) or tha-llo* is by far the most important either on account of its economic value or of the prodigious numbers of its annual run. Next in abundance and •"Water-fish." 6 m 74 TKANRACTIONS OF THK CANADIAN INSTITUTK. [Vol.. IV I ; I I 1, ; :l gliil ll I' r hill iiii I'll Importance as an article of diet is the large white flesh salmon or /■<.» which has ahcady been mentioned. These two species are common to most of the streams within Carrier, Babine and TsiiKoh'tin lerritor)-, thouijh the latter avoids not a few minor tributaries of the large rivers. One is particular to Habine lake and outlet — it is the hump-back salmon* {O. gorhuscha, Walb.) It is not of much value. The two other species thestli!\ and ta-tzd^X in Carrier are quite plentiful in such streams ;;.s. discharge their waters through the Skeena river ; but according to local observations they make their appearance in Stuart's Lake and immediate outlet only when the ne.\t run of the tha-llo is to be extraordinarily large. As far as I can judge the thestW is the O. keta of VValbaum, such as described by Jordan and Gilbert ; § but I can find no specific name for the ta-tz3R, whose native name is an exact translation of the scientific word for all the Pacific Salmons : •V't"?, hook ; /^"rX''^t snout ; Carrier : ta, snout (and lip) ; ts^R, hook. To the above should be added the ^ housands are usually kept frozen lor use during the winter. The above are, of course, the best fish available here. But as the child of I he forest has not always the choice of his diet, he must more often than once content himself with such carps or carpiodes, such suckers or catastomidae as may chance to venture too near his drag-net. These seldom fail him. Their name is legion, and I will not be so ra.sh as to attempt a nomenclature of them. * SDiiroil, a word which to a Den^ ear ap|)ears quite foreign. t A noun of the second category. t " Lip (and snout)-hook." § Synopsis of the Fishes of North America by 1). S, Jordan and Ch. H. (iiibert, Washingion, 1882. II Almost equivalent to "small kes" or white flesh salmon. '!ii:| T 802-93.] NOTES ON THE WKHTERN DKNIilB. 76 I did not mention the sturgeon (Arcipenser transmontanus, IJichard- son), because, although it is a welcome visitor to our lakes, its visits are too rare and far between to entitle it to serious consideration in this connection. It is caught in large meshed nets.* To join the two extremes, I will add to the sturgeon, the largest of our fresh water fishes, the thi'/m.fk,\ a very small fish which I think is not known to Ichthyology. It frequents a few little lakes only, and is taken with scoop-nets during the few mild days which usually interrupt the severity of our winters. The quantity of that fish brought home after one single afternoon's absence from the village is sometimes really enormous. To be < iinplete I should have noticed among bone implements serving fishing or trapping purposes, the ^/e, J or ice-breaker. This is, however, a mere pointed cariboo horn, which tends to disappear as a working tool, being gradually replaced by a piece of iron or steel, whenever this can be obtained. There is a horn wedge which, even at the presetit day, serves to split the slender rods of which are made the 'kuntsai or fish baskets, which shall be described in the chapter devoted to wood implements. As in most implements requiring hard material, cariboo horn is chosen tc make these wedges. Fig. 62. }( size. The above figure requires no explanation. A glance at the horn ladle • The Carrier name of the sturjjeon is le-tco, "big-fish." t A root of the second citegory, the first syllable of which refers to the lake bottoms from which these fishes seem to suddenly emerge. X^U means " horn," and is used to designate even steel ice-breakers. The ancient name for them is Izofltzii in Carrier which is evicL-iitly identical with the present tsoroltttii of the Tsi|Koh'tin. m ' i^'i 76 TRAN8A0T1ON8 OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. and spoon therein represented will show that our Western Dtfn^s' handi- work is of a very poor grade indeed conriparcd with that of the elabor- ately carved Haida, Tsimsian or Tlingit spoons. The only attempt at i ^ ii i H III F'g- 63. V size. design or ornamentation of any kind appears in the Tsc'kehne spoon or ladle (fig. 63). Genuine Carrier uten.sils of this class, which are either of wood or of horn, are even plainer than those above illustrated. Evi- dently our D^n^s have no eye for the beautiful. In all cases of horn spoons the material is mountain sheep horn. The manufacture of such household implements necessitates the pos- session of no extraordinary amount of skill. After the horn has been split in two equal halves, a spherical, smooth-surfaced stone is heated, and to expand the too contracted sides of the horn they are applied thereon and gently pressed out, a layer of pitch having previously been spread over the stone so as to give consistency to the material of the spoon and prevent its artificially distended parts from returning, when cooled, to their original shape. TLe finishing touches are then given with the carving knife. Keeping within the same class of industrial bone implements, we come on the bark peelers * and .he cambium scrapers.-f- Both of these are in great demand every recurring spring for the purpose of extracting for food the cambium layer of the shrub pine {Finns contorta). Their name sufficiently describes their use. Below is the Carrier type of both peeler and scraper, which, it should be remarked, are oftentimes much larger than those after which fig. 64 has been drawn. In fig. 65 we have a double-edged scraper, which, though known among and sometimes used by the Carriers, is more frequently seen among the Ts<5'kehne. The various styles of these useful implements are all of cariboo horn. The • Enit'qii, " it penetrates by tearing," a verbal noun. + Eltto, " that wliich scrapes," verb. noun. lit: 1892-93.'! NOTB8 ON THK WEHTKRN D^N^S. 77 shavings- like cambium thereby obtained is much relished by the natives, Vi^. 64. yi "''c. who even collect it at times for the purpose of drying and keeping for use during the winter months. Ki(j. 65. }4 size. If from the indispensable or useful we pass to the agreeable, the gambling sticks formerly used among our aborigines may claim our attention. Here, again, we find the elegantly-carved gambling sticks of the West Coast tribes replaced by simple polished pieces of Ij'nx or other animal's bones without any particular design, and with the mere addition to one of the pair of the sinew wrapping necessary to determine the winning stick. The Babine specimens (fig. 66) are rather large and must prove awkward in the hand of the gambler. But they have the reputation of being preven- tive of dishonesty, if distinctions between the honest and the dishonest can be estab- lished in connection with such a pastime as gambling. Such of these trinkets as are Fig. 66. >i size. hoUow have generally both ends shut with a piece of wood, and contain minute pebbles and'gravel which produce a gentle rattling sound in the hand of Se native, much to his own satis- faction. !K H 78 TUAX8Ai;riUN8 OK THB CANADIAS INSTITUTE. I Vol. VI. Fig. 67 represent.s the T^sijKoh'tin and fit/,. 68 the Tse'k^hne equivalent of the Babine gambling sticks, it will be seen from the latter that the Tscl-'kchne, who are the most primitive and uncultured of the three tribes whose technology is under review, are again the only people who in this connection, a.s with regard to their spoons, havcj|made the merest attempt at bone carving. ^1 )•%'. 67. li I I I pi 'i! Fig. 68. ;4 size. The game played with these bone pieces i.s, Tthink, too well known to demand a description. The jerking movements and pas.ses of hands of the party operating therewith, as well as the drum beating and the sing- ing of the .spectators or partners, are practised among most of the Indian races, especially of the Paciric Coast, which have occupied the attention of American ethnologist.-*. The AbbtJ Petitot says in one of his latest publications* that this game is adventitious among the Eastern Denes who ha\e borrowed ic from the Crees. This remark is no less apposite with regard to their kinsmen west of the Rocky Mountains. Although no other chance game possesse.'- to-da\' so many charm.'; for the frivolous VV'e.stern D(!'nds, tlie old men assure me 'hat it was formerly unknown anioii^ ilieir fellow countrymen. That tlieir te.stimony i? based on fact, the very name of that game would seem to indicate, since it is a mere verb in the impersonal mood: //.'/' jvv/, " one keeps m the hand while moving," and is therefore of the fourth category of Dt^nt!' nouns. The word for "gambling sticks," such as used in connection with not'.sa'a, is ffyia, which is the same veib undei- the potential form and means " that which can be held in the hand." Any of the surrounding races, Tsimpsian, Saiishan or Algonquin, may be held responsible for its intro- duction among the Western I)i!:nes, for they are all exceedingly fond of it. The original counterpart of the modern nat'so'a was the at/t/c.f which •f. think It t« in his IkidU /;'« ri>H/e (Hinr la Mn- Glacialt, Paris, |883. t May be l«riHlatc02-'j3.) NOTKS ON THE WE8TKHN 1>En£s. -9 iu times past was passionately played by the Carriers, but is now altogether forgotten except by a few elder men. It necessitated the use of a quantity of finely-polished bonesticks, i)erh;ips (our or five inches long, of which a correct idea may be gathered from fig. 336, illustrating Niblack's "The Indians of Southern Alaska."* These bones were called alti', a root word of the second category, impl>'ing much greater antiquity than that of th ,iVta Speaking of atlih, a tradition which has some bearing thereon comes up for a share in the reader's consideration. If of no interest to the arch;eologist, it will serve a sociological purpose and may have the advantage of furnishing us with a pcinture de inceurs, as the French have it. Here it is. f " A young man was so fond of playing atlih that, after he had lost every part of his wearing apparel, he went .so far as to gamble away his very wife and children. Disgusted at his conduct, his fellow villagers turned away from him and migrated to another spot of the forest, taking along all their belongings, and carefully extinguishing the fire of every lodge so that he might perish. " Now this happened in winter time. Reduced to this sad fate, and in a state of complete nakedness, the young man searched every fireplace in the hope of finding some bits of burning cinders, but to no purpose. He then took the dry grass on which his fellow villagers had been resting every night and ruughl) wcaved it into .somn sort of a garment to cover his iiakedness. " Yet without fire or food he could not live. So he went off in despair without snow-shoes, expecting tleath in the midst of his wandering.s. " After journeying some time, as he was half frozen and dying of hunger, he suddenly caught sight in the top of the tall spruces of a glimmer as that of a far-off fire. Groping his way thither, he soon perceived sparks flying out of two columns of smoke, and cautiously approaching he came upon a large lodge covered with branches of conifers. He peeped through a chink and saw nobody but an olil man sitting by one of two large fires burning in the lodge. " Immediately the old man cried out: 'Come in, my son-in-law!' The \oung man was much astonished, inasmuch as he could see nobody outside but himself ' Come in, my son-in-law ; what are you doing out i • Rep. U. .S. Museum, 1888, plate Ixiii. + It must l>e remarkeil (hat in the version tlie mixl In vo^iie anioiii; llie fairierii, the lK-{{iniiing ■of this legend is very ilifferetit from that a I* il Kig. 71. % sire. Closely connected therewith was the double-pronged comb shown in fig. 71. It was worn in the ha r and Iikewi.se connected with the medicinal (.') necklace throu^;h a long, loo.sely-hangii!_j string adorned witn beads, or, in pnmordial times, ilentalium shells 01 other small articles of native ornament. Its use was not restricted ti> pubescent girls, but this comb or tsi-lts3t* as it was called, was also common to young men attaining maturity. It should perhaps be ret^iarko,' that in this latter case the instrument was n' wood, not of bone. a -cd \o by our Western L>cncs. So far as my information goes, there *t«is in pristine times no surgicaj instrument such a- an equivalent of our lancet rmplo)ed in this oo»- * " Heml-scMtclies, ■' vcrl). lumii. i.:t 1892-93.] MOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. 8S nectlon. It would seem that the operation was formerly performed either with a bone needle or awl, or more commonly with a sharp-edged stone arrow head. Ki},'. 72. Fig. 72 illustrates the change brought in the native huntsman's economy by modern civilization. It is a little piece of bone carved to the shape of a fantastic being, half animal (viz. coyote), half fish, on the back of which little excrescences have been left, the object of which is to hold as many metallic caps for use with a shot gun. This little trinket is fastened to the string of the powder-horn or to that of the shot pouch. It is more commonly cut out of a piece of thick leather without any attempt at design. 84 TRAN9AUTION8 OF TUR CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. I !! CHAPTER V. Traps and Snares. FISH traps. Judged by their staple food, the Carriers and the Tsi|Koh'tin are mari- time or coast tribes, since they mostly rely upon the annur.l run of salmon for their sustenance during the whole year. But, owing to the topography of their country and their peculiar environments, their mode of securing their supply of the fish materially differs from that adopted by the coast Indians. Nay more, even among themselves the process varies according to the localities and the nature of the fish stream. It may be broadly stated that at least seven different devices are resorted to, which I shall presently endeavour to e.xplain. In the first place one should not forget that the salmon almost ex- clusively referred to in the present paragraph, that on which the two tribes named above mainly subsist, is the so-called Fraser River salmon {On(,or/iyni/tus nerka, Walbaum). It is exceedingly gregarious in habits and usually plentiful. As will soon be seen, these two peculiarities are taken occasion of by the natives to facilitate its capture. Where it is practicable the Kamstkadals' method of salmon-fishing is followed. This consists in staking across the river in its whole width and leaving for the fish only narrow passages ending in long, funnel- shaped baskets from which escape is impossible. Owing to the import- ance of this industry, some detailed ex|)lanation of tlie whole process will not be out of place. At intervals of forty or fift)' leet heavy posts are driven as solidly as possible in the bed of the stream from shore to shore, and on these will depend the strength of the whole structure. As an additional guarantee against the action of the current, as many props or braces are sunk slanting down stream and secured against the upright posts close to the water line. In this and all similar cases the fastening material consists of willow, high cranberry bush or spruce sapling wattle. Finally, heavy poles, as long as can be found, are laid transversely on the forks formed by the intersection of the piles with their props, and the result consti- tutes what may be called the skeleton of the weir. The intervals be- tween the upright posts are afterwards filled in by poles driven down in the bed of the river, and as these are placed on the upstream side of the ■t \ 111 W92-93.] NOTB8 ON THR WR8TKRN DKtlis. 86 long railing already mentioned, no artificial fastening therewith is required. The weir is then ready to receive the fishing apparatus, which consists of the hurdles,* the bottle-like baskets n.isrwytf and the narrow terminal baskets, Kw.J The hurdles are made of ditterent sizes, according to the place they are to occupy. They are simply barkiess spruce switches, held slightly apart by a few transversal sticks laid against, not entwined with, the trellis work, and there secured by being wattled with wattup or spruce root. The larger number of these hurdles serve to line the upstream side of the weir, thereby closing every possible issue through it, while with the rest are constructed corral-like enclosures guarding the mouth of the baskets, as shown in the accompanying diagram (fig. 73). The Fig- 73- entrance to these corrals, and therefore to the trip, is at a, and is gener- ally half a foot wide. A stand for parts of the barrier or weir. The salmon upon stealing in finds its way up blocked at d, and by a sidewise evolution comes in sight of the long conduit prepared for it in the shape of the nazrwyt or main basket c, together with the narrow terminal cylinders/^. With a view of liberating itself from the hurdle enclosure, it swims down as far as the terminal cylinders, which, being too narrow to permit of its turning back, thus determine its capture. Others following will soon pack even the broader end of the nazrwat to such an extent that oftentimes no moving room is left. 1 he dotted outlines in * 7cf-st'/u, a contraction of icm-st'jii, "stick -twined." + A contraction of miuhnvPt, "cyliiulric.il M the nioulli (and long in Ixxly)." i Prim. root. Means any long, slender am! snioolli-siirfiiceutasKat. Only in this case it is much longer, since the apex or inside end of tl)e truncated cone-like aperture reaches Imost to the middle of the whole basket. To make the safe keeping of the fish doubly sure, the converging sticks of this inner conduit are made to project inside beyond the small hoop to which they are fastened. These pin- like stick- ends easily dissuade the fish from trying to escape. The 'kflntzai was formerly used in connection with beaver trapping, and to-day it does duty in several localities against the musk-rat. In such a case the lattice work is made of sticks so broad as to resemble laths more than rods, while the interstices between its component paits are so small that they leave no room for the rodent's snout should it attempt to gnaw off pieces of it. As an additional measure of safety for the trap, stones are also scattered on its bottom, upon which the game is said to direct its attention in the hope of effecting its escape. When used as a trapping implement these baskets are laid in the bed of sluggish rivers or creeks previously jammed with branches and boughs of conifer- ous trees. But what we are presently concerned with is fish trapping. The 'kAntzai are u.sed here (Stuart's Lake) in conjunction with the nazrwot. They are likewise deposited in the bed of the stream, but with their mouth or entrance end in inverse positions relatively to the direction of the current. I think that no words of mine can butter explain their use and respective positions than the accompanying diagram showing both nazrwst and 'kOntzai weirs with their hurdle corrals and baskets. A is the 'kikntzai weir which is semicircular and extends to the middle of the stream only. For this reason, though it is built on the same principle of piles and braces as that of the nazrwat, the necessary'strength is more easily obtained. Its shape precludes the possibility of being latticed as the former, yet every issue is carefully stuffed with spruce boughs B and C alone are regular hurdles similar to those forming the corrals of the main or up stream barrier. D represents a partial trellis left open at the proper intervals to receive the mouth of the 'kuntzai e, which are laid im • Apparently .1 contraction o( yjtlin-'stzin, " fish-ova are lying down," which etymology is hard to explain, since tliose tishinjj implements h.ive (iww at least) no relation to fish ova. 88 TRANSACTIONS Of TUB OANAOIAN INBTITUTK. [Vol. VI. down in parallel order to the number sometimes of ten or twelve. Immediately facing the row of basket entrances a large beam /", hewn on the upper side only, partly floats on the water and is partly supported on the forks of piles driven in the bed of the river. Fig. 76. So much for the apparatus. Now as to its working. The fish, which is constantly following its way up stream finding any further progress impeded by the staking across the river G, remains there almost station- ary during the day feeling shy of the nazrwat traps prepared for its capture at night. So it frequently happens that within the space inter- vening between the complete and the partial weirs large numbers of the fish have congregated ere the sun .sets. Therefore natives, manning as many canoes as are available, drive it by dint of noise and by well directed strokes in the water, first into the corral A, D, F, and then to the cylindrical baskets wherewith it is .secured. Then, at a given signal, one man from each canoe jumps on the beam F, and lifts up the entrance end of the baskets as a precaution against the possible egress of a few fish, while his partner returns by canoe to the opposite end of the trap to empty it of its contents. A lid or door a there prepared on the top side of the trap facilitates that operation. The lifting up of the 'kQntzai at the entrance extremity is the work of but a moment, inasmuch as it 1892-93.] N0TR8 O.N THE WESTKRN Dt^Nlts, M chiefly results from the dropping in the water of the large stone b, which keeps it sunk to the proper depth. Both the nazrvvst and the 'kOntzai are serviceable in such places only as the outlet of lakes or shallow streams where the current is slow enough to permit of the erection of the necessary weir. Where this is impossible, a third and even more ingenious device — since once it is placed in position, it does all the work of itself— is resorted to. Lattice work projecting a few feet only from the shore is erected in the water, connected wherewith is laid on the bottom a tobogan-likc basket with an opening near its curved end. The fish passes through this into an un- covered canal-like conduit leading into a large latticed reservoir where it is caught. The apparatus becomes more intelligible by a glance at fig. 76 wherein we have a sectional view of the whole. The lines marked I Fig. 76. a, and b show respectively the bottom and the 'surface of the water. The upper part of the entrance basket c is flat and serves at the same time as a bed for the canal d which is formed by the addition of two long hurdles e on either side of the main or lower basket top. The salmon having entered at c soon finds its way upstream blocked at f, where the basket is rather narrow. But, as its instinct is decidedly against the wisdom of a backward course, as soon as it becomes aware of the free passage prepared at g, therein it runs and thence to the trap h laid out for its capture. * stands for one of the stakes which hold up the trap or reservoir while they secure the whole structure against the action of the c jrrent Tliis ish-trap is called w, and it does also good service against the la.'iiiloc i\Wk i^ Klllg^ m3w -^H v^ii»{fl \ : . {(»» j^ 'sJiMk +' ,i m ^fls ( ■ 'if i^ r r , !! l! m 92 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. They are : — 1. Horw9-thisni,* the fathom, measured from end to end of the arms extended. 2. Ne-tayo,\ the half-fathom ; from the middle of the chest to the tip of the fingers. 3. Ne-i'sA-kdt, X the small' half-fathom ; from the breast to the extremity of the hand. 4. Ne-kran-kdz, \ the yard ; from the shoulder to the end of the fingers. 5. Ne-t'silla^ the cubit ; extremity of the hand to the elbow. 6. Ne-lla-tc3n-k3K** the hand-lengf.h ; the hand up to the wrist. 7. 7y//^^R,"H* is the width of the fourfing ers slightly stretched out. It is a net-mesh measure. 8. U-kw3-sthan,Xi the finger-width. It is obtained by laying on the object measured as many fingers pressed together as may be necessary. It is the smallest Y)€n€ measure, and is resorted to in connection with pieces of tobacco, of bread, of costly cloth, etc. The largest and most commonly employed is the first named, horws- thisni, which serves to measure houses, fish-traps, nets, logs, etc. Another measure of length of a more complex nature is obtained by pressing one hand over the breast and reckoning from the tip of the other hand to the elbow of the folded arm. It is therefore equivalent to three-quarters of a fathom. To preserve their salmon the Carriers and TsijKoh'tin have recourse to the well known method of drying. After the head has been cut off, they open and clean the fish, after which they expose it for one day or two to the rays of the sun. The spine and vertebrae are then extracted, together with the flesh adhering thereto, which is destined for the dogs' larder or used as bait when trapping. The fish is next furrowed inside with a sharp knife as a precaution against putrefaction, and, two wooden splinters having been driven through the flesh so as to keep its inside constantly opened, it is dried beneath rough sheds by the action of the sun and air aid":d by the fire and smoke underneath. As for the heads, which are considered by many as the morceau dilicat of the salmon, they are cut open and smoked or their oil is extracted in this wise : After long willow twigs have been spitted through them, they • Lit. " along it it is embraced ; " verb, noun, § " Man-elbow end." + " Man-chest." ** " Man-hands-stick («rrist)-after." + " Man-breast-on." ++" It straddles," fourth category of nouns. II " Man-arms-half." rffl I ii i m I 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^. 93 are deposited in the water on the sandy shore of ths lake or stream till they reach an advanced stage of decay. The stench they then exhale is simply asphyxiating. But not so with the natives, it would seem, since they do not recoil from collecting them and, after having slightly exposed them to the action of the sun as a means of evaporating the water they have absorbed, they submit them to a thorough boiling in large bark vessels and gather their oil in bags made of salmon skin. This they greatly relish, and have recourse to whenever they wish to enhance the natural succulency of their service berries and other fruit. To a civilized palate it is simply an abomination. LAND ANIMAL TRAPS. While the fauna of Northern British Columbia could be more varied, it is nevertheless abundant enough to relieve the more pressing needs of the Indian tribes stationed within its borders. With one single ex- ception all the larger mammals on whose meat the prehistoric Delias subsisted are still to be found there. By this exception I refer to the elk (Cervus canad cists, Erxl.) which the Carriers assert to have been indigenous to their present territory, but which has long disappeared from among them. Philologically speaking its successor is the horse, which both Carriers and TsiiKch'tin call a domestic elk (yi'sih, elk, ji dog or domestic animal), while the Ts^'k^hne see in the noble animal nothing but a " big dog " ji-tco. From an economic standpoint however, it is now replaced by the moose (Alee americanus, Jardine) and the cariboo (Rangifer caribou, Linn.)* The deer (Cariacus virginianiis leucurus) which is unknown to the Ts^'k^hne and rare among the Carriers is exceedingly plentiful among the Tsi[Koh'tin. But Providence has given the former two valuable mammals which are practically wanting among the latter, I mean the mountain sheep (Ovis inontana, Cuv.) and the mountain goat (Capra americana, Rich.) whose native names are t?pe and 9spai respectively. Other animals which are sought more for their meat than their fur are the hoary marmot (Arctomys caligatus), the ground-hog (A. tnonax, Linn.) and last but not least the hare (Lepus americcnus). The porcupine (Erethtzon dorsatus epixanthus) was formerly huw.ed for the sake of its quills which were greatly prized as an article of ornamentation. t Most of the other mammals hunted by our D6n^s are valued chiefly for their fur, though the meat of almost all is appreciated as an addition * The moose is called ttni, and the caribou, hwotzih, by the Carriers. tThe marmot is called t)tin; the grounp hog, ^kani; the hare, kfR. and the porcupine, ttfquk. Ji; I hi 94 TBANSACTIONH OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTK. [Vol. IV. to their provision store. Prominent among them is of course the beaver {Castor fiber, Linn.), which is called tsa by all the Western D6n6 tribes. Its small congener, the muskrat {Fiber zibethicus, Linn.), is the beaver of the children and the poor, to whom it is known as the tsfki't. However a much more precious game even than the beaver is the black bear {Ursus americanus, Pallas), called sas by both the Tsd'kdhne and the Tsi;Koh'tin and Ids by the Carriers. Our Western D^n^s, who usually prove so cowardly against a human enemy, are so courageous when matched with almost any wild beast, that among them he would not be considered a man who would be afraid of a bear. Personal encoun- ters wherein bruin comes out second best are by no means a rare occurrence here, and not a few Carriers still bear the marks of the bear's teeth and claws. Even the grizzly (C/^ horribilis) is no terror to them. I have here at my side an Indian who has killed one with a revolver, while I am well acquainted with another, a most reliable man, who by his fear- lessness and sangfroid put to flight a bear of that species with which he had been sitting face to face for perhaps a quarter of an hour without receiving as much as a scratch from the monster, and without having used the shotgun which he had not had time to load. The main point in such awkward circumstances is not to betray the least fear and to look one's adversary riglt in the eyes. Show any degree of hesitation and you are lost. Although lio two species of the grizzly bear are known to science, it might be, however, that the shyas, the bear of which I am speaking, is but a variety of Ursus horr'bitis, imsnvich as the Indians pretend to know another and much more formidable one •. h;ch they call tsa-rana or " he busies himself with the beaver," by allusion to its favcrite occupation, beaver hunting. This animal they fear, and so far they pro- fess never to have killed any adult of the species, but to have occasionally seen a few. It is, they say, much larger than the shyas or common grizzly ; its heel is proportionately narrower and the fore end of its paw much broader. It is worthless as an economic item, as it emits a most offensive smell. The other fur bearing animals sought after by the Western D^nes are the marten (Mustela martes. Rich.), the fmher (M»ste/a cafiadeusts, Linn.), which the Carriers call a " big marten, " tcdnnih-tco, the otter (Lutra canadensis, Turton), the wolverine (Gulo liiscus, Linn.), the lynx (Feiis canadensis, Rich), the fox (Viilpes vulgaris), the wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis ), the coyote (Canis latrans), and the two small carnivores, the ermine (Putorius vulgaris, Linn.), and the mink (P. vison, Brisson^. In addition to washi, its regular name, the lynx, whose ancestors are believed to have had intercourse with women, is often half jocosely called sAnti', " my first cousin " by the Carriers. As to the different 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^Nl^S. 95 varieties of foxes and wolves, they are recognized and differentiated by adjectives, not distinct names, in the native tongues, as they are founded merely on colour, not, as with the dog, on anatomical peculiar- ities. It is ?. well known fact among our aborigines that, for instance, red, cross and black foxes are found in one and the same litter, so that it seems naturalists should not see more difference between a red and a black fox than they do between a gray and a white bull-dog.* When not chased or killed by chance as happens in the course of one's travellings, the above named fur bearing animals are procured either with Fig. 80. traps or snares. At least three varieties of the former contrivances, all of genuine D^n^ origin, are still in general use, and a fourth, the bear •It should be mentioned he- that al)original usage prevents tlie hunter from kiUing for him- self any of the largest animals, especially such as are chased for their meat. Alter his game has been brought down, he will invariably give it to one of his companions, or if he happens to have none, he will cache it up against wolverines or any carnivorous animals and return to the villaije. Then he will say to any one whom he chooses to favour with his spoils : " In such and such a spot in the forest I have siiot a cariboo for you. Go and fetch it." To act otherwise would be equivalent to courti'-.g the scorn of every hunter of any standing in one's place. 9(t TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. trap, though now a thing of the past, is still remembered by old men. Its main or fall part consisted of trunks of small trees united into a sort of lattice work by means of muskeg pine saplings interlaced through them. To ensure additional sufficiency for the structure, large stones were laid over it, heaps of which are still to be seen in several places, generally close by the banks of salmon streams. I can find no native in a position to satisfactorily explain the mechanism of this trap. All I can gather is that it was very effective, not only against black bears, but even against grizzlies. Fig. 8i. To secure martens and other small land game, the Carriers never use but the trap shown in fig. 80, which is very simple in construction. It is merely composed of a fall stick a, one end of which is thrust in the ground in an oblique direction, and which springs down on the transversal or ground stick d, through the falling off of the pole c, resting upright on the bait stick d. To prevent the game from getting at the bait otherwise than through the trap, a rect.ngular enclosure is erected with small pickets generally against, or close to, the bole of a spruce or pine tree. Should the fall stick not exactly correspond in position with that lying on the ground, the marten might survive the springing of the trap and 1892.93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN DEN^S. 97 eventually effect its escape. To guard against such an accident, two stakes e are driven in the ground on each side of the falling apparatus. The use and working of the weight pole / need no explanation. Much more complicated, as may be seen from fig. Si, is the action of the lynx trap. The device causing the capture, if not the death, of the game, is identical with that of the preceding, save that two weight poles instead of one are used. But the principle of the apparatus itself is altogether different, and might be pointed out as an evidence of no mean ingenuity. Although I have faithfully outlined in dots the working of th2 trap v'hile in the act of springing, some further explanation of it may be necessary. The general principle governing its action is the balance principle. The fall stick being pressed down by the weight sticks, thereby forces up the furthest end of the lever a, which is balanced on the post b, acting as fulcrum. As an immediate consequence, the string button c (fig 82) is started up and at once arrested in its flight by the horizontal sticks d engaged between the button and the perpendicular pole e. The reason of the springing of the trap is now easy to understand. The lynx, or fox> upon trying to get at the bait laid on the ground a little distance off within a picket enclosure, is bound to tread on the trip stick e which is thereby disengaged from the pressure of the button, which immediately whirls up yielding to the action of the weight poles on the Ic^er, as shown in the dotted outlines. Both the post and the perpendicular pole e are stuck in the ground, and the latter, as well as the weight sticks, are set up through the branches of the tree under which the trap is prepared. Fig. 82. filll Fig. 83. A somewhat different setting of the same trap is obtained by engaging the trip stick above, instead of beloiv, the middle of the button piece. In this case no bait is provided for the game, but the trip stick is thorough- ly rubbed over with castoreum, by licking which the animal springs off the lever, whereby the fall stick slips down on the base. 11 II ii: n Tl^ANSACTlONS OP THE CANAOIAM IN8TITI TB. [Vol. IV. A modification of this trap is occasionally used by a few to capture the beaver. But as the Crees are credited with its invention, no further mention of it is necessary. Fig. 83 represents a kind of trap differing in every particular from the three already described. It is proper to the Ts^'k^hne and does service against marmots. As shown in the cut, it is usually set in front of '.he animal's den, and its action or working apparatus has some resemblance to the common figure four trap. Its trip stick a is laid across the entrance of the marmot's den and is disposed so as to form a right angle with the left side of the spring stick k Of course this is concealed from view with dry grass, leaves, moss or any other available vegetable material. In order to give even a clearer idea of the mechanism of the trap, its com- Kig. 85. Fig. 84. ponent parts will be found separately drawn in fig. 84, Let it suffice ot add that, while the fall stick is looped to the springing piece i, the small end of the latter is at the same time notched in the trip stick a and con- nected with the post c through the double string d, which presses in the extremity of both trip and spring pieces. These traps are not hastily constructed on the spur of the momen; with any chance material taken at random from the immediate vicinity of the spot where they are set. They require some little care in their preparation, and they are therefore made at home, and carried about with their different parts tied together as shown in fig. 85. SNARES. . Whilst we are occupied with the divers contrivances invented by native ingenuity to capture land animals, it may be well to give some idea of the Western Danes' methods of snaring the same. To such as may be tempted to call in question the appositeness of such minute details, I would beg to point out that the aborigines, whose technology we are studying, are pre-eminently huntsmen no less than fishermen ; and to call complete a review of their industrial implements, which does not 1892-93.] MOTES ON THK WE8TEKN D^Ni:8. 99 embrace their various fishing and hunting contrivances, would be equiva- lent to supposing well constitr.ted a body lacking nerve or bone. Besides giving us some idea of their proficiency as craftsmen, they enable us to witness, as it were, the workings of their mind as applied to their means of providing for the necessaries of life. So that those very details which may appear unimportant to the superficial reader, add in the estimation of the scientist, a psychological interest to a study which is primarily technological. What has already been said of the Western D^nds' fish or animal t.aps has led us to the conclusion that, if those aborigines are wanting in the appreciation of the beautiful, they are by no means devoid of the faculty of judging and selecting that which is best suited to the attainment of their ends. A review of their snaring devices cannot fail to confirm this impression. At least eight different methods of snare setting, generally varying according to the nature of the game, obtain among the single Carrier tribe. I leave it to the following figures to explain the details, and shall <;ontent myself with noting en passant that which they cannot tell. Fig. 86. Figs. 86 and 87 represent bear-snares * whereby the game is either choked down on the ground (fig. 86) or flung up in the air (fig. 87). The action of the former is exceedingly simple, though it cannot fail to prove very effective. Of course it is clear that the bear upon getting engaged in the noose, which is in all cases held in the proper position through ' The root for snare in general is ///, and this word is suffixed to the name of the game for which each snare is intended. Euphony demands that it be preceded by an m ; therefore bear- snare is 'iis-mpij ; lynx-snare, w.tshi-mpij, etc., in Carrier. :::!i m 100 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADrAN IN8TSTUTE. [Vol. it. small strings lashed to the bushes near by, will, to free himself therefrom^ pull forward or backward. Either movement must result in the fall of the post a and thereby of the beam b. Fig. 87. As to the second mode of setting the bear-snare, it may be necessary to explain that as soon as the game is noosed up by the falling of the crossed poles, he will naturally, in his efforts to disentangle himself^ struggle for a support for his paws so as to annul the action of the noose. This is provided for hi.ii in the shape of the wooden piece noticeable under the small end of the lever. But as the role of the hunter is not one of mercy, he has taken care, prior to setting his snare, to bore through that piece of wood a hole large enough to ensure its slipping down with the contraction of the noose. So that by pressing down on it, the animal only hastens its own death. The manner of lashing the lever or balancing pole to the post is shown in Fig. 88. It is reputed the safest and is adopted with regard to all other snares requiring a similai appliance. The setting of the cariboo snare cannot be simpler. As showr* herewith, it merely consists in a noose attached to a stout stake (fig. 89) with which the game scampers away, and becoming engaged among fallen or standing trees chokes himself to death. Until a few years ago, the Ts^'k^hne were wont to use these snares extensively and with no mean results. As many as forty or fifty were 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN DliNis. 101 set in a line through such defiles or passes of their mountains as were the most frequented by the roaming bands of cariboo. After two of their most active hunters had been deputed to watch at either end of the line, the others, numbering fifteen or more, would, by loud shouting and firmg of guns, drive the reluctant game to the snares where it was captured. Fig. 88 Fig. 90. Fig. 89. In figs. 90 and 91 we have snares very differently set, though they are intended for the same kind of game, viz. : the lynx. The working of the apparatus is in the first model identical with that of the cariboo snare. The little stick planted in the ground is destined to no other purpose than that of holding the noose in position with the help of the two side strings. Fig. 91 though more comph'cated in appearance is no less easy of understanding. It is compose^ of two levers balanced on their posts, the end of the main or snare pole being engaged under that of the other, which is prevented from yielding to the weight of its larger end by the temporary stick a set thereunder. The struggling of the lynx when caught in the noose will cause this to drop off on the ground, 102 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN IN8TITUTB. [VOL. IV. whereby the small end of both levers will ■ spring up, leaving no possible chance of escape to the game. Fig. 91. The fox snare (fig. 92) is likewise based on the balance principle, and needs no further explanation than this : The snare string above the noose Fif;. 92. is wound round a stake solidly driven in the fjround and a detachable transversal piece of wood in such a way that it unrols itself by the ;| 1892 93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^Nfis. 103 slightest movement on the part of the noosed animal. This connection between the transversal and the horizontal sticks I have tried to illustrate f'g- 93- by fig- 93 ; but I think that its working requires to be seen to be fully understood. This snare does also good service against marmots. Fig. 94. Fig. 94 represents a mode of snare setting usual in connection with the latter game only. It needs no explanation, since the lever of fig. 92 is simply replaced here by a bent down switch. V'^S- 95- Lastly fig. 95 gives us an idea of the rabbit snare as it is commonly 1' t m 104 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. set by our Carriers. The method is identical with the preceding, save that a switch forming a semi-circle is substituted for the stake to which the movable cross-piece is temporarily fastened. Of course this necessitates a change in the position of the latter which in this case is laid horizontally over the apex of the ..cop. The strings of the cariboo and bear snares are made of moose or cariboo skin strands, generally four in number. As a protection against moisture or any other deteriorating agent, they are ir most cases wrapped with thin strips of willow bark. Hempen twine such as is for sale at any H. B. Co. fort nowaday:< serves against any species of minor game. Before leaving this subject, it may not be amiss to mention that even waterfowl were formerly sought after by means of snaring devices. Ducks and g'-ebes were then the coveted game. The snares cor sisted in a noose cord of vegetable fibre attached to a stick firmly driven in the bottom of the piece of water, more generally in such shallow places as the fowl ordinarily frequent when feeding. Waterfowl of r .y larger species such as geese and swans, especially the latter, are said to have been secured in olden times, by an ingenious stratagem which cannot be ')etter described than by relating the follow- ing fragment of the Carriers' national legend wherein the famous hero gstas plays such a wonderful role. " In the course of his travellings, gstas came upon a family consisting of the father, two sons and a daughter. One day, the old man sent his sons to try their chances at catching swans in his hereditary fishing- place. The young men, who had already heard of gstas' wonderful deeds, said to him : ' Cousin, we always lose our time in our attempts at catching swans. Our fathei wants some to make for himself a head- dress and a breast blanket * for the winter. People say that you generally succeed in any enterprise you undertake. Come then, and help us.' gstas readily consented, and went out with them. " When they had reached the family fishing grounds, they perceived eight swans lazily gliding on the water. ' Have not you taken a rope aiong with you?' asked gstas. Upon which they pointed to a long rope which had been left there for future use in a similar emergency. " Presently gstas donned a head-dress made of the head and neck of a swan, and, taking the rope with him, swam slowly towards the swans imi*;ating in every point their movements. Then he deftly tied the feet * See the chapter on Dress and Personal adornment. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN U^N^IS. 105 of five of them to his long rope without as much as awakening their suspicions, and swam back to the stake driven in the bed of the river to which he secured the end of his rope. Being now sure of his game, he took off his head-dress when the swans perceiving their mistake took to their wings, but were soon arrested in their flight by the retaining rope and stake. They were then taken by the wily stranger. " The young men who had on previous occasions tried the same trick without avail, were delighted at the success of their guest, so much the more that nobody before him had been able to get by this method more than four swans at one time. They therefore invited him on another day to give them a further proof of his ability, and even to outdo himself if that was possible. Much flattered at their encomiums, gstas this time tied the legs of no less than eight swans. But as he was swimming back to attach the rope to the stake, he unwittingly lifted off his head- dress, upon which all the fowl flew off taking up with them gstas who was thus carried very far away into the countries beyond the horizon." The story then proceeds to relate how, new Vulcan, having let go the rope, he fell down upon a rock wherein he sank and was buried alive. Whether this or any analogous mode of securing waterfowl was really practised by the prehistoric Carriers cannot, of course, be now positively stated. Strange as it appears, some such stratagem may have been resorted to, since we read that in China waterfowl are caught by wading in the water up to the neck with one's head hidden in a gourd and then seizing the bird's legs to finally draw it down in the water with- out ever revealing one's personality.* Be that as it may, the modern Carriers know it only by tradition. They now prefer to build small circular huts of coniferous boughs or even walls or cairns of stone in the favorite haunts of the fowl behind which they hide and by imitating their call, prevail upon them to approach within shooting range when they are easily dispatched. I have enumerated the fishes and land animals trapped or otherwise hunted by our Western D^n^s, and described the various devices made use of to secure them. I leave it to the following list of the names of the lunar months in two dialects to furnish the reader with some hints as to the time when they are generally sought after. • See Six I^gendes AmMcaines identifies <) thistoire de Moise, etc., par le R. P. Petitot, Missions de la Congregation O.M.I., Paris, 1877, p. 741. 8 V\-'A n 106 TKANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAM INSTITUTE. [Vou IV- Names of the Twelve Lunar Months. In Carrier. Sa-tco, the big moon. Tcaz-sdl* Tc9z-tco.* Ctn-usa, moon of the spring. Takus-uza, moon of the carp. Tailr-uza, moon of the summer. Khdl-uza, moon of the land-locked salmon. Thallo-za, moon of the red salmon. Pit-uza, moon of the bull-trout. joh-uza, moon of the vvhit3-fish. PanrBn n9t's9Kei. " during its half one navigates."! Sa-tco-dhvai, "next to the big moon." In Tsfi'K^HNE. Infsih-sa, moon of the wind. VastBse-sa, moon of the snow- storms. • Ahta-tnza, moon of the golden eagle. RatqMnza, moon of the wild goose. Sas-inza, moon of the black bear Mdndh-tcMh'oie, moon when they % take to the water. Ha'ke-ta, " the buffalo ruts." ^tsiz-tnza, moulting moon. Sa-ts3tle, little moon. Sa-tct, great moon. 3'ka-t, "the fat (of the animals) disappears." Md-tlmi-tlmi-tsatle, " what freezes is covered with bare ice." The first of these months corresponds nearly to January. The size of the page prevents me from giving side by side with the above the names of the TsiiKoh'tin months. Their main peculiarities may be thus resumed : March is the " moon when one comes out of the subterranean huts " ; April is the moon of the sucker ; July, that of the Kes, or white-fleshed salmon ; August, that of the red-fleshed salmon ; November is called " this month we all enter the subterranean huts," and December is the moon of the ice. It will thus be seen that different social habits and occupations have left their impress even on the names of the months such as recognized by the three D^n^ tribes under study. Observances of the Hunter and the Trapper. Prior to their embracing Christianity, the Western D^nes had recourse to various other means of ensuring success while engaged in hunting. Several superstitious practices were observed, the neglect of which was *The root Tcfz is now meaningless. The finals s^l and /co mean "small" and "big" re- spectively. + 1, e. Lake Stuart is opened to navigation during the half of this month. ♦ I. e. The goslings. l!" 1892-93.] NOTES ON THB WESTERN D^NES. lor regarded as entailing unavoidable failure. Most of these were based on their regard for continence and their excessive repugnance for, and dread of, menstruating women. As soon as a Carrier had made up his mind to try his chances at bear- snaring, he separated a thoro for a full month previous to the setting of his snares. During all that time, he could not drink from the same vessel as his wife, but had to use a special birch bark drinking cup. The second half of the penitential month was employed in preparing his snares. The omission of these observances was believed to cause the escape of the game after it had been snared. To further allure it into the snares he was making, the hunter used to eat the root of a species of heracleum {tsd'^p in Carrier) of which the black bear is said to be especially fond. Sometimes he would chew and squirt it up with water exclaiming at the same time : NyAstluh ! may I snare you ! Once a bear, or indeed any animal, had been secured, it was never allowed to pass a night in its entirety, but must have some limb, hind or fore paws, cut off, as a means of pacifying its fellows irritated by its killing. Speaking of the meat of snared animals, I cannot help remarking that young women having their menses could not eat of their head, heart or hind part without exposing themselves to a premature death through a kind of rabies which was sure to attack them in after years. This infir- mity led them to keep tearing off the flesh of their arms with their teeth. If perchance they were favored with a lucid moment, they improved it by making their confession to the shaman. " When young, I ate of the head, etc., of an animal " they would say. Thereupon the medicine man would suck from the body of the patient what was represented as the tabooed morsel unlawfully swallowed, and forsooth the woman was cured ! The heart even of water-fowls was forbidden to similarly circumstanced young women, who had also to abstain from cutting up the grebes which, among the Carriers, are caught each spring in such large numbers. These fowl are full of blood, and their being manipulated by such persons would communicate to the latter either haemorrhage or unnaturally pro- longed menses. If in the woods with his wife, the hunter would also prefer to see her tear herself up in the bush and thorns, to let her pass in the narrow trail wherein he may have deposited his snares preparatory to setting them. Should she as much as step over without touching them, her mate would certainly consider any further attempt at capturing game as futile and useless. •1 108 TRANSACTIONS OF THR CANADIAN INSTITUTB. [Vol. IV. I" m I i , The skulls of the bears whose flesh has been eaten up are even to-day invariably stuck up a stick or the broken branch of a tree. But the aborigines fail to give any reason for this practice. If the Carrier was to use traps instead of snares, the observances pre- paratory to setting them varied somewhat. When martens were the intended game, the period of abstinence from sexual intercourse was shortened to ten days or thereabouts, during which the trapper slept by the fireside pressing down a little stick over his neck. This, of course, could not fail to cause the fall-stick of his traps to drop on the neck of the coveted game ! The chewing and squirting up of the heracleum root were observed in this as in the former case. The deprecatory formula was merely changed into NyAskuh ! may I entrap you I When successful, the trapper had to be very careful that no dog touches his prey, which, to avert such a misfortune, he had to hang up a peg in the lodge as soon as this was practicable. Contact with a dog would certainly indispose the game's fellow martens against the traps of the hunter responsible for such a slight. No superstitious practice appears to have been followed as a prepara- tion to beaver hunting, save that to ensure a larger catch, one-half of each trap was daubed with red ochre. But nobody who does not care to con- demn himself to useless efforts at securing any further supply of the game must be unguarded enough to swallow the little patella bone of the beaver. In like manner, if after having captured a beaver, a Carrier has the carelessness to let one of his dogs get at that bone, he may as well resign himself to return home empty handed. During the whole beaver- trapping .season, his first capture will infallibly be his last. Lynx not only was not eaten by the women, but even when once snared, it could not be brought in the lodge through the doorway. Women as well as men daily enter through that passage, and the former must have no intercourse, however indirect, with the feline. So it was introduced by men into the lodge through the smoke hole in the roof It was touched by men only, its flesh boiled by men and eaten by men. The reason of the aversion of the women for the lyn.K will appear from the following legend : — " A young couple of Indians was living in the woods. One morning, as the husband w"s absent chasing large animals, a stranger of surprising beauty and apparently endowed with superhuman powers came upon the young woman. " Follow me : you shall be my wife," he .said to her. But as she was very much attached to her husband, she strove hard not to hearken to him. Yet such were the stranger's charms and hidden powers 1892-93.] NOTES ON TBK WBSTKRN D^INiSs. 109 that her mind was as if paralyzed in his presence. As she pretended that she had no provisions for the journey, he told her that the distance was short, and that he had plenty in his own place. Whereupon he seized her and she had to follow him. Now the stranger was no other than the lynx. She managed however to snatch from her lodge in leaving a grouse {Dendragaptis frankltnii, Dougl.) which her husband had shot a while before. As she walked behind her seducer, she would pluck a few of the grouse's feathers and down and drop them along thereby marking her trail on the ground. By the time that she reached her new home, the bird was entirely stripped of its feathers and down. " The lynx's lodge was full of pieces of the fat of cariboo and moose hanging up to dry. Before dark, he went out to do a little hunting a short distance off. " Meanwhile the young woman's lawful husband who had experienced no difficulty in tracking her, thanks to the fallen feathers and the trampled herbage — for it was summer time — came upon her as she was * sitting lonely in the lynx's lodge. She at once told him the story of her abduction by the stranger. At the same time she insisted that the latter was uncommonly powerful, and cautioned her husband against using violence in this case. " We had better try and take him by stratagem, for both of us together are nothing to him," she said. " She had barely uttered these words, when the lynx came home after a successful hunt. The woman went out to him and said presenting the new comer: " Husband, here is your brother-in-law, for he is indeed my own younger brother." Upon which the lynx asked : " Have I then a brother-in-law V — " Yes indeed, and a very good one," answered the woman. Then her own lawful^husband told the lynx how very pleased he was to see his sister married to so good a hunter and thereby delivered from her first husband who had been living with her against the wishes of all her relations. To confirm the sincerity of his declarations, he pre- sented the lynx with his own quiver full of arrows, keeping only his bow for himself. " I will hereafter see you more than once," he added " and each time I shall make you similar presents." "The lynx was so pleased that le insisted upon preparing himself his guest's supper. " Now prior to his return home, the young womm had related to her real husband how the lynx had asked her whether she was having her menses. Lest she may have been tempted to prove unfaithful, she had answered affirmatively, though that was not the case. Hearing this, the lynx had manifested a great dread of her and left her untouched. They ■Ui no TRAMSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vou IV. had then, her husband and herself, agreed as to the plan to follow to effect her deliverance. "Therefore, after they had eaten to their content, she purposely attempted to play with the lynx, while her husband, who was lying on the opposite side of the fireplace, feigned sleep. But each time that she tried to touch the lynx she was sharply rebuked : ' Skrant/tahoflkr^s* you will throw a spell over my arms,' he would say. Yet she would not desist in her endeavors to keep him awake so as to render his sleep more profound once he would fall asleep. " At length after he had been a while soundly sleeping, she motioned her husband with a stick that now was the time to act. Therefore he cautiously seized his bow which was double pointed, as one end of it was provided with a longr horn dart while the other had a stone spear head. With all his might, he sank the horn dart into the lynx's breast, while his wife chopped off his head with a stone adze she had kept concealed in her bosom. " After he had transpierced him with the horn dart, he and his wife • turned him over and he repeated the same operation on his back with the stone spear head of h's bow. They did not leave him till he had been reduced to a shapeless mass of bone and flesh. " Ever since, our women have been afraid of the lynx, for he is indeed a ravisher." In the estimation of the Carriers of the generations gone by, fishing was not fraught with the same perils as hunting, and therefore few, if any, superstitious precautions accompanied it. Indeed the only vain observance which can be mentioned in this connection was that which forbade women having their monthly flow to cut or carve salmon, inasmuch as this was reputed to seriously endanger the health and especially enfeeble for life the arms of the transgressor. When no shaman was at hand to consult about the quantity of the salmon coming up, either the elements or some peculiarities in the vegetable kingdom afforded them a means of prognosticating the nature of the forthcoming run of fish. Thus a continually rumbling thunder or the early fall of the service-berries portended to them an abundant harvest. I would not affirm that these ideas have no longer any hold on the mind of a few modern Cariiers. Those persons who are au fail with the popular notions current among the lower classes of the Old World will, I think, hesitate before tasking my Indians with uncommon credulity. * Thahohkris is hard to translate in English. The lynx means that her tou>.h unclean state will incapacitate him for the chase. awhile in her 1892-93.] NOTKil ON THB WE8TEKN D^N^S. Ill CHAPTER VI. Wooden Implements. I may mention as having some relation to one of the objects of the pre- ceding Chapter, namely fishing, the Invot's^z* and the talbi.\ The former Fig. 96. is the wooden maul which serves to drive home the piles of the salmon weirs used by the Carriers. It is bottle-shaped, and of the hardest wood obtainable, generally birch {Bitula papyracea). Fig. 97. The latter is the wooden float attached to their nets. Here we cannot fail to remark that the Western D^n^s had in this connection an oppor- tunity of exhibiting at least a minimum of artistic taste, and, as in most cases, did not improve it. The cut (fig. 97) shows the working of the float when in actual use. Such entirely wooden implements as are unconnected with either fishing or hunting are relatively few and unimportant. Therefore we need not ';arry long in their description. Commencing with those which serve recreative purposes, we may refer in the first place to the t9tquh (fig. 98) of which mention has already been made in the course of a % ' ' 'i S! Fig. 98. • Second category of nouns. 't A verbal noun almost equivalent to "it floats up." If 112 TRAN8ACTIOM8 OF THE CANADIAN IKBTITUTE. [Vol. IV. native legend. It is a rod five or six feet long which is thrown through the air so as to fall as far as possible from the initial point of launching, the distance reached determining the measure of success attained. This game was formerly much in vogue among the Carriers. It is now obsolescent. » Fig. 99- A great rival is naz?::, which is played with sticks ot almost the same shape, (fig. 99) though much stouter near their fore-end. As [they do duty on the frozen surface of the snow, the finest polish possible is aimed at in their preparation. These sticks vary in length from three to six or seven feet, according to the strength, possessed or assumed, of tlie player. The Carriers are to-day passionately fond of this game, which is played, as a ru'r by adverse bands, the stake going over to the party which first attains the fixed number of points. Fig. 100. T2>'ko' is another pastime which is somewhat childish in character. In most cases it is played by the fireside in the camp lodge during the long winter evenings. Its necessary accompaniments are a blunt-headed stick (fig. 100) and two small, thin and springy boards firmly driven in the ground, one close by each player. The two opposite parties sit facing each other and throw the ta'ko' against the little board on the other side, upon hitting which it rebounds to the knees of the successful player, who is then entitled to recommence and continue as long as luck favors him. Failing to get at the mark, the ta'ko' is handed to the other partner. The number of points obtained indicates the winner. The old men profess to be ignorant of that game, which is probably adventitious among our Indians. While we are treating of the games in connection wherewith success depends on the skill of the performer, not on mere hazard as with nat'saa, atlih and atiy^h, we may men\\on ' ket-la-p^s ("encircling willow") or arrow target shooting, though the implement required for its performance 1892-93] NOTES ON THE WESTERN DEN^S. lift and from which the name of the game is derived would, considered in itself, be classed among the objects which shall form the subject matter of our next chapter. This is a sort of open work disk or wheel made principally of willow bark strings, though the frame of the hoop is composed of three or four switches very closely fitting each other and kept in position by a strong lacing of strips of bark. Radiating from the axis, or heart as it is called,, are four cords of similar material stretched so as tc form a cross (fig. loi). As this was formerly the great national game of the Carriers, I may be pardoned for giving its rules somewhat in full. A team of five or six men was matched against another of presumed equal force, and after each player had been pr Jed with a given number of pointless arrows, the disk was set wheeling away by one team to the cry of tldp 1 th'p ! This was the signal for the other to shoot at it while it was in motion. Should they fail to hit it, it was returned rolling to the first team so as to give them an equal chance of making at it with their arrows. As soon as the disk had been shot, the real competitive game commenced. The arrows which had hit it, two, three or more, became the stake for the rival team to win over. For this purpose the disk was hung up a short stick planted in the ground near the team who^ had succeeded in sending home the arrows, and it was aimed at succes- sively by each member of the opposite party. Should any one be lucky enough to shoot it with his first arrow, the stake played for became his irrevocable property. When the target was hit, but on a subsequent attempt of the marksman, the stake was thereby won over, subject to its being redeemed by any member of the opposing team performing the same feat. In this ca.se the g^me became a draw ; the wheel was set rolling anew, and the nature of the stake was determined as in the first instance. i| :Si 114 TKAN8AOTION8 OF THE CANADIAM IVHTITUTR. Ill [Vol. IV. I have never seen 'keilapas played by others than children and young men. But in times past it had a sort of national importance, inasmurli as teams from distant villages were wont to assemble in certain localities more favorable to its performance in good style. Indeed, until a few years ago the sporting field of some was literally dotted with small cavities resulting from the fall of the arrows. Fig. I02 represents the device doing duty among the TsiiKoh'tin as a spindle. Prior to the introduction of European textile fabrics, its uses were doubtless of a much wider des- cription than to-day. As a matter of fact, I have never seen it in actual use except to spin or twist the rabbit skin lines entering into the manufacture of blankets. The discoidal attachment is wanting in the implement such as known among the Carriers. There can be imagined no simpler or more primitive method of lighting fire than that originally obtaining Fig. 102. among the Western Dtiniis. Instead of the somewhat elaborate fire-drill in use amongst the northernmost congenerous tribes, such as the Loucheux and the Hares, our aborigines' apparatus was reduced to a short stick, generally of resinous scrub pine (P. contorta) set revolving on touchwood by immediate contact with the hands as is practised by Ihe Wataweita of eastern equatorial Africa.* Shall I speak of the Western D(5nes' canoes .' They certainly possess no peculiarity to render them worthy of any mention, unless it be their very rudeness of form and finish. Of course I do not here refer to the birch bark canoes, which among the Carriers and the TsiiKoh'tin, have gone out of ui>e since the last fifty years or so. Of these I have seen but very few examples, and they were not representatives of their class. Fig. 103: West of the Rocky Mountains, the present Ddn^ canoe is dug out of bal- sam poplar trees {Populus balsatnifera), and either because the material will not admit of a similar treatment, or because our Indians have not yet learned the method of expanding the sides by the action of fire under- neath, as is done by the Coast Tribes with regard to their cedar canoes, they are left almost as narrow at the centre as the tree was while in its •See "Fire making app.iratus in the U.S. Museum," by Walter Hough, p. 5S3. I ;iH ^! $\l 1892-03.1 NOTBH ON TIIK WRRI'KR* DI^NI^.S. US i.:r original state. A few cross sticks only prevent the sides from shrinking in too much. This want of width, added to the fact that the prow is always made of the broader end of the tree, renders these canoes very awkward in stormy weather on our lakes, inasmuch as they generally compensate in length what they lack in breadth. Another fact worthy of remark is that the Carriers, who owe to their frequent intercourse with the Coa.st Indians, much of their technolo<,'y and all such of their customs as are unknown to the rest of the D6n6 nation,* .should have failed to take the hint from their maritime com- mercial visitors and build wooden canoes, until they appropriated, some seventy years ago. two rough "dug-outs" manned by a party of Iroquois hailing from the East. Their paddles offer hardly any not'ceable peculiarities, save perhaps the absence of the cross-like appenda^ , at the end of the handle which is common among maritime tribes. Ihis is explained by the different manner of handling the implement. While the Coast Indian when paddling seems to divide his strength between propelling forward with the left hand and pulling backward with the right, the edge of the wooden canoe being made to serve as a partial fulcrum for the lever in his hands, the Carrier, who unconsciously labours under the illusion that he is still manning a frail birch bark canoe, does all his paddling away from his dug-out without ever touching its sides. This exercise necessitates the peculiarly long shaft of Ijis paddle and renders useless the cross-end of the maritime implement. The aforesaid illusion is so patent that even while at the helm, he scarcely ever uses his paddle as a rudder to stert- his craft. He prefers to paddle out alter- nately to the right and to the left, thereby communicating to the canoe a kind of zig-zag course. To return to the description of technological items. In fig. 104 we have an industrial implement whose destination cannot be guessed, inasmuch as its form is rather misleading. It is Moi an oar, but a •ah-tcis. ' This compound word, when under- stood, prevents the possibility of any misconception as to the use of the object thereby determined. 'Ah is the Carrier word for a species of fern whose bulbous root our aborigines greatly t ish, and tea's means "paddle," and by extension any paddle- .=' aped object. Hence this implement is designed to dig out the esculent root of the fern -ah. Yet, in spite of its name, it ,W Fig. 104. * See my paper in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Sect. II. 1892, p. 109- V: ' t 136. 116 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. does frequent; service as a mere pe-yss-Zuzhwozo* or snow .shovel, as it is also used to clear of snow the doorway of habitations and space adjacent thereto. It should be remarked, however, that the prehistoric 'ahtcss, was much ruder in form and finish than that herewith illustrated. The bulb of this fern is eaten while fresh and baked a Vetouffh in this wise : " The natives dig out a hole about three feet in diameter in the ground, pave its bottom with heated stones over which they strew chips of alder {Alnus rubra) bark, and then fill it up with the roots. The whole is then covered with earth and the roots will be ready for the table ten or twelve hours later, that is when entirely cooled down."-f- As far as I can ascertain, no such esculent root as "ah grows in the TsiiKoh'tin's country. But its absence is more than compensated by the presence there of two very useful tubers, dsroilli and sflntt, which resemble respectively diminutive oblong and spheroidal potatoes. When these Fig. 105. Fig. 106. Yi size. have reached maturity, they are dug out with the T-shaped tool shown in fig. 105. As may be seen, there is nothing complicated in the nature of this implement, since it is nothing else than a birch branch cut off with its shoot. To ensure greater toughness to the material, its point is generally treated to a slight calcination. Imiu*..:'-'' numbers of the root are annually gathered. They are either boiled as potatoes or smoked in the house. For the latter purpose a sinew or buckskin line is passed through each of them, and while thus forming strings of vegetable beads, they are hung up near the chimney or the fire hole. The smoking process is rather long, and at its close, the tubers are eaten without 2.x\y further prepiiration. I have also seen this method practised among the TsiiKoh'tin with regard to the smallest of their potatoes. From the culinary peculiarities of the TsijKoh'tin we may pass to their faculty of imitation and adaptiveness as evidenced by the herewith * Lit. " wiierewilh-snow-is shaved off." + The Western Ueiies, p. 135. ■;'ii;. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WGaTGRN Dl^N^S. 117 figured toilet article which had been made and was used by one of I'iem immediately before it was handed to me. If this comb stamps them as good imitators, it must be confessed that it entitles them to no particular claim to be ranked as artists. An examination of the cut will reveal the extreme simplicity of the process of fabrication of this article. A set of small holes have first been drilled with the hole-borer (fig. 130), after which the portions of the wood whose veins had thus been cut asunder have been extracted with the knife leaving out what becomes the tines or prongs of the ccimb.* The original comb of the Western Denes was remarkable for the length of its prongs rendered necessary by their peculiar way of wearing the hair prior to their first encounter with European civilization. In all probability, it was made in about the same style as the above Carrier comb (fig. 107) which is not a toilet article, but served the purpose of ritual observances. To secure success in his trapping or snaring iperations, the Carrier had, besides lying down by the fireside, dreaming, etc., to make use of this three-pronged comb, which consists m the juxtaposition of as many wooden pins bound together with sinew lines. Fig. 107. J4 size. That our Western D^nds are indeed a self appropriating race is further evidenced by the tani or wooden cuirass which the Car-'ier warriors used to don as a protection against the enemy's arrows. This was composed, as a rule, of dried rods of A ftie/an- chier alnifolia (or Canadensis) disposed in parallel order and held together by means of cariboo skin lines interlaced through the middle and near both edges. It was identical with the wooden armour formerly in use ,imo ig the coast tribes from wl.ich it was undoubtedly borrowed. I have never seen any; but fig. 53, plate xv. in Niblack's "The Coast Indians of Southern Alaska "f will give some idea of its general appearance. Composed of the same material was the 'kei-tla-ilanX or shield, which was oval in form as the Roman clypeus. The mode of manufacture only differed somewhat, as the branches or twigs of amelanchier were very closely interwoven. No specimen is now available for illustration. Another wooden implement which, though I have seen in actual use, I cannot figure herewith for the lack of a specimen to draw from, is * The Carrier name of the comb is Isi-ltzii, " llie iiead is curried," a verbal noun. •tAnn. Rep. U. S. Nation.il Museum, 1888. J Lit. " willow (or birch)-the hand-hold " ; 3rd categ. of nouns. 118 TKANSACTIONS OF THK CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. le ! the tC9n-ds(ju (sticks-interwoven) of the Babines. Its name indicates its mode of fabrication, but leaves us in the dark as to its shape or destination. Imagine a rough arm chair without legs and made of stout, split sticks of willow (Salix longifolia) or other wood secured by skin strings, and you have a perfect idea of its form. As for its use, it may be properly pointed out by a simple reference to the plate xx illustrating Ancient Mexican Carriers, in Cyrus Thomas' paper on the Manuscrit Troano.* The packing devices seem to be identical in both cases, while the modes of handling the implement appear to have been different. Our Western D^n^ women — useless to remark that among primitive peoples heavy work alwaj's falls to the lot of the woman — pack from the forehead with a skin line broadening in the middle, and, if the load is unusually weighty, the ends of this line are made to pass around the chest so as to render the burden more manageable. Among the Hwotso'tin, a fraction of the Babine sub-tribe, I have seen a woman thus packing, apparently with the greatest ease, her invalid husband, a man of more than average size and weight. I shall purposely avoid speaking of t'^'e board boxes likewise used as carrying mediums by some of our Cai .ers, because they are imported from the coast, not indigenous to the Western D^n^s. These other objects which, hs sociological items, are also due to the influence of the maritime tribes, but had become naturalized among, and were made by, the Carriers, were the ntirivss, the han9'taih,'\ and the t'sak. The first two are respectively the ceremonial rattle and mask, none of which can now be illustrated from existing specimens. These were almost the only objects of art of genuine D^ne manufacture to which I can point, and yet I do not think I unduly depreciate my Indians' artistic capabilities by adding that they were rather below than above the average of similar aboriginal carvings. The masks were used only by mimics accompanying by grotesque g;estures and jerking of the licdd the dance of a privileged few. But the rattles served a double purpose: they did service in connection with a notable's dance, being then held in the hand by the dancing personage himself, and also as an accompaniment to the incantations of the n{]q3n,\ or shaman. Both implements are, even at the present day, so common among North Pacific Coast tribes that no description of either is needed by readers ever so little au fait with American aboriginal paraphernalia It may 'Contributions to North American Kthnology, vol. v., p. 20. +Lit. "that (round obj.) which is talten off;" the verb ha-nts'aih in the potential moo centre of the ends as in the above described, remain' confined to the corners. Fig. 115 will make it clear that its manufacture offers no serious difficulty. Here again the dotted outlines point to those portions of the bark which are cut off after the vessel has been sewed. As its main destination is to hold liquid, though but for a short time, whether this be water, grease, or berry juice, it is made perfectly water tight. Its native name is t'sai, a D6n^ root, which means tray, dish, or plate. The t'sai greatly vary in size, though they average a. capacity of five gallons. Fig. m6. Very much resembling this vessel is the fps-t'sai or fish tray (fig. i t6),. which however differs not a little as regards both make and finish. It is withouL a single seam, the corners of the bark being merely folded up. Vf\: I ', \ 124 TRAMSACTIOKa OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTB. [Vol. IV. and the switch which encircles its rim is laid on the outside, instead of the inside, surface of the bark edges. This also lacks the thorough wattup wrapping of the rim, for which is substituted a spiral lacing of a coarser kind of spruce root. To prevent the thin birch bark from yielding too much to the pressure of the rim switch, a double lining consisting of two narrow strips of bark is applied against the vessel's edge both on the inside and on the outside. It should be added that a few fish trays are also made with seams exactly as the common dish or tray (fig. 1 14). The length of this vessel is generally double its width, which, in extreme cases, may reach as much as one foot and a half. It does service principally in connection with the daily net-fishing. The net, which has been left to dry during the day, is at dusk prepared for use at home, the floats and sinkers being there attached in their proper places. The whole is then carefully folded and deposited in this tray, after which the fisherman — or rather fisherwoman, since net fishing invariably devolves on the woman — proceeds to the spot in the lake chosen to set it. When it is withdrawn in the morning, two such vessels may generally be seen in the canoe, one destined to hold the fish, the other reserved for the net, which is folded therein as soon as drawn out of the water. Fig. 117. Fig. 118 No vessels of European or American manufacture have so far replaced any of the above described utensils. This is not the case with figs. 1 17 and 118, tor which tin or copper vessels have long been substituted. The former, however, was still to be seen in actual use some ten or fifteen yea;s ago. It was intended to keep water in ; hence its Carrier name i 1892-93.] MOTES ON THK WG8TEKN D^Nl^S. 125 thA-thef, "water-receptacle." This circumstance accounts also for its peculiar form — I mean the contraction of its upper part in faint imitation of the neck of a jar. Of course this vessel was made water-tight, the wattup used as thread being, after sewing, carefully pressed in with the finger previously coated with the balsam of the spruce {Abies balsamea). The latter is the original Carrier kettle or boiler,* which is now alto- gether antiquated. It is seamless ; the bark of which it is made has simply been folded up at its four corners and is so retained by means of a few stitches and of an encircling rod on the outside of the rim. Therein were boiled the roots, fish or meat of the family repast, and the aborigines are still loud in their praise of its excellence as a rapid boiler. Naturally enough, the frailty of its material required that care be taken lest it come in immediate contact with the flames. These primitive kettles were not only serviceable, but even much more durable than might be expected. In fact, their only part which was at all liable to get burnt was the wooden rim hoop, which had to be renewed from time to time. On grand occasions, such as the famous "potlaches" or ceremonial banquets! so much in vogue among almost all the British Columbian tribes, large square boxes imported from the sea coast, were called into requisition. When filled with water and meat or fish, heated stones were repeatedly cast in until their contents were boiled. The contrivance illustrated by fig. 1 19 consists of two parts, both of which are of spruce bark. Its object cannot well be understood without some details on one of the Carriers' most important industries, berry collecting and preserving. Conspicuous among the various species of wild fruit which yearly ripens in profusion throughout their territory is the service berry ( Amelanchier alnifolia). So important is it in their estimation that they generally cal' it merely the fruit, mai. At the end of every summer, the women gather immense quantities of it, first in their thej and then in their tcajyaj wherein it is brought home. When not eaten fresh, seasoned, as a rule, with bear grease or salmon oil, the berries are kept for future use under the form of large, thin cakes resembling plugs of tobacco. They are then prepared by a process which, if primitive, is not the less complicated As soon as the desired quantity of the fruit has been secured, the Carriers build on the ground, in a sandy spot, if possible, the below ill m ■ K » - \ki * ■ ll ■ J:! * Nusai, sec. root. The name of the modern kettle is usa\ i Uorwimta, "the going near" a verbal noun, which confirms what I have written else- where, namely that such feasts, no less than several other practices, are of recent origin among the Western Denes. 126 TRANSACTIONS OF THR CANADIAN INHTITUTE. [Vou IV. I delineated boiler and tray. They commence by digging a shallow excavation in the sand into which they lay one end of a rough bark tray, thereby obtaining an oblique inclination for the whole vessel, the lower end of which is alone folded up. Inside the upper half of the tray, a boiler of corresponding width and made of a large piece of spruce bark is erected and secured in position by three sticks driven in the ground on the outside of both boiler and tray. This boiler has no other bottom than that of the tray wherein it stands upright and wherewith it forms an obtuse angle. As a consequence of this last circumstance an aperture is left between the bottom of the tray arid ihe lower edge of the front side of the boiler, that facing the projecting part of the shallow vessel. A few twigs are there deposited which will act as a strainer with regard to the escaping juice of the berries. Once the boiler has been filled up with the fruit, heated stones are cast in which have the double effect of pressing down and boiling its contents. The juice escaping in the outer part of the tray is transferred when necessary to another vessel. The berries in the boiler having considerably sunk down and the stones beginning to cool, a new supply of both is thrown on top of the mash, which operation is repeated as long as the size of the boiler will allow. After all the juice has thus been extracted, the residue of the berries is thoroughly kneaded, after which it is spread out in thin layers on willow hurdles previously covered with heraeleum leaves, and then exposed to the action of the sun and air. By frequently sprinkling the mash with the juice of the berries and letting it dry until it attains the proper degree of consistency, I i 1892-93.] N0TK8 ON THE WK^TKIIN D^N^S. 127 at finally coagulates into cakes of uniform thickness which arc then stored away for future use. When properly prepared, these will keep for years and if sprinkled over with a little su^ar, they are of tempting succulcncy even to others than Indians. KSCULF.NT AND'MKDICINAL PLANTS. Before proceeding further in our description of native utensils, it may not be irrelevant to complete our knowledge of the means of subsistence of the Western U^n^s by a brief nomenclature of the other esculent berries, roots or plants they use as food, as well as of the chief medicinal herbs which they have, or had formerly, recourse to in case of bodily ailment. Their flora, such as represented in their vocabulary, is some- what limited, inasmuch as, with very few exceptions, only such plants as have a place in their domestic economy are deemed worthy of a name. 'Question, for instance, a TsijKoh'tin about the native name of a beautiful flower which may strike your fancy, and if it is not that of an edible or medicinal plant, he will look at you wondering if your mind is not getting unbalanced and ask you scornfully : " Do you think that we eat such a thing, that we should have a name for it ? " A great many berries they do eat, and therefore honour with a distinctive name These, added to those already mentioned in the course of the present monograph, are : The small, low-growing blue berry ( Vaainium myrtillus) which is common in dry, stony places, such, generally, as are wooded with the scrub pine. These are gathered in the autumn and cither eaten fresh, when they are very succulent, or dried and kept until needed for use. In this latter case, they are first boiled in a common tin kettle, then thor- oughly kneaded, and spread, without extracting the juice, over small , trellis, much as is done with the mash of the service berries. Their Car- rier name vi y}n-th3-mav or ground berries. A larger species of blue berries ( V. myrtiloides) is also much sought after and treated, as a rule, as the small ground blue berries. Such is also the case with the swamp cranberry {Oxicoccus palustris) which, though rather scarc9 here, is none the less appreciated by the natives. The Carrier name of the former is yajtsil, a secondary root ; that of the latter 9y^ -ks-mai' , or marsh berry, a noun of the third category. T3tqe is a large, dark-colored berry, (Empetnim nigrum) somewhat acid and very juicy. When not eaten fresh, or seasoned with bear grease, whole basketsful of it are deposited in long trough-like vessels of spruce bark, tucked up at both ends so as to form provisional receptacles therefor. After they have undergone the usual kneading process, heated us TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. 1 1 stones are thrown over the mash until it has boiled long enough to pre- vent its deteriorating with age, after which cakes are obtained by drying on hurdles, as practised with regard to the service berry. A species of high bush cranberry ( Viburnutn paneifloriim), in spite of its pungency, is also much appreciated by the native palate. It comes to perfect maturity late in September, and is generally eaten with bear grease. But when it ripens early enough, and when the service berries are not kept in dried cake«, it is mixed with them to render them more digestible. The service berry, when eaten alone, is rather heavy on the stomach, and the addition of the cranberries is intended to correct this drawback. The Carriers call the high bush cranberry tsajtst'. The soap berry (Shepperdia canadensis), which is so unpalatable to a white man, is not the least esteemed of esculent berries among the Western D^n^s. It is either eaten raw or dried for future use. In both cases, it requires some preparation to become edible. After it has been mashed in a tin or bark vessel and sprinkled with a little sugar to soften down its bitter taste, it is vigorously stirred with the hand until it springs up into a beautiful rosy foam — whence its name — which is highly appreciated, especially on a hot summer day. If not needed at the time the berries are collected, their mash is put in a spruce bark vesse' and boiled by means of heated stones until nothing remains but the roasted residue of the fruit. This is now given the form of the usual plug-like cakes by spreading and drying on hurdles and finally stowed away. When these are required for consu.nption, they are put in a kettle, dissolved in a little \-.a'er, and stirred with the hand as in the case of the fresh berries anri wilh si lilar results. Two other specie.s of sir.-!) berried fruit called respectively tcitc^stetcd* and noilt"n are generally eaten fresh. As far as I can guess, they belong to the genus Viburnum. The first, which grows only on* mountainous soil, is black and resembles the service berry, but the natives claim that it is unknown to the whites. The second is a blue berry ripening on very tall bushes. Nor should we omit in our nomenclature even the berry of the kinnikinik {Arctostaphylos nva-ursi), which is prepared for eating by roasting in a frying pan and mixed with salmon oil or the grease of any animal. Its native name is i9ni/i in all the western dialects. The natives also relish any species of edible — and sometimes to us non-edible — berries, such as the raspberry {Rubus strigosus), the straw- * Tliis name, thougli used among the Carriers, is of undoubted Tse'kehne origin. 1 1892-93.] MOTRB OK THE WK8TKRN O^N^. !»» berry {Frngaria canadensis), the black currant (Ribes nigrum), which the Carriers call "toad berry," etc. Hut none of these has the economic importance of those above enumerated. Besides these and the bulbous roots -ah, sdntt and dsroilh which have been mentioned elsewhere, the Western Ut5n«is find in their immediate vicinity several indigenous plants to diversify their daily menu of fish or meat. Chief among these may be quoted the red lily {Lilium Colum- bianum), the bulb of which is used as an article of food by most British Columbian and other American, or even Asiatic tribes. It is cooked by boiling pretty much as is done with potatoes. The natives harvest it almost as soon as it has sprouted out, a short time after the enti ■ disappearance of snow. The Carrier and Tsi[Koh'tin name is tsa-tcdn or "beaVer-stick." ♦ Another plant of a different botanical family whose root is likewise much appreciated as an article of food is the sds or sweet flag {Acorns Calamus). This root is eaten without any other preparation than cleaning and washing in cold water. The wild onion (Allicum cernuuni) is also eaten, root and leaves,, either raw or slightlj' roasted in the ashes. The Carriers call it t]o-Ud'n, " stinking grass." So is the root of the dog-tooth violet {Erythronitim giganteum), which is reputed excellent by the natives. Its Carrier name is tcilkhe-res, a compound word which is unfit for translation. In the cow-parsnip ^ Heracleum lanatum), and a variety of the same {kras, in Carrier) it is the inner part of the growing stalks which is preferred. It is often used while fresh and unprepared save Ijj' the stripping of its fibrous envelope. But if fire is at hand, a Carrier will generally treat it to a slight roasting through the flames previously to peeling off the stalk. The H. lanatum is the kus of the Western D6n6s, a primary root, indicative of its importance in the estimation of the natives. The marrow of the willow herb {Epilobium angusttfolium) is also much esteemed, as is manifest from the nature of its Carrier name, Mas- It is eaten before the plant reaches maturity. Nor do the Carriers disdain the leaves of the Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium), which are simmered in a little water until no liquid lemains. This plant, however, was formerly more sought after than is done by the modern Carriers, who call it a'tan-tcis, " simmered-leaf." Another article of food, cheap because very common, but not the least prized by the aborigines is the hair-like lichen (Alectoria jubata)* 130 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN IN8T'T"''K. [Vol. IV. ■which grows hanging from most coniferous tiees, especially the Douglas pint- — hence its Carrier name tsh-ra, " above-hair." The natives submit it, atter gathering, to a thorough washing, till it loses its outer colouring matter. They next mix it with dough as one would do with raisins, and bake the whole. The lichen has then on the cake the same effect as would a copious application of yeast powder on a loaf of bread. The Carriers assure me that, thus prepared, it is very sweet and savory. Prior to the introduction of flour, they cooked it with grease. Although the shaman's influence was great and his services frequently resorted to among the prehistoric Western D^n(5s, especially the Carriers, natural remedies such as provided by the vegetable kingdom were by no means despised by them. Nay more, their medical flora was rather extensive, and it may be said to their credit, that several of nature's most valuable secrets were no mysteiies to them. Among the herbs or vegetable growths esteemed aniong them for their medicinal properties, I may mention tbe following : — Tatlis (Polyponis officinalis), a fungoid growth from the Douglas pine. It was ground down into a fine powder and taken internally in a little water as a j)anacea against biliousness. According to the dose, it was a purgative or an emetic. It was very efi"cctive ; so effective indeed as to be really dangerous. For that reason it has been altogether discarded in favour of milder laxatives such as the bark of the elder (Sambuats racemosus), which is pounded while frejh and taken in cold water. The young shoots of two species of spruce Abies nigra and A. baisamea, \\cr&, And are still frequently, used as a febrifuge or against any kind of complaint resulting in cutaneous inflammation or eruptions. The shoots are thoroughly boiled and the decoction drank while warm. A decoction of the boughs of the juniper bush (Juniperiis occidentalis) is also considered efTective against such maladies as fever or measles. In cases of such cutaneous eruptions as particularly affect young children, the diseased part is thoroughly smeared w'th the mash of the swamp cranberry (Oxicoccns palustris), and it ;s claini?d that beneficial results never fail to follow within an astonishingly short space of time. The root of the aspen ( Populus treinuloid(s) thoroui^lily chewed and applied on cuts and bruises, is very extensively resorted to as a sure means of stopping bleeding. Excellent and well authenticated results have more than o.ice attested its efficacy. In urgent cast.^, the b. rk of the tree is used instead of the root. The root of two other plants 'ji-bz-reh* a liliaceous plant, and the * Lit. " L)og — urine— root.' Tii 18>J2-93.] KOTES ON THB WESTEKN DI^N^. 131 heracleum, hough of slower action, is nevertheless reputed effective against ha;n orrhage from cuts. It is mashed fine, and a poultice of it is applied on tne wound. Infusions of the bark or leaves of the raspberry bush {Rubiis stri^osus) served as an emnienagogue, while the same parts — or more often still the wood with the bark — of the Viburnum opulus, a species of high cran- berry, and of the bird cherry {Prunus pensy/vanica), similarly treated, yielded a fairly good remedy against blood spitting. They had also several tonics or astringents, among which figured : the wild cher-y (Prunus virgininna), cold infusions of the inner baflc of Avhich were taken as a stimulant ; the yarrow {Achillea millefoliu?n) and the American sarsaparilla {Aralia uudicaulis), decoctions of which are siill quite valued ; the spearmint {Mentha viridis), which was used as a tonic against many ills, and last, not least, the Labrador tea {Ledum J>alustre), which, added to its medicinal properties, was often put to the same uses as to-day the tea of commerce. In cases of swellings and nor.-running sores the Carriers use fomenta- tions of the red willow {Cornus stoloniferd) bark. For lunning sores and ulcers of any description they profess to have an excellent salve in the •deoocJon of the bark of the osier-willow {Salit: longifolia) and of the Aspen mixed in equal quantities. The mixture forms a milky liquor wherewith the ulcers ::re first bathed and then rubbed over with tlie hand, th'is causing the extraction of the humors. Two species of horse tails, Equisetiim hyemale and E. pratense, are valued as powerful helps against retention of uripp Decoctions of che herbs are drank freely until the desired effect is obtained. The leaves of the uva-ursi are also used as diuretics, but their properties may have become known among the natives through their intercourse with the •whites. One of the most effective of the native remedies is the hwollak {Arte- misia Jrigidal) a sage-like plnnt whitii is used against local pains and nervous shooting. The leaves are laid over the htated stones of the sudatory, while the patient sits in a reclining position over the steam emanating from them. In extreme cases the leaves are applied while fre-^ii directly to the ailing part of the body, but such are their caustic properties that they cannot be borne more than a few moments. When no other remedy i^ available, the stalks of the black currant {P.ibes rubnnn) are cut in small pieces, boiled for some time and the decor'.ion taken as a cough .nedicine. To alleviate violent pains, they formerly had recourse to the bulb of 132 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. 1 the hemlock (Conium maculatum) which they roasted over the ashes> and, after crushing with the hand, they applied to the ailing spot. But owing to the poisonous nature of -this root, they now refrain from using it for any purpose. Of special value to the women as a help after parturition was the hwujrd], a plant commonly known, I think, under the name of Devil's bush (Fatsia horrida). The bark was mashed while fresh and taken internally with a few drops of water by women just delivered of a child, but whose after -birth had not been, or could not otherwise bs. «\pelled. It did also frequent service as a purgative for persons of bo;"^ si ■'■. Even such delicate diseases as sore-eyes had in the Carriti ei-ti v . ion a valued antidote in the vegetable kingdom. This consisted in a mixture of the root of the soap berry bush and of the wild rose (Rosa blanda) tree. After they had been stripped of their oulside bark, the carrhiium like layer next to the wood was carefully scraped off, mixed with a few drops of clean water and delicately crushed with a flint or a knife till a sort of ointment was formed which was then appl'ed to the eyes. Though sore eyes are by no means rare among the Western D6n6s, no application of this sedative ever fell under my observation. A few niher plants or herbs are also used, the medical properties of which have been revealed to the natives by the H. B. Co. people or, later on, by the missionaries. Jiut all those above enumerated are strictly aboriginal medicines. Other Bark Implements. We now revert to the bark implements. Two models of bail: utens ■> differing slightly in form and much in use from those illustrated in the first part of this chapter are, or were, common among the Carriers. One is the trough-shaped vessel already mentioned as serving to bail in the fruits of the high cranberry. It is of spruce bark, of rude and temporary make, and resembles the t'ps-fsai or fisii-basket in every particular save that it is deeper. Though it occasionally serves as a boiler with regard to edible berries, it is more often used to cook for their oil the heads of salmon or other large fish. The last vessel of Carrier rvi.i.e which remains to describe is no'v :.' thing of the past. It was of bir^u bark, flattish and rectangular, and ha! bv; 'Mc narow side (^H'T. i-'o). Its bri:n was, ut u-^ual, strengrhr.ned by the apposition of a willow switch jb ig. 1 20. running along its three sides. It served as a bathing tub for the infants "W WP! 1892-U3.] NOTES O.N THE WK8TK11N D^NKS. 133 and, owing to its chief peculiarity, it had to be kept in a slanting position while in use. The Carrier women originally carried their babes in regular cradles made of birch bark curved up at the narrow end as the basket-tray of our last illustration, save that this part was sewed, not merely stitched in one place as was the case with fig. 120. The bottom of the cradle was prolonged at the broad or open end to serve as a support for the head of the infant. S^arl■inDr from both sides a hoop of willow half en- circled at the proper distance the head of the child, and was intended to allow sufficient breathing room when it was deemed desirable to cover it. The necessary lacings were passed through a band of buckskin bordering the cradle on the outside. With the advent of the whites these primitive cradles disappeared, to be replaced by the systematic swaddling clothes disposed as in fig. 121, which still obtain among the Carriers. Now, as in olden times, the lacing is done with one string passed through bands of cariboo skin ornamented according to the fancy of the mother. This string is so arranged that by pulling both ends the (^waddling envelope is drawn up over the feet of the babe. Progressive mothers — and they form the majority — nowadays substitute for this tightening device strips of cariboo string buttoned at either en J over each side of the swaddling clothes. Fig. 121. The TsiiKoh'tin have preserved to this day their traditional baby- baskets or cradles, of which fig. 122 will give a fair idea. They are made of the twigs of u species of willow, and their bottom is generally mmmm ll lU TKAN8ACTION8 OF THK CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. strengthened by the addition of a board. The framework when com- pleted is thoroughly concealed beneath a closely-fitting covering of deer hide sewed on the sides of the basket. As in the original Carrier cradle^ breathing room is afforded by means of an osier hoop from which toys or playthings, beaver teeth or nails, etc., hang in sight of the child. One peculiarity which I think is proper to the TsijKoh'tin baby baskets is the hark conduit which may be noticed in our illustration and whose end is ■>'-c.'Sprve the infant against moisture, and rLo to reduce to a minimu.r ouble consequent upon bringing up such small children. As the st> . i of baby cradles differ according to the tribe, even so it is- with the mode of carrying them. A Carrier mother carries her child hanging perf>endicularly on her back by a strap running across her shoulders and breast, while the Tsi[Koh'tin women carry their baby horizontally on their back and suspended in its cradle by a tump line passed athwart their forehead. In this they simply conform to the custom of their southeastern neighbours, the Shushwap. The Ts^'k^hne vessels do not materially differ from those of the Carriers, and their mode of treating and carrying the Ts^'k(Jhne babies tallies also with that of the latter. But the house- hold vessels of the TsiiKoh'tin have no point of resemblance with any of those I have thus far described. No bark vcs.>^els are seen among them, as they replace bark by regular basket- work. I regret my inability to present the reader with an accurate description of their root weav- ing process. Yet, if memory serves me right, I think that they coil, not twine, the root according to the method illustrated by Prof. O. T. Mason in the Smithsonian Report for i8vS4* and else- where. However, all the household utensils I have seen among the TsijKoh'tin are broad - mouthed and wallet-like, none of them tapering up as some of the specimens quoted by the learned professor. Their water vessel, the form of which I remem- ber will, is similar to that illustrated on page i8 of Dr. G. M. Dawson's "Notes on the Shushwap people of B. C," f save perhaps that it is not quite so narrow at the bottom. Many of them arc elaborately orna- Fif- '23- 'A size. * Ann. Rep. Part ir., |i. 294, pl.ite v. t Trans. Roy. Soc, Canada, Sect. II., 1891, » ffml NOTES ON THK WESTERN D^SjilS. 13& 1892-93.] merited with geometrical or animal designs. They are generally of about seven or eight gallons capacity. A second vessel {fjasqaz in TsijKoh'tin) much smaller and pan-shaped, does duty as a washing dish and receptacle for cooked food principally the starchy bulbs simtt and asroflli. A third is elliptical and of about the same diameter across its breadth. It is used as a washing-tub wherein the babies are made to stand naked to be washed every evening by their mothers. Before we close this chapter, we should not forget to mention the birch bark tsa-yu-the] ox castoreum bottle (fig. 123) such as it is used among the Carriers. The object of that implement has already beeiv explained.* X In the chapter on Bone Implements. M 'wm\ ''■' 136 TKANHACl'IONS OF TUB CANADIAN INSTITUTK. [Vol. IV. CHAPTER VIH. Copper and Iron Implements. COPPER implements. Rev. E. Petitot, arguing in favor of the contemporaneity in the same part of America of the bronze and the iron ages with the palaeolithic and the neolithic epochs, has the following to say : — " Avant I'arriv^e des Europeans dans la valine du Mac-Kenzie, Its Couteaux-Jaunes et les Flancs-de-Chien connaissaient I'usage du cuivre natif qu'ils trouverent sur les bords de la riviere Copper-mine. lis s'en fabriquaient des couteaux, d'ou Icur est venu leur nom. lis faisaient en meme temps usage de la pierre polie. Done nous avons ici contempor- aneity de la pierre polie et du bronze. De leur c6t(i, les Peaux-de-Lievre, qui ignoraient le cuivre et qui ne se dounaient pas la peine de polir leurs instruments de pierre, avaient d^couvert le long du Mac-Kenzie, k I'embouchu''^ de la riviere L'^-ota-la-deiin, du ferologiste, et ils en fabri- quaient des aiguillettes et des alines de quatre pouces de long qu'ils troquaient avec les Thekkane et autres tribus m^ridionales des Mon- tagnes Rocheuses contre des peaux d'^Ian k raison de dix pour une al^ne." • It is likely that most archaeologists will refuse to concede that the use of copper knives by a savage people entitles the makers to be regarded as having reached that stage of industrirtl advancement commonly called the bronze age. The use of conpc-r is in this case too limited they will probably say. This reason, plausible as it certainly appears at first, is after reflection ratlier more specious than convincing. For was not this the case even in the old world ? Were not stone weapons largely u.sed there contemporaneously with copper or iron implements ? No, answers the antiquarian ; each epoch or age was very distinct and strictly consecutive. Let us see. In Italy, C. Geikie found early uncoined money (ees rude) along with polished stone weapons; and a number of flint knives have been obtained from Etruscan graves. Indeed a piece of coined copper money marking * Rapport suaiticl sur la Geologic des vaVhs tie t Atluihaskaw— Mackenzie et de P Anderion ; Paris, A. Ilennuyer, 1875. -TTTIT w\ i«92-y;j.] NOTES 0*; THK WE8TEKN D^.VES. 137 a still later period has been found in an Etruscan tomb alongside with a stone knife. At Hibrac'e, tiie most important town of the iEdui in ancient Gaul, scientific exploration has brought to light work on metal and coins mingled with flint arrow heads, polished stone axes and a flint knife. Similar discoveries have been made in many places through- out France.* In ancient Egypt, stone and metal implements were also used contemporaneously .+ In the centic and south of modern Africa, the negroes, according to Lenormant " have never known bronze, and work hardly any copper. Instead of this, they manufacture iron wares in large quantities and for this purpose make use of a process which was not communicated to them from the outside. Hence they themselves discovered the method of manufacturing iron, and when they gave up the use of stone implements, they passed to the manufacture of this metal."t These few instances chosen among many others will, I hope, suffice to prove that the sharp and almost instantaneous change from one age to another and the strictly successive order generally believed to have been followed in these transitions are, in many cases, more fancied than real. Metal objects were apparently the property of the leaders and the higher classes generally while the lower classes must have contented themselves with the stone equivalents, just as in the Middle Ages only the knights wore steel armour. That copper and iron were to be found among the Carriers long before these abori|[ines even suspected the existence of the whites there can be no doubt. But the use of these metals was, of course, restricted to a few fancy objects or working tools. Moreover, in so far at least as that tribe is concerned, neither copper nor iron was indigenous and the former metal only was wrought by its members. Concerning its introduction among the Carriers, I take the liberty of reproducing here a short native legend which I have already quoted elsewhere.§ " In times not very remote, all the Indians (themselves among the rest) congregated at a certain point of the sea coast, around a tower-like copper mountain emerging from the midst of the water. Their object was to decide which tribe should become the possessor thereof. When all had united in shouting, the mountain began gradually to totter, and the Haidahs who are blessed with big heads and strong voices caused it *See "Christian Anthropology," New York, 1892, p. 324. tlbid. t " Die Anfiinge der Cultur," vol. I. p. 57. 8 "The Western Denes," Proc. Canadian Institute, 1888-89. 10 I' 138 TKANSACriONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV- I I to fall on their side. ' Thus it was,' they add, 'that those Indians secured the copper mountain, and we have ever since been obliged to have recourse to them for what we require of that metal to make bracelets for our wives and daughters.' " The reference to this wonderful towering mountain of copper, fantastic as it may appear, might perhaps be explained by the existence of the monumental P liar Rock on the shore of Graham Island, a sketch of which will be found in G. M. Dawson's Report on the Queen Charlotte Islands.* Even in prehistoric times, some Carriers had evidently visited the Pacific Coast, as may be inferred from a few of their legends where- in some peculiarities proper to that region are introduced with a tolerable amount of accuracy. On the other hand, as most of their copper was imported from the coast, it was but natural that, according to the custom of primitive peoples of assigning a fabulous origin to extraordinary objects, they should associate in their narrative the wonderful pillar-rock with the no less wonderful yellow metal. I might point here to the adventures of a mythic Carrier, a sort of wandering Jew, who underwent many a stirring experience on the Pacific Coast while in quest of a stolen wife, and who is the first personage mentioned as possessing copper. The fact that the possibly historical data hidden amidst the details of that legend are interwoven with many miraculous circumstances, would lead us to suppose that the knowledge of that metal among the Western D^n^s dates back from a rather re- mote epoch. , Be this as it may, I have never met with more than five kinds of copper objects of genuine Carrier or TsijKoh'tin manufacture. These Fig. 124, Fig. 125. are the hair tweezers, the bracelets, the finger rings, the harpoon tips and the dog collars. The hair tweezers f were originally of cariboo horn. They then consisted of two thin pieces of horn given the required shape by means of heating, and tied together at one end with sinew threads (fig. 1 24). The copper tweezers were of one piece and affected the form represented in fig. 125. The object of both was to remove any super- • Montreal, 1880 ; pkle ii. ■*• Tifj-aiita, "grebe-bill," a noun of the third category. w\ w^ ]8y2-93.] NOTKS ON THE WESTERN D^NES. 139 I fluoua facial hair. " Superfluous " should be understood here as synony- mous with " any " hair growing on the lips, the chin or the cheeks, since the Western Ddn^s kept themselves beardless. The prehistoric Ts^'k^hne, if they are to be judged by their immediate successors, the eldest among the modern Ts^'kdhne, indulged in the possession of a queer looking partial moustache, which was obtained by leaving un- touched the hair growing on the upper lip below, and exactly corres- ponding in width with the septum, while on both sides the lip was other- wise free of hair. The tweezers were worn on the breast, hanging from the neck. They are still to be seen among the TsiiKoh'tin and the Tsd'k^hne. The Carrier na-lthaft* or metallic bracelets (fig. 126) were of an ex- ceedingly simple pattern. As the hair tweezers, they were originally of cariboo horn ; but as commercial relations became more ex. tended, copper was soon manufacture. In later times pewter was even adopted and l^eaten to the desired shape out of the spoons of com- merce. I speak in the past time, because among the Carriers especially, such trinkets are now practically unknown. When bartered from the Coast Indians, the copper was generally in sticks or slender bars, which were then wrought by hammering by the Carrier.s. These bars remain almost unaltered when used to give consistency to the collars of their dog-harnesses, f When not ornamented, these harnesses are probably similar to those in use among the eastern Indians, and as such '^' "''■ would hardly deserve any mention. But the Carriers' fondness of parade has long prompted them to add to the original pieces the blanket and collar ornaments which I have thought worth the while to show in fig. 127. Of course these two additions are detachable paraphernalia, which are not generally used, except when reaching or leaving a village. The frame of the upper parts is of copper. Fi(j. 126. preferred in their * Lit. ' ' it (of a heavy material) is arounil." t 'ji-f;ui, dog-ropes, 3nl cat. nouns. ■1 I' '■ ; m 140 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTK [Vou IV. Fig. 128 can be adduced as a further evidence of that power of imita- tion which I have more than once quoted as one of the characteristics of the tribes under study, especially the Carriers. Finger-rings,* it is hardly necessary to say, were unknown among the primitive Dt^nc's ; but they no sooner became aware of their existence among the whites than they .set upon fabricating them with what- ever material at their command. One of the results Fig. 128. ^y^g ^i^g j.jpjg sketched above which has been found here, Fort .Saint James. IRON IMPLEMFNTS. Whether hematite was known to the Western D^n^s prior to their contart with European civilization cannot well be ascertained at the present time. It would seem highly probable that it was among all the tribes but the Carrier, which to-day has no other word for " iron " or iron ore than that used for " knife." Even among the Ts^'k<5hne, who call a knife p^s and iron tsa-tsofle (beaver-dung), it is very doubtful if they ever subjected hematite to any treatment calculated to reduce it to the shape of a working tool. Yet I think I am warranted in as.sertiii^ that iron implements have been known and used even among the Carriers for at least two centuries, that is one hundred years before they had heard of the whites. The memory of the appearance of the first iron axe at this place (Stuart's Lake Mission) has been kept vivid to this day by the descendants of its original possessor. Their narrative, when shorn of a few excrescences, I believe to be historically true, inasmuch as names of persons and of localities, together with minute particulars connected therewith, are freely mentioned. Their veracity is made still more apparent by the genuine and unbroken genealogy of the present chief of this village up to the first possessor of the marvellous implement. A full account of the deeds of the various personages introduced in the chronicle might prove not uninteresting even to the general reader. For the present I shall content myself with its initial chapter. The chief of Stuart's Lake will be our narrator. " The first man {i.e. Carrier) who ever possessed an iron axe was my grandfather (/>. one of my ancestors). His name was Na'kwal, and, owing to his rank as one of the most influential notables, but more par- ticularly on account of the great age he attained, he has remained famous among us. He was so old when he died that his hair had turned yellow, after having long been snow-white. He was a most irascible man and * La-lh>l't), "passed round the finger." 1892-93.] NOTEH ON Tnii WESTERN O^N^S. Ul therefore much feared. What hi.s age was when he got the iron axe I cannot say. He must have been a grown-up man and full-fledged " nobleman," since tradition tells us that upon receiving it, he convoked a large crowd of Indians of clans differing from his to a grand ceremonial banquet. Now this can be done only by a taneza" or nobleman. On that occasion, the iron adze-blade was suspended from a rafter over the heads of the invited guests so that they might have an opportunity of contemplating it at ease. The implement was considered exceedingly precious. It had come from some unknown place in the direction of Tse'tcah.* It was thereafter taken great care of, and its possession was the means of considerably enhancing my grandfather's prestige among his fellow Carriers. "Yet it was lost one day under the following circumstances. Some men of Na'kwol's family were in the woods cutting spruce branches to cover up the doorway of the winter lodge they were erecting, when the skin line which fastened it to its handle as an adze getting loosened, the blade suddenly dashed off and fell among the branches already cut. By searching among these the implement must have dropped down in the snow, for it could never be found by natural means that winter." The story then proceeds to relate how it was subsequently found through the incantations of a medicine man who was richly paid for his trouble, and concludes thus : " This happened a very long time ago, long before my forefathers had heard of the whites." That this is a fact is shown by a few words attributed to Na'kwal which, though still intelligible, ere nevertheless quite archaic, and also by the following genealogy of Na'kwol's posterity. 1. N(ikw3l must have lived at least two or three scores of years after the acquisition of the iron axe, when he dice ,.nd was succeeded in a genealogical point of view by 2. Tcitcanit, his youngest son, who had two wives and being of a jealous disposition, was secretly drowned by them when in declining years. 3. Tcitcanit was succeeded as tdneza' or nobleman by a maternal nephew named Tsaleku/yi'. This personage killed a man with an iron pointed lance, and was himself killed when he was getting much advanced in years. • Near the Skeena river. See the map accompanying my paper, "Are the Carrier Sociology and Mythology Indigenous," etc.? Trans. R. S. C, Sec. II., 1892. w 1 !:,/'> 1 lij * %u 142 TBANSACTI0N8 OF THR CANADIAN IN8TITUTK. [Vol. IV 4. His successor was Kivah, who made war and slaughtered hosts of Lower Carriers. By a second wife he had 5. Atsuf, a second son, who died five years ago, over one hundred years old, since he remembered the arrival of Sir Al. Mackenzie's party in the country. He left three generatio'is of descendants. Reference has been made to a prehistoric iron pointed spear. Tradition furthermore records the killing, in ante-European times, of a cariboo with an iron or steel knife or dagger. This happened on this lake, some 1 5 miles from here. Below, the reader will also find figured a .steel dagger which came into the possession of the Carriers some 1 10 or 120 years ago — their country was discovered in 1793. It was instru- mental in killing several men and was originally much larger. The handle was also of a different descrip' , the knife being one of a class of steel daggers call the dialect of the Babines t'jak-nanisfs3r,ox "rouniie'' ^c the end" (of the handle). It probably resembled the instru- ment represented by fig. 108 ^ of Niblack's "The Indians of Southern Alaska."* The presence of steel implements, even so early and so far away in the interior of British Columbia, is not calculated to disconcert the archaeologist, considering the frequent intercourse the inland tribes had from time im- memorial with the Coast Indians. Both Cook and Dixon ascribe the introduction of such tools among the Coast tribes to the Russians whose first recorded expedition on the Northern Pacific Ocean dates from 1740. But Na'kwal's iron axe cannot evidently be attributed to the influence of the Russians, since it had apparently reached this place long before I. I. Behring's expedition was fitted out. Coast Indians must naturally have been slow in parting with such valuable implements. Moreover it should not be forgotten that not more than fifteen years before the advent of the whites among the Carriers, iron tools were still so rare among the Coast tribes that in 1779 a Captain Gray master of one of the Boston trading vessels, is reported to have got at Nootka, on Van- couver Island, two-hundred otter skins worth about $8,000 for an old iron chisel If Fig. 129. * Ann. Report. National Museum, 1888. + Christmas No. of th.-> Victoria "Colonist," 1891. Tn 1892-93] NOTKH ON THE WE8TEKN uisf.H. 143 Among the steel implements distinctly D6ni in manufacture and actually in use among the Carriers, are the hole-borer or drill, the moose skin scraper and the crooked knife or spoke- shave. The first is made with a nail or any available piece of iron securely lashed on the side of a stick or fastened in a slit at its extremity. Occasional holes are obtained by rubbing the drill between the hands while strenuously pressing down the implement. But when a set of fine holes, such as those f'K- '3° of the snow-shoes, is desired, the Carriers have recourse, in f it F'K- >3>- addition to the borer, to a small bow and a hard piece of wood which they manage as shown in fig. 131. F'B- '32- ^ size. The name of the tool shown in fig. 132, t/int/?/* or moose skin scraper, explains its raison d'etre. It has been patiently ground down to its present shape from an old file. • Second category of nouns. \m s fe \ '%■ 144 Tl ANSACTIONS OF THE OANADIAr INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. Identical mateii'.l and mode of manufacture have likewise resulted in the accompanying spokeshave or sras, the "drawknife." It is of the greatest usefulness to the modern Indian, so much so that there is not a house among the Carriers wherein it is not to be seen. They employ it to finish the inside of their canoes, to shave off the rods used in the construction of their fish-traps, to fashion the side and transversal sticks of their snow-shoes, and to do almost any kind of manual work in con- nection wherewith a white man would use a draw-knife or even a common pocket knife. The lower grade of ?ras is made of the blade of a tabl*- knife. The handle of the specimen abovi illustrated is of cariboo bone, secured to the blade first by copper wire and then by rawhide lines wrapped around. The whole tool is of native manufactuie. I CHAPTER IX. 3kin Objects and Twined and Textile. Fabrics. Ill" n 1892-U3.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN DENES. 145 11 SKIN OBJECTS. Under this head we will consider any native items wherein dressed or undressed skin enters as the chief component part. Passing references to the treatment of hides have already .ippeared in the course of the descriptions of the implements used by the Western D^n^s to free them of haii, fat or blood. It now merely remains with me to adci that after the skin in preparation has been rubbed over with the brains of the animal, it is allowed to pass a whole night steeping in cold water. It is thei> subjected to several rinsings in hot water, alter- nating with thorough scrapings, until, being quite dry, soft and pliable, it is given the form of a bag and placed over the smoke of decayed wood or other vegetaole matter. Once it has been thi-.s smoked on both sides, it is ready for use. Among the Tsi[Koh'tin skin dressing is practically confined to the hide of the deer, while among the Ts(^'k^hne moose and cariboo skins ': f •] 146 TRANSACTIONS OF THK CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. only are tanned for use. Moose is rare within the Carriers' territory, and still more so is the deer. Therefore, with that tribe, mocassins, mittens and gloves, bags, etc., are almost exclusively of cariboo skin. We will here pass over skin articles, which belong to the native accoutre- ment or wearing apparel, as these shall be treated of in the next chapter. Confining ourselves to household or non-personal objects, we ma/ mention no less than seven varieties of leather bags or pouches in use among the primitive Carriers. Fig. 134 represents the household bag or eztjai. This is generally the property of women and serves to contain the family chattels, but more particularly such as are proper to the ■women, clothes, pieces of tanned skins, working tools, articles of orna- mentation, etc. This bag needs no description ; the cut cannot but give an exact idea of its form. The bead work in some is much more elabor- ate than in the specimen herewith figured. Before the introduction of glass beads, dyed porcupine quills served to ornament this and all other kinds of skin receptacle. The cover piece of this eztjai is also, I am told, a modern innovation. This bag is never used as a packing con- trivance. A variety of the same, but much reduced in dimensions, was formerly the regular badge of widowhood among Carrier women, so much so that the custom which required its use has given the Carriers their distinctive name. Among them cremation was the national mode of disposing of the dead. As a rule, on the morning following the funeral ceremony, the relatives of the deceased, accompanied by his widow, were wont to pick up from among the ashes of the pyre the few remaining charred bones which, if too large for the purpose in view, they did not scruple to reduce by breaking to the desired size. These were then handed to the widow to daily pack till her liberation from the bondage consequent on her new condition. This gruesome task devolved on her for the space of at least two or three years, and in extreme cases was prolonged to a period of some five years. Upon the final giving away of property which was the signal for the cessation of mourning, these bones were deposited with the satchet containing them in a box laid on the top of a funeral column near the village. Some of these .satchets were still in existence a few years ago. Their cover, instead of fitting over the whole bag as in the household eztjai, reached only half way down. Its sides were also sewn with those of the satchet itself, so as to preclude the possibility of its contents being acci- dentally thrown out. Of course, a string was attached to the satchet and passed across the neck or or breast of the packer. A lining of birch 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. 147 bark also gave the receptacle a ce: cain degree of consistency, and served moreover as an additional protection for the bones. The regular packing wallet * herewith figured is still very generally used for carrying provisions during long journeys and might be termed the native buffet. It is of two different materials ; its main parts are of undressed moose hide with the hair out, while its .sides, top and bottom are of tanned cariboo skin. The skin of the upper part of the legs of the animal is chosen in preference and sewn together, as may appear from a glance at the illustration below. The packing band is 'also of untanned moose skin. On either side of the bag, ears of tanned skin are pierced each with two holes, the lower one of which is intended to receive the strap when the walllet is no^ full. The broad or middle part of this line passes athwart the forehead of the packer, and, after sliding through one of the holes at either side of the bag, its loose ends are drawn forward and tied over the breast, so that the position of the burden can be changed at will. !•' g I w 'Vi •lu'kir, sec. root. I 148 TRANSACTIONS OF THK CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. Not uncommonly these wallets or knap-sacks are made entirely of dried salmon skins sewn togethe.. Once the flesh of the fish has reached the proper degree of stiffness, it is carefully torn off and one of the skins is shredded into fine filaments which serve as thread. The lu'k^z generally does duty in connection with heavy burdens, which means for anybody au fait with native sociology that it is the appanage of the women. The men have also a packing bag of their own intended as a receptacle of such light burdens as arp; inctJent Xx. SaGxt trips, and which shall be described further on. The fourth variety of leather bags is the dog-bag, which is so much like a common saddle-bag that I refrain from figuring it here. No harnessing device is con- nected with it, it is simply lashed on the sides of the canine with a separate line. Fig. 136 a." so represents a double-bag; but this is proper to the huntsman. In one end of it he keeps his provision of powder, and in the other that of shot or balls. Both halves of the bag are shut by tying around the strings attached immediately below the common or middle open- ing. Out of this ammunition pouch the hunts- man fills up as often as necessary his powder horn, and his ornamented shot pouch which are parts of his accoutrement. Fig. 136. Fig- '37- Here we have a Yjwdn-zdz or firt bag. Its use has ceased with the introduction of matches, and its name is now given to a small pouch of different pattern, though somewhat similar in intent. The former served to carry about or keep at home the tinders and parched hay originally 1892-93.] NOTES ON THK WKSTERN D^Nl^S. 149 required to start a fire with the fire drill or more recently with the fire steel. Its elliptical form was probably intended as a help in guarding its contents against rain or moisture. As an additional measure of precau- tion, the pouch was generally carried under the arm pit suspended from the neck. Its modern substitute is of common cloth in the form of a flour sack and with two strings so arranged at its mouth that the pouch can be shut by drawing them apart. Matches and tobacco with a pocket knife are generally the only things kept in this Kvvanzaz. Fig. 1 38 represents a needle and thread pouch. Although origir]ally of tanned skin it is now Fig. 138. almost exclusively of black or blue cloth trim- med with ribbons or coloured tape. To complete our list of skin objects of D^nd manufacture, we should add to the above the pe-sia (wherein one sits), a sort of cuirass in use in prehistoric times especially among the Carriers. It had the form of a sleeveless tunic falling to the knees, so that it protected the whole body, since those aborigines generally shot kneeling. Its material was moose skin which, when sewn according to the proper pattern, was soaked in water, then repeatedly rubbed on the sandy shores of a stream or lake and dried with the sand and small pebbles adhering theretr., after which it was thoroughly coated with sturgeon glue. Being again subjected before dning to another rubbing," over sand, it received a new coating of glue, and aft. • this process had been reneated three or four times, it formed an armour perfectly arrow proof* • In his Apptndice rtiUif aux amies de pi;rre des Int/iens arctiques published in 1875, the Abl)i E. Petilot, speaking of the Denes of the Mackenzie Hasin, says that "ces Indiens arctiques pretendent qu'ils n' ont pas toujours habite sur le sol oil nous les avous trouves, inais 't enfin de boucliers." Then the learned missionary adds that " aw iiie dc ■ seen by figs. 139 and 140, the D^n6 drums, though poss- essing minor characteristics of their own, do not essentially differ from the tambourines in universal use among the North American Indians. In every case we have merely a dressed skin — which is here of cariboo — stretched ove a narrow hoop. The Carrier drum (fig. 139) not only had no bottom strings, but its makers even dispensed with any cord as a means of holding the instrument. The same piece of skin in which almost consisted the whole drum was cut on the reverse or back side into four strips tapering to the centre into regular strings which were knotted as shown above, b, and which served as a means of grasping the instrument. Fig. 139" FiR. 139*. The Ts^'k^hne drum (fig. 140) though apparently a very simple piece of workmanship, evidences much greater ingenuity on the part of its contriver-s. Not only does it pos.sess the bottom strings designed to enhance its sonorousness, but these very strings are so disposed that they help not a little in using the instrument. After passing beneath the frame of the drum they are drawn up over it under the encircling skin, and again introduced through the middle of the hoop from which they protrude inside in the shape of a loop through which the thumb is piissed a matter of lact, all the arms and defensive weapons above enumerated had their counterparts on this side of the Rockies but a short time .igo. In that "skin tunic coveretl with small coagulated pebbles," we recognize, of course, ihe/c-iAi just described ; the lances regardeti by Petitot, after his informants, as so very ancient weie the WR///': spoken of on p.ige 62 ; ihe epieux or spears are not materially difTereiit : I'etitot describes them as "hafted hooks" and it so happens that the Carrier name of these weapons means "hook-sticks." The cross-l)ows we have likewise seen in use among the Tse'kehne, while the di.ggers and the shields were no less common among the Carriers. Nay more, even the "false hair," or wigs were in vogue here as late as thirty years ago. These will be found described in our Chapter on Dress and I'ersonal Adornment. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WICSTEBN D^.Nl^S. I.M with a double object in view . that of helping in holding the instrument and of tightening or loosening the bottom strings at will and thus, regulating the sound of the drum. Fig. . 40. That portion of the Carrier — and possibly the whole of the Tai[Koh'tin' — tribes whish is adjacent to the Bilqula Indians for.Tierly used square drums. But this circumstance should be regarded merely as a further evidence of the Western Dongs' innate power of imitation. The drum"; are called thdilrale in Carrier. Any stick at hand, padded or otherwise, served to beat the drum. It seems almost incredible that in a country, where for at least five fi */.' months every year snow covers tlu ^^round, snow-shoes should have been practically unknown until a comparatively recent date. Yet, if we are to credit the natives, this was formerly the case with the Carriers, the most populous, and, actually, the most progressive of the four Western D<5n^ tribe?. The Tst^'kehne used snow-shoes from time immemorial ; but we are told that not more than 100 years ago. only the most prominent among the Carriers possessed that indispensable adjunct to winter travelling. Therefore with that tribe winter hunting was formerly well nigh impossible. The natives still relate how their ancestor-- pain- fully trudged on trunks of trees chopped down so as to form a continuous line or trail over the snow whenever necessity constrained them to wander any little distance from their winter quarters. I fully expect that their story will task the credulify of my readers, and I give it only for what it may be worth. I am simply repeating here what I have been told many a time. Be this as it may, the Carriers are to-day as well provided with winter walking implements as they profess to h,we been originally destitute of i ?!!?; 'f . li^ H 153 TRANSACTIONS OF THK CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. them. Apart from the snow walking stick, they now have no less than four very distinct varieties of snow-shoes (•aih) each of which is known under a different name. These are the k/i^-la-pas, the pfju, the •ath-sa and the sss-klu. \ II il Fig. 141. The kM-la-pas* was the first model of snow-shoes known to our aborigines. It is still used in cases of urgency, when better or more fashionable snow-shoes cannot conveniently be made or, under all cir- cumstances, by poor or unskilled people. Nevertheless this form is now obsolete, and is generally laughed at by the possessors of more elegant implements. The ground stick of this snow-shoe is of one piece from fore-end to tail, and the whole is left flat, as is the case, I think, with most of the snow-shoes in use in Eastern Canada. Fig. 141 represents a kh^-la-pas. The finer netting or filling of every Carrier snow-shoe is of delicate cariboo skin lines, and the coarse or middle one is of moose rawhide line. As these implements are said to be adventitious here, I will refrain from going into the details of the netting process which our Indians are not likely to have materially altered since the introduction among them of these winter commodities. Suffice it to say that a whole independent filling in is made out of a continuous string. The ground or side sticks are generally made of young saplings of black spruce or of Douglas pine (P. murrayana) ; but those of mountain maple {Acer glabnim) or of mountain ash (Pyrus Americana) are more esteemed, though heavier. In all cases the cross-sticks are, as a rule, either of willow or of birch. In fig. 142 we have the most recent type of Carrier snow-shoe. It will be seen at a glance that it is not inelegant. It is the /^/'/« or " stitched together " by allusion to the peculiar form of its head. To • " Mocassin (or rAn«w PI wm 168 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [You IV. ! With regard to the mode of netting, the drag-nets of the Western D^nt^s are of two kinds : one is intended for service against any species of fish, with the exception of the sturgeon, and (he o*her is of use to capture the latter fish exclusivel>. Fig. 149 will explain the manner of Fig. 149. Fig. ISO. knotting the sturgeon net, while all the other kinds of netting, whether drag, scoop, or dip-nets, or even, the packing bags which shall soon be described, are knotted, as .shown in fig. 150, No mesh-stick is used while the Carrier is working at the smaller varieties of nets. It is replaced by the middle finger of the left hand. In this case, the nettting-needle also consists merely in a narrow piece of board scalloped at either end to receive the twine which is wound around. But when at work upon large-meshed nets, our aborigines have recourse to the picture frame-like wootlen implement herewith figured. This is Fig. 151. Yi sizB. carved out of one piece and serves as a mesh-stick. It has replaced the original wooden horse-shoe made of a beat twi^j. In this case a regular netting shuttle is also resorted to. As this is in every particular identical v.ith that common among white fishermen, it is but natural to infer that it is here a borrowed article. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^NJrlS. 159 The meshes of the sturgeon net are about ten inches square, while those of the beaver nets are based oi the distance between the tip ot the thumb and that of the index finger when both are outstretched. The width of any kind of fish-net of the larger variety corresponds with that of seventeen meshes of the same net. The nets intended for smaller fish have their meshes from ^ of an inch to one inch and a half square. About twenty of the former dimensions form the width of the net. All kinds of drag-nets measure at least one hundred feet in length. Among the Ts^'kcihne both hands outstretched with the thun-bs tip to tip are the standard measure for the width of the beaver net. Large nets require twelve such units, while the smaller ones have only nine, or thereabouts. Such nets never exceed twenty-five feet in length. Fig. 152, Identical in netting are the two kinds of dip-nets * in use among the Carriers. The first (fig. 152) serves either to catch salmon or to scoop out the smaller fish which period'cally swarm up certain shallow streams. When doing service against salmon, it is dipped in the water and then left until a capture is effected. But if used to catch small fish, it is managed as a ladle. Its make will be easily understood by a glance at the above figure. It is from five to six feet deep. Fig. 153 represents a smaller varitty of the dip-net. It serves in a few places only, and, as a rule, its penod of usefulness does not exceed four or five days in one year. During the first warm days of each recurring spring, immense numbers of the tlu'jmyk, the very small fish which we have already mentioned in another chapter, ascend to the .surface of the water in a few lakes and become an easy prey to the Indian women who, armed with this net, scoop out canoe loads of it in * Pf-th*Kaih, " wherewith one scoops," a verbal noun. iJIVIi. V.'^ 180 TKANSACTIONS 0¥ THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. one .single day. Less than a week thereafter, not a fish will be seen of the myriads that were ba.skiiig in the sun. Of course, the meshes Fig. '53- ot the dip-net resorted to as a means of securing them are proportionallj- small. They are scarcely a quarter of an inch square. FiK. 154- The nets of our aborigines were originally of the fibre ol either the nettle {Urtica Lyallii), the willow {SalLv iongifolia) bark, or a species of 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^NES. 161 wild hemp called hwotuj a in Carrier. The plants were carefully dried in the house, crushed with the hands, and their fibres extracted by pulling up with the right from the left hand, pressing the stalks down on the ground. The shreds were then spun by twisting on the thigh. Naturally this was the work of the women. Nowadays fine Holland twine is used instead. Though the skin of the beaver is occasionally used to make beaver-nets — as is the case when the animal is found so decomposed that its fur has lost its value — yet such nets are generally of cariboo skin cut in fine strips called " babiche " in the parlance of such Indians as parade an acquaintance with the dialect of the H. B. Go's, employees. Such is also the material of the t'juj-stikez ^ or packing bag of fig. 1 54. This is to the r'.en what the moose skin wallet (fig. 135) is to the women. It serves to carry to short d^Jtances light burdens such as a lunch, peltries to the trading post, provisions for an unimportant journey, etc. It is also very commonly used as a game-bag. The above figure represents the t'pii-an'kez' such as is still made among the Ts^'k^hne, and as it was originally among the Carriers. But of late years the latter, having learned from their missionaries to have a greater regard for the physical weakness of the gentler sex and to do themselves at least a part of the packing, use it for heavier burdens than those for which it was originally intended. This has rendered the rounded cord through which it is carried uncomfortable. It is now replaced by a regular leather thong, which also runs round the rim of the bag. *T'/«/ means "rope," ami the desinence of the compound word 'kez, which implies "direction,, tendency " towards a place, is common to all packing devices. if I it- \ rn 162 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTK. [Vol. IV. CHAPTER X. S^ i Dress and Personal Adornment, common dress. r It would be difficult at the present time to reconstruct in all its details the national dress of the prehistoric Western D^n^s, if indeed there ever existed any national or uniform costume for each and all of the different tribes and sub-tribes under study. Sir A. Mackenzie, in his account of the voyage of discovery he made in 1793 through part of their territory, might perhaps enlighten on this subject the reader who ■can have access to his narrative.* Not enjoyirtg this advantage, I must content myself with what I have learnt from daily intercourse with the most reliable among the older Carriers. Speaking of the dress of the Eastern Dent's, the Rev. E. Petitot has the following to say : — " Outre la blouse de peau blanche i queues d^cor^es de franges et dc breloques metalliques, qui fut le costume primitif des D^ne-Dindji^ et que portent encore les Loucheux, ceux-ci, ainsi que les Peaux-de-Li6vre y joignent un pantalon de meme matifere et aussi richement orn^, qui est cousu avec la chaussure. II est port^ par les femmes comme par les hommes. Les tribus plus m^ridionales remplacent le pantalon par les cuissards ou mitasscs que des jarreti^res retiennent aux jambes, et par un pagne oblong d'une etoffe quelconque. " La robe des femmes est trds courte et orne^ d'une profusion de frangfes, de houppes de laine, de verroteries ct de breloques sonores. La chaussure g^n^rale est le mocassin, ou Soulier de peau molle qui emprisonne et dessine le pied comme un gant le fait de la main. Durant I'hiver le renne, le castor et le litJvre arctique sont mis a contribution pour fournir k I'habitant du desert des vetements aussi chauds que lagers et commodes.f That the dress of the Western Ddn^s considerably differed from that of their Eastern congeners such as above described is beyond the possibility of a doubt. And no wonder. Being of an imitative turn of * Voyages from Montreal, on the river St. Lawrence, through the continent of North America, .to the Frozen and Pacific oceans ; in the years 1789 and 1793, etc., London, 1801. t Monographic des Den^-Dindjie, p. xxiv ; Paris, 1876. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. 163 mind, and living, most of them, in close proximity and with frequent intercourse with the Coast Indians on the one hand and the Shushwap on the other, they could not fail to accommodate themselves to their environments. It may be taken for certain that their wearing apparel was, as a whole, rather meagre and scanty. This remark does not apply to the ceremonial costume of the Carriers, which, as v/ill soon be seen, was quite elaborate and complicated. The summer dress of the men consisted mainly, if not entirely, of a tunic, the breech piece, the leggings and the mocassins. The tunic was a loose vestment which the Indians now compare to a shirt. Its material -was tanned cariboo skin, and it descended to the thigh or thereabouts. It had no tail-like appendage as that of the Eastern D^n^s. This tunic was uniform neither in cut, nor in material, as poor people made it of almost any available skin with the fur on, and gave it the form best suited to their means. Well-to-do Carriers decorated this garment with a multitude of fringes to conceal the seams. The strands of these were sometimes further embellished by means of porcupine quills dyed yellow or green. Vhe breech-piece and the leggings were also of the same material, cariboo skin. The latter covered the legs in their whole length, and were kept in position by a string tied to the leather belt on each opposite side. They were furthermore secured below the knee by means of ornamented garters (see fig. 145). These breech cloth and leggings without trousers were still worn here by a few men not more than twelve years ago. Leggings of identical style are still in common use among the men, but during the winter months only, and they are now worn over the pants. The national foot gear is, and has always been, the mocassin. This was originally of the dressed skin of the elk (Cervus Canadensis). But the poorer classes frequently made it of untanned marmot .skin, or even of the skin of the salmon. The mocassins are now uniformly of dre.ssed cariboo or moose skin among the Carriers and Tsd'kiJhne and of deer skin among the TsilKoh'tin. An idea of their present form may be gathered from fig. 142. Owing to the nature of the material of the.se mocassins, our aborigines generally went i)arefooted in rainy weather, and to-day the women and the children at least still adhere to this custom. It must be added that, progressive as the Carriers arc, there is not among them a single man who would undertake a journey of any importance, nay even a short trip, without the traditional mocassins. Even the most advanced young men profess to be unable to walk any considerable distance with our comm >n leather shoes. li I •IP 'if Hi! m 164 TRAMSAOTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. All the Western D^n^s wear mittens, which are made of the same material as their mocassins. Even during the fair season, they will never do any kind of man- al work without having them on. They are suspended to a cord of plaited yarn passing behind the neck and over the shoulders, so that, even when they are not in actual use, there is very little risk of losing them. The wrist-band is invariably ornamented with stripes of ')lue and red cloth, together with colored ribbons, according to the fancy oi the wearer. Gloves are now used, but were unknown in prehistoric times. Instead of the hood common among their kinsmen of the Mackenzie Basin, the Carriers formerly wore a dainty cap of marmot skin made in this wise: — A band, some three inches broad, was cut from the skin with the hair on and secured at either end so as to form a crown-like head- dress. Over this was sewed a circular piece of similar material leaving out a brim of the same width as that of the band. This projecting part of the skin was then slit into a fringe which rested gracefully on the original head-band. This description applies to the summer cap. The winter head-gear consisted of a hemispherical bowl of woven rabbit s'vin strips without fringes. Both summer and winter, men and women wore the same style of cap. The summer dress of the women did not materially differ from that of the men. The tunic was simply longer and oftentimes ornamented round the shoulders and back with a row of pendent cariboo and beaver claws or teeth. For the sake of convenience a girdle also secured the folds of that robe over the waist. They wore, and among the Carriers continue to wear, leggings like the men. During the cold season both sexes, but more especially the women on account of the outdoor work to which they were subjected, added to the foregoing a sort of small blanket of undressed skin of any small fur- bearing animal which covered their breast from the neck to Ihe waist. This pectoral blanket was attached with strings behind the neck and also secured by the outer girdle round the waist. We have already seen that in olden times a swan's skin sometimes served an identical purpose. The body was further protected against the inclemency of the season by means of a large cloak of lynx skins sewed together and worn with the hair outside. The moie conservative half of theTsi(Koh'tin tribe have retained to this day the use of this fur cloak. But it is worn among them with the hair next to the body, and the material is, as with the poorer Carriers, marmot instead of lynx skin.s. The TsijKoh'tin women !?ri* 1892-93.J NOTES ON THG WE8TKRN DENf 165 transform it into a sort of gown by tying it round the waist with a girdle of leather, from which hang beaver nails or teeth, old thimbles or shells of exploded brass cartridges which produce during their walk a jingling sound much appreciated by the native ear. Winter and summer, the members of the three tribes under consider- ation wrap their feet with square pieces of blanket, kfu'-thal* which are to them the counterpart of our stockings. With the advent of the whites the dress of the Western D^n^s gradually changed, until it became, what it is now, practically that of the H. B. Co.'s people, with the few additions necessitated by the nature of the former's avocation. However, skin coats identical with that illustrated through fig. 145 are still occasionally met with, especially among the Ts^'k^hne and Babine tribes. The foregoing remarks, as I believe, will give a fair idea of the aboriginal costume such as it obtained among the Western D^n^s, with- out reference to rank or age. But, when treating of the natives' wearing apparel, one should not forget that even their psychological ideas are not without'jnfluence on its nature. We should remember that most dreaded creature, the pubescent girl. She was considered among the Carriers so much of an itre d part, that she must constantly wear some badge to remind people of her terrible infirmity, and thereby guard them against the baleful influences which she was believed to possess. This consisted in " a sort of head-dress combining in itself the purposes of a veil, a bonnet and a mantlet. It was made of tanned skin, its forepart was shaped like a long fringe, completely hiding from view the face and breasts ; then it formed on the head a close fitting cap or bonnet, and finally fell in a broad band almost to the h°els. This head-dress was made and publicly placed on her head by a paternal aunt, who received at once some present from the girl's father. When, three or four years later, the period sequestration ceased, only this same aunt had the right to take oflT her niece's ceremonial head-dress."f The latter sentence applies to the daughter of untitled parents. In case the maiden was of noble birth, the first anniversary of her entering; • " Foot-platform." The native names of the different parts of the wearing apparel are here- with given, as they may afford a clue, when considered from an etymological standpoint, to the relative degree of importance or antiquity of the articles thereby denominated. Head-gear of any description, t's>R ; coat or tunic, tiiit ; breech-piece, tsan ; girdle, sJ ; cloak (and blanket), tsit ; leggings, kki-tsih (wherein-the-foot-is-passed) ; mocassin, khi-skw>t, or in composition khe (synonymous with "foot"); pectoral blanket, /^/.riifAttJ (that — being a soft stuff— which covers), a verbal noun. tThe Western D^nds ; Proc. Can. Inst., 1888-89, P- >62. 166 TRANSACTIONS OF TUB CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. upon her matuilty witnessed the imposition, with befitting ceremonies and the usual banquet, of a sort of diadem such as herewith figured. The ground part of this was a band of tanned skin which was fringed from about one inch and a half above the bottom up to the top. Each strand of that fringe was passed through a dentalium shell and then ^* ^S5' sewed up at the top to an encircling strip of skin. As this crown was lower on the back than in front, shells of different lengths were chosen according to the place they were to occupy, A lining of skin, with or without the fur on, was then added, and the lower corners of the ends stitched together, as shjwn in the cut. Upon crowning the maiden with this shell diadem, th; paternal aunt became heir to the discarded bonnet with fringe and mantlet. Both diadem and bonnet were articles of every day wear, and genuine ceremonial head-dresses. Not only pubescent girls, but even such boys as were reaching the same stage of life had their fingers, wrists and legs encircled with rings or bracelets made of sinew entwined with down. Neglecting these pre- cautions would have exposed the careless party to premature infirmities and incapacitated the young man for the fatiguing exercise of the chase. The Western D^n^s of the old stock, and especially the Carriers and the Babines, were not wanting in articles of personal adornment. Among head ornaments, they had the ear-pendants, the nose ring or crescent, the ni-K9-dttfa, the hair pendant and, among the Babines, the labret. Two very distinct varieties of ear-pendants* obtained among the Carriers. The first consisted in a bunch of four buckskin strings passed through pairs of dentalium shells and hanging from the ear, as shown in fig. 156. As soon as glass beads became known, some were inserted between each of the two shells suspended from each hole in the ear. A small beaver claw furthermore prevented the pendent shells and bead from slipping off. Several Indians still bear the marks of this now antiquated pendant. A different kind, which was still in honour but a few years ugo, but is now likewise obsolete, is the haliotis pendant (fig. 157). The specimen from which I have drawn fig. 157 was in actual use when obtained for my collection. Pendants of this material probably affected various forms. Yet I fear that no other specimen could now be found among our • Tzokv»l. 2nd. cat. i 1892-93.J NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^MJ&S. 167 aborigines. Considering that fine shreds of sinew were formerly, as they are to-day, common in every native household, it would appear, judging by the coarse line of buck skin appended to this "jewel" thai very little regard was entertained in olden times for the sensibility of the humaa ear. Fig. 156. Fig. 157. The dentalium pendant was proper to men, while the latter or haliotis ornament belonged to the fair sex. With insignificant exceptions, neither the men nor the women now wear any ear pendant or ring, except among the Babines, whose tmeza' or noblemen have adopted the silver ear-ring,* proper to persons of similar rank among their alien neighbours,^ the Kitiksons. As among the majority of savage or barbarous peoples, in contra- distinction with civilized nations, the Western D^nds were formerly fond of perforating their septum to introduce therein what they considered wondrous ornaments. These might be divided into three different, categories : the crescent, the discoidal or cruciform pendant and the silver ring.f The two first ornaments are figured above, and were of haliotis shell. The crescent was, of course, inserted to the middle through the hole of * .See Niblack's The Indians of the Northwest Coast, plate vi. fig. 13. + A11 the nose-pendants are called ni-spas, tit, a contraction of tii'A, "nostrils ;" sfas, the root oi nanispas, "ring-like" 168 TRANSACTIONS Or THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. VI. the septum, the cusps hanging down. Others were contracted enough to permit of being worn ring fashion with the cusps grasping the septum as those of the ancient Peruvians.* I have seen Babine women wearing through the septum a silver crescent of identical size with that figured above. Fig. 158. Fig. 159. The circular nose-pendant (fig. 1 59) was placed in position by pressing the fore part of the .septum through the cusps formed by the deep indentations carved out in the shell until the septum hole was reached. The proximity of the points or cusps then prevented its falling off. As for the third variety of nose ornaments, it consisted in a silver ring which was more than once of ridiculously generous proportions. Indeed, if I am to cr'dit my informants, this was, among the Babincs, of such a size that one could easily eat through it. I have never seen any. All the above nose ornaments were used indifferently by men or by women. A fourth, which it was the privilege of the women of rank to wear was the ni-Vi^-dtrfa, or "passed through the septum." Fig. 160 will ->P»S2JSp^ Fig. 160. explain its form, without doing justice to the material of which it was composed. Two pairs of dentalium shells., the small end of the one •.See "A Study of the Textile Art," by W. H. Holmes, vi. Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol., Washington, 1888, p. 237, fig. 343. 1892-93.] NOTES O.N THK WBSTKRN D^N^a. 169 uiscrtcd in the large end of t!ie other, were kept springing out, as it were, from the septum by means of a .sinew thread lunning fiom -^ind to end of the shells and throuj^h ihe perforated nasal partition. The ex- tremities of the " ornament " were adorned by a .imall tuft of the red down of the head of the wood-pecker (CcophUus pileatns). This orna- ment was rarely exhibited outside of ceremonial gatherings. It ^an already be inferred from the foregoinij that the Western Ddn^s prized as much the dentalium ( D. Indianortim) shells as their kinsmen who now inhabit the Hupa valley, in California. That the esteem of the former for the red scalp of the wood-pecker is not confined to them may be gathered from a perusal of Prof O. T. Mason's " The Ray Collection from Hupa Reservation."* Fig. i6i. Lastly, with a view to enhance their natural attractiveness by means of extrinsical ornaments, the young men and young women attached on either side of their hair, a little above the ears, bunches of strings decorated with dyed porcupine quills and beaver claws •]• or, more recently, holding gla.ss beads of various colours sometimes ending in copper buttons, as is the case with fig. i6l. Until a few years ago, these •P. 231. \ Ntmpa-stla, "they lie on the face-edge," a verbal noun. 12 'n$ 1 170 TKA.S8ACTI0.NS OF THK CANADIAN IN8TITUTK. [Vou Vf. were to be seen occasionally in a few remote places. As all other articles of native adornment, they have now completely disappeared. In the course of his paper "On the Masks, Labrets," etc., W. H. Dall qives the followint; defiiiition of the labret. "The labret, among American aborifjines, is well known to be a plug, .stud, or variously-shaped button, made from various materials, which is inserted at or about the age ot" puberty through a hole or holes pierced in the thinner portions of the fac'd' about the mouth. Usually after the first operation has been per- formed, and the original slender pin in.serted, the latter is replaced from time to time by a larger one, and the perforation thus mechanically stretched, and in course of time permanently enlarged."* As regards the nature, mode and time of insertion, these words arc in every way applicable to the labretsf of the Babine sub-tribe. When these had reached the ma.ximum size which they were to retain for life, they were a flat button, oval in circumference, at least one and a quarter inch long by three-quarters inch wide, of a bard wood, commonly mountain maple (Acer glabrum). The insertion of the tentative bone pin was the occasion of special rejoicing and feasting. The women only were entitled to this piece of ornamentation, and, as a rule, the higher the rank of the wearer the larger the labret was to be. So much for the head ornaments. Other pieces of aboriginal jewelry of every-day wear were the tsi-ne/than, the tsi-vesdtlya and, in later years^ the na-jthan and the la-tc^n. With the exception of the last, which is a compound noun of the third category, all these words are verbal nouns descriptive of the trinket thereby differentiated. The two first mentioned were the D^n6 necklaces. The isine/t/tan was obtained by boiling and splitting off a thin band of a cariboo horn, which was given, while .still pliable, the desired form. As an attempt at ornamentation, geometrical designs were scratched with the stone knife, over which a pinch of diluted red ochre was rubbed with the hand. The colouring matter passed over the smooth surface of the horn, but remained in the light furrowings which were thus brought into greater prominence. This primitive method is still common among the Western D6n6s. Charcoal, instead of vermilion, is .sometimes used. The tsinesdilya, \ was a necklace of dentalium shells which wa» liable to affect difTerent forms, as the shells were threaded in such a way as to fall over the neck or to encircle it lengthwise. A similar necklace, * Third Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1884, p. 76. f"Ni-ta-'kh, man (i>. human)-!ip-over." t "That (a composite object) which is put around the head," i.e. the neck. 1892-03.] NOTKB ON TnB WEhTRRN DIIn^S. ITl SM-n but larger and worn resting over the shoulders and breast, was a badge of the possession of shamanistic powers on the part of the wf.'arer. The tsinejthan was of so primitive material that its adoption as a means of personal adornment must have been rather early. Though the material of the tsinezdilya was an imported article, this necklace could, according to the following Carrier narrative, boast of an at least as great antiquity, unless we assign a recent origin to the actual plumage of the loon.* " Once upon a time, there was an old man who was blind. He had a wife who used to help him in this way to keep alive : whenever she sighted game, she would hand him his arrow to moisten the stone point thereof with his saliva — for this old man was possessed of magic powers. Then pointing the arrow in the direction of the game, she would let him release it himself, which he usually did with good effect. One day, both came upon a very fat cariboo — " Moisten the arrow-head with your saliva," said the woman to her husband, which after he had done, he shot dead the animal. But his wife, who coveted the fat of the cariboo and was tired of living with a blind old man, pushed him aside, thereby throwing him to the ground, saying : " That old fellovv,f what a bad shot he is!" — ' But I think I have killed it,' insisted the old man. Yet as he was blind, he could not get the game, and while searching for it, he strayed a long distance from his wife who now abandoned him. " As soon as the old man was out of sight, she set to cut up the animal, helping herself at the same time to large fried slices of its meat> What she did not eat on the spot she cut into thin pieces and hung out to dry. " Meanwhile the old man was bewailing his fate. In the course of his aimless wanderings he had reached the shore of a lake, when a loon hearing his cries swam towards him as his kins are wont to do even now whenever they hear anybody talking in the forest. — "What ails you"? he said to the man. — ' Poor wretch that I am, my wife has left me, and I am blind,' answered the latter. — ' I will cure you,' said the loon; 'come over to me and hide your eyes in the down of the back of my neck. The old man did as he was bid, and both the loon and himself plunged in the water. When they reappeared on the surface, they found themselves at the opposite end of the lake. — ' Now can you see'? quivered the loon. ' Look at yonder mountain,' he added. The old man complied with the request and answered : ' I see a little, as if through a mist. Repeat the i * This t.ile is also cuirent among the Tsi|Koh'tin. + T)nethi-q)L The desinence of tliis word is expressive of spite and scorn. 172 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV, operation,' Again did the loon dive with him, emerging this time at the original point of departure. 'Now can you .see'? asked the loon. — 'I now see very well,' replied the old man wading ashore. Then to show his gratitude to his beneractor he presented him with his own dentalium shell necklace, and taking some more dentalium shells from his quiver, lie threw them * at him " Ever since, the loon wears a white necklace, and the shells which hit him also produced the white spot.-, we now .see on his wings. f" Now that we are satisfied as to the great antiquity of the dentalium necklace, we will leave the old man of the story to settle with his unfaithful spouse, and return to the description of the other articles of adornment obtaining among the Western D^n^s. The na-jthan \ is the liorn or metal wristlet which has already been described and figured (see fig. 126). As for the la-tcsn |; it is of modern origin, and is an imitation of the ruffles of the whites. As such, it is worn in winter time as a protection against cold. But many Carrier or Ts^'k^hne girls nowadays wear a variety of it merely as an ornamental addition to their costume. To that class belongs the la-tcsn herewith figured. It is of glass bead.') of several colours mounted on sinen' threads. The rosette in front is made of narrow ribbons and a common mother-of-pearl button, Ceremonia'. Costumh. It has already been hinted that the ceremonial costume of the Carriers, was very elaborate. When one keeps in mind their proximity to the coast Indians who are so fond of parade and display, this statement can- not surpri.se. What v/ould rather astcnish those wiio have read a former paper by the writer wliercin the wonderful faculty of imitation characteristic of the Carriers is chiefly brought into relief is the fact that though the sociological peculiarities which gave rise to this costume were evidently borrowed, yet the latter was, in the main, original, it was proper to the tine&a' and the t'stklima- or noble men and women. * " Tlirew t.bi;m " and " |ifesentec the folded p>art of each lap, while the tail feathers of another variety of wotxi pecker ( Sp^yrupicus ztirtuj are sewn, painting upwards, on the bottom and the m^idcie of each upright piece of fur skin. This head-dress was filled up, \ hen in use, with down, which the wearer caused to escape around through tatc: jerKinp of the he;id ueca- liar to the feminine style of dancing. The above had been writter and fig. 165 drawn for some time when I r»*-:'jived spec^Kn pages of a most important Bible DictiJBtay* ncnv in course of publication n 1*"' nder '''K- '66. the supervision of that learned on- ;.i i.si, the Abbii Viiijouroux. wherein I found the sketch of a Chaldaean king * Dicti-mttairt di la Hihit, tu., par F. Vi^ iuzey et Ane, I'ariH. 178 TRANSACTIONS OF THR CANADIAN IN8TITUTK. [Vol. IV. • IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^ 150 |56 j63 IIIM IM M 2.0 1.8 i.4 IIIIII.6 - 6' V} ^ /}. >> w m 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 V iV \\ ^v ^^ "^^ % I?., ^ 184 TRANSACTIONS OP THE CANADIAN IS8TITUTK. LVOL. IV. CHAPTER XI. Habitations. It has already been stated that of the three tribes under consideration two. the Carrier and the TsijKoh'tin, were semi-sedentary, while the other, the Ts^'k^hne, was entirely nomadic. Consequent upon this diflerent social status was, of course, the niiture and style of the habitations proper to each. Thus the Carriers, whose social system was very elaborate and whose staple food was salmon, had formerly no less than five distinct kinds of dwellings, the ceremonial lodge, the summer lodge, the fishing lodge, the winter lodge, and, among the southern half of the tribe, the subterranean hut. In common with the coast tribes whose social organization they had largely copied, the Carriers had formerly, as well as now, regular villages which they innabited but part of the year. But while the former chose the winter months to enjoy the sweets of home life, the latter were never to be seen in their permanent dwellings except during the fair season. This ma)' easily be accounted for when we remember the diflTerences of climate. The coast owes to its proximity to the ocean the comparatively mild, if damp, weather it constantly enjoys, while east of tiie coast range of mountains, the winters are usually very severe. Now, as among the inland tribes, nobody, however wealthy, sleeps in more than one blanket, a large fire is kept in the lodge day and night, and so the amount of dry wood available in one place is soon exhausted. Since they are possessed of carrying conveniences unknown in olden times, this necessity of shifting one's abode from place to place is not so much felt. But formerly with their limited facilities for felling trees and bringing the wood home, they had to change every year their winter quarters. The permanent village was thus inhabited only during the fair season, that is from the first week in May, when the grebes arrive, until the second week of September, after the family supply of salm n has been secured. The villages are generally situated at the confluence of rivers, or on the northern banks of lakes, so as to have the benefit of the sun's rays from the opposite side. In any case, the location is chosen in such spots as seem to promise the greatest fishing facilities. They were formerly composed of the ceremonial and the common summer lodges. As these diflTer in plan ai)d material from those illustrated or described by writers on the coast Indians, I feel justified in giving herewith plans and explicative details of both. 1892-93.] MOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. 185 And first as to the ceremonial lodge (fig. 174). It is so called from its being the seat of all large native gatherings, such as festival banquets, distributions, dances, etc. It serves at the same time as the dwelling Fig. 174. house of the nobleman to whom it belongs and of such co-gentile families as it can contain. Its erection was the occasion of great festivities|and necessitated the accumulation by the future proprietor of a a Fig. 175. large quantities of eatables and dressed skins. Following step by step the progress of its building, which was diversified, as on the coast, by intervals of merry-making and feasting, we will proceed to a brief 13 il if « i i> 186 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN IN8TIT. TE. [Vol. IV. description of the lodge, the ground plan and front end of which will be- found in figs. 175 and 176. The main timbers of the building consist of the posts a and the beams b, placed so as to form a parallelogram. The former are of spruce of as large dimensions as can be found. After they have been cut to the- required length, they are hauled on skids to the place of construction. Let me say here that as these posts — four in number — are the mainstay of the house, they are regarded by the natives with feelings akin to- reverence which are furthermore excused by the circumstance of the totem animal of the proprietor being generally carved in relief not far from their upper end k. For this reason, the place of honour is at their base and, in ceremonial gatherings, the noblemen were invariably seated against them, surrounded by their co-gentile suite. After the logs had been stripped of their bark, they were rendered as- smooth-surfaced as possible by means of repeated scrapings. When standing in position, their longitudinal half was made to jut out of the plank wall. Not uncommonly, they were also painted with red ochre, when a mash of carp roe served as oil and was smeared over the posts, so as to prepare a sticking surface for the colouring matter. As a pre- caution against too early decay, the butt end of each was wrapped around with birch bark prior to its being covered up with earth. The head of these four posts or pillars is hollowed to receive two large- cylindrical beams or plates, b, which are cut a little longer than the length of the future lodge, so as to let their ends project in front. Four secondary posts of smaller size, sive of scorn. 1892-93.] NCTR8 ON THK WESTKRN D^NI^S. 190 From this short Carrier myth, the sociologist will learn that : — Firstly, the observation of the Great Bear as a means of reckoning time was a national custom among Carriers. Secondly, the heavenly bodies were regarded as quasi divine powers which it is wrong to speak lightly of, a deduction which might easily be proven to be legitimate by other points of Carrier psychology. Thirdly, to look handsome, a Crirrier of the old stock must paint his face. Fourthly, the Carriers had a ( rrect idea of the immensity of the universe. Fifthly, the injunction not to travel in a northern direction might perhaps be interpreted 'i'^ a reminiscence of the tribe's migrations southwards. Sixthly, a worn having her menses is legally 'mfi.ire, and must be deprived even of the sight ^f any object endowed witn magic powers. Lastly, more than one if tiu^se writers w'l ) are so fond of parallelisms between American mythologies and the Biblical narrative will no doubt be tempted to compaie the beneficial, food-giving and road-finding staff of the young traveller with the marvellous miracle working wand of Moses which, during similarly life- long peregrinations, opened the way and found water where none was to be seen. This suggestion, however, is given for what it may be worth, and I must leave it to others to decide whether it is not too far fetched.* Now that we have extracted morals enough from our fable, we revert to the description of the few items which still claim our attention. If my information is reliable, there were formerly no fortified villages among the Western D^ntSs. One should not however infer from this that there was no warring among them ; on the contrary, I think I am warranted in stating that atonement by compensation for losses of life, even involuntary or accidental, was much less practised here than on the Coast. But hostilities were seldom of so general a character as to involve whole villages, though some such cases are recorded in the traditions of the tribes. More commonly they were restricted to two different gentes, and their cause may have been the killing of a man openly or, as was supposed, through the black art of the shamans. In the latter case, the dying person usually reveiied the name of the magician to whom he attributed his death, and nobody dreamt of questioning the truth of his would-be revelation. Naturally, more than once personal grievances must have been thus avenged. The cognate families of the real or fancied murderer would then expect reprisals at the hands of the co- gentile families of the deceased, and they would erect, generally in secluded spots of the forest, what was called psK-pa-ya^ or " a house for • The TsiiKoh'tin possess a different tradition, the principle hero of which works innumerable marvels with the help of a magic wand which they call 'toK, a word not employed to designate any other kind of wand or staff. mi J: : :U1 «f I9A TKANSACTIONS OF Tbe CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol,. IV. the war." This primitive fort consisted of a log-house as solid as possible under the circumstances, with a strong log roofing, over which a square breastwork of small diameter was built with the same material. If not taken by surprise, the besieged shot at their assailants through loop-holes pierced in this rude stronghold, the existence of which was concealed by- fascines of coniferous branches piled on the roof up to the top of its walls. Similar portholes were also cut in the walls of the house itself for service in case of a sudden attack. As a further protection against such a contingenc)'^, an addition with a second door was always made ta the front end of the house. Frequently a building similar in appearance, but really of no strength whatever, was erected in close proximity so as to deceive the enemy and give time during an attack on the wrong work to the besieged to prepare for the defence. The only D^ind " fort " I have ever seen was constructed just as described, but wanted the roof breastwork. An indispensable adjunct to the native dwelling house is the tsa-tcin* or provision store. There is stowed away the dried salmon, which is the daily bread of both Carrier and Tsi[Koh'tin. But while both tribes practically live on the same diet, their store houses very materially differ in construction. Fig. 182 is the Carrier tsa-tcan which, as may be seen, is an aerial building. The distinctive charac- teristics of all these provision stores are faithfully reproduced in the cut ; but their minor details nowadays vary not a little. I have chosen for illustration that which approaches nearer to the traditional type. It consists of two parallel frames planted upright in the ground, the component parts of which are furnished in the middle with transversal beams upon which rests the floor of the tsa-tcan proper. With the exception of the front end, the whole is made of heavy poles superposed one upon another or laid in close juxtaposition, as the case may be, and fastened to the frame of the building by means of 'kan or high cranberry bush wattle. The front end is entirely of boards. All the wall poles being laid with their larger ends in the same direction, a slight inclination results at the top, which con- stitutes the roof of the building. This is furthermore covered with spruce bark. Fijj. 182. 'laterally: "beaver-stick." I can see no reason fur this etymology. >i 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^NES. 197 The tsa-tcan of the TsijKoh'tin are not so elaborate, since they are nothing else than small and very rude, though solid, log huts built right on the ground (fig. 183) and, as a rule, quite a distance from the regular village, while their Carrier counter- parts are generally very close to the habita- Fig. .83. tions. The Tsd'Whne have nothing to do with salmon, and consequently the need of provision stores is not so urgent among them. Yet when they happen to be blessed with an abundance of dried meat and wish to preserve it for future use they erect sorts of scaffoldings immediately against the trunk of a tall tree which are to them the equivalent of the Carrier tsa-tcan. These consist of two long, heavy sticks crossed and firmly bound to the trunk of the tree at their point of intersection, while their ends are secured to some stout overhanging brarich by means of strong ropes. Rough boards or split sticks are then laid across this frame which form a floor over which the meat or any other eatable is deposited, carefully wrapped over with skins or spruce bark. Even the bear cannot get at those caches without previously demolishing their floor, which is practically impossible. The careful observer who would take a fancy to travelling along our chief salmon streams could not fail to notice, in some spots immediately over the banks, numerous excavations or pits which betray an artificial origin. These are all that remain to-day of the salmon cellars of the prehistoric Carriers. Aerial stores were then as now the regular family larders ; but not unfrequently the natives of the old stock preferred to cache down their fish in temporary cellars which had the advantage of keeping it fresher than the common store-house. A matter of taste as regards the salmon itself, this caching down in the ground became a necessity relatively to its roe, which was buried, wrapped in spruce bark, until it had reached an advanced stage of putrefaction, when it was relished by the native palate as the ne plus ultra of delicacy. The last item r ore or less connected with aboriginal habitations is the sweat-house or sweating-booth.* According to Dr. G. M. Dawson, this usually consists, among the Shushwap, " of about a dozen thin willow wands, planted in the ground at both ends. Half of them run at right angles to the other half, and they are tied together at each intersection. Over these a blanket or skin is usually spread, but I have also seen them covered with earth. A small heap of hot stones is piled in the centre. • T^i-ttl, "stone-hot,"' a word of the t'-ird category. 198 TRANSACTIONS OF THB CANADIAN INSTITDTR. [Vol. IV. and upon these, after carefully closing the apertures, the occupant porsu some water. The sweat-house is always situated on the banks of a stream or lake, so that on issuing therefrom the bather may at once plunge in the cold water."* One single point — ai.d that a very unimportant one — differentiates the sudatories of the Carriers from those of the Shushwap : I mean the covering, which among the former is of spruce bark. Here, as further south, these sweat-houses are invariably to be found near a stream or lake ; but the reason of this is merely that ou;- Indians never dwell away from the water, fcr I have never heard of a Carrier taking a cold bath immediately after his steam bath. It may also be worth mentioning that, more often than otherwise, steam-bathing was originally practised for quite other than sanitary motives. It was quite commonly prompted by a desire on the part of the " patient " to ensure success during a forthcoming hunting or trapping tour, or to atone through this penitential act, for any transgression, wilful or involuntary,, against the traditional laws and customs of the tribe. * Notes on the Shushwap People of British Columbia; Trans. R.S.C. Sect. 11., if^i, P. 9. !i 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. iy» CHAPTER XII. Monuments and Pictography. A search for " monuments " among such a primitive people as the D^n^ cannot be but unproductive of satisfactory results. Indeed^ throughout the whole territory of both the TsijKoh'tin and the Ts^'k^hne^ not a single work is now extant which could, with any degree of appropriateness, be classed under that head. Even such as may now be seen among the Carriers are — barring funeral monuments — exceedingly scarce. All of them may be reduced to two distinct categories : wooden,, carved monuments, and painted or drawn monumer^ts. Hence the two- divisions of this chapter : carved monuments and pictography. Carved Monuments. Genuine carved monuments are to-day very few, and seem to have always been so among the Carriers. Indeed so scarce are they that every one of those now extant will easily be illustrated herewith. I shall pass over thetotemic columns of the Hwotso'ten which are still in a good state of preservation, for the reason that their carving and erection were the work of their exogenous neighbours, the Kitikson, whose nearer village stands hardly three miles off. Those monuments are merely witnesses to the- influence exercised by outsiders over a very unartistic race, and the custom of erecting them had not been adopted by the main bulk of the Carrier tribe. This cannot be said of the famous commemorative mortuary columns so common all over the North Pacific Coast, and which had been appropriated as far inland as the boundaries of the Ts^'k^hne territory. All of these have long disappeared, with the exception of the two herewith represented, which I sketched ten years ago at Irak, a village site among the Nutca'tenne, the population of which is now extinct. These columns are a further corroborative evidence of my thesis, viz., that the D^nti race has no eye for the beautiful. Compared with those of the Coast Indians, they stand in the relation of an undeveloped embryo to the matured being. As is well known among Americanists, such works served as depositories for the few remaining charred bones of the deceased, and were erected in close proximity to the village. The two specimens figured below are rather plainer than the average mortuary column of the Carriers since, according to my informants, - -e totem crest of the deceased was generally carved in 200 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. .[Vol.. TV relief thereon. These monuments were, as a rule, grouped according to the different clans obtaining amon^ the tribe. This arrangement has survived in the column fig. 185, which now stands at Fort Babine in the H>i. Fig. 184. midst of the graves of Tsa-yu-ne, one of the native gentes, the chief totem of which is the beaver. It was, of course, erected in pre-Christian times. Such is also the case with regard to the grave shown in fig. i«6. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. 201 •whose occupant was likewise a fellow of the Beaver clan. His grave is to be found at Ts^-tcah, on the confines of the Hwo-to'tin territory.* Fig. i86. In fig. 187 the totem crest of the old days has been replaced by the Christian symbol which now appears over all the native D^nd graves. These monuments affect a multitude of forms and designs, though by Fig. 187. far the greatest number of them resemble, in a general way, that here- with illustrated. It is over a late grave, and is painted in several gaudy * See the map affixed to my paper ; Are the Carrier Sociology and Mythology indigenous etc.? Trani. R.S.C. Sect. II., 1892. 14 |l i m TItAN8A0TIO\S OP TH^f OA^HAPIAI' I^AtJITUTE. [Ywh IV. colours, the severity of th? bl^cl^ %njd white of tljie rul?r«jC? lining repugnapt to the native tas^ wl^ich s^e^ in sych work;a ap mpiuiments of grief or sorrow, but rather affectionate tributes to the memory of the dead which it behooves one to make as showy as possibly T^i-* explains why some of them are so absurdly large, sometimes graves, even of children, being covered with "monuments" affecting |he shape, and almost the dimensions, of rectangular cart-sheds. To the above let us add the wooden totem crest oi;namenting twO' native houses and we will have the sum total of all the carvings now to be seen throughout the whole territory of the TsijKoh'tin, the Carriers, and the Ts^'k^hne. Of these sculptures, the first only (fig. i88) caa Fig. 1 88. boast a few scores of years. It represents a raven standing over the head of some marine animal — possibly the orca. The reason of this in- congruous coupling may probably be seen in the fact that the inhabitants of the place wherein the totems are to be found are of mixed parentage^ as they have considerably intermarried with their western neighbours, the Bilqula. The last carving (fig. 189) is quite modern. The owl thereby represented has been carved out of a balsam poplar tree {Populus^ balsamiferd) and adorns the front gable end of a fishing shanty at the outlet of Lake Stuart. . References to the totems and gentes of the Western D^n^s have been frequent in the course of this monograph, and, especially in view of what remains to be said in the latter part of this chapter, some more detailed information concerning them may be found acceptable. 1898-98;J N0TC8 OR TRV WBraKitK WttfiM. 20» F. G. Frazer, the principal authority on Totemistn, says : ** Considered in relation to men, totems ure of at least three kinds: (l) The elan totem, common to a whole dan, ami passing by inheritance from gener- ation to generation ; (2) the sex totem . . . ; (3) the individual totem> belonging to a single individual and not passing to his descendants."*' Fig. 189. Of the sex totem I know practically nothing, as it does not obtaira among our Indians ; but to these three varieties of totem I can add a fourth, which I shall call the honorific totem, and of which a full ex- planation will be found further on. The individual or personal totem is. well known as being some material object or being, most generally some animal, ordinarily revealed in dreams to a person who is bound thereafter" to look upon it as sacred and to be especially revered and protected., in return for this reverence on the part of the person, the totem is believed to particularly help and powerfully protect its human relatiT"^, as the individual is supposed to be. As for the dan totem, any reader of Americana is too familiar with it to be in need of any definition or explanation. One totem generally — though not always — corresponds to one clan or gens, so that the former and the latter are very often in equal numbers. Four gentes obtain among the Carriers, of all which I herewitb submit the native names together with those of their respective totems.. Gentes. Totems. '](sdmdc-yu. The Grouse. Tsd-yu. The Beaver. YssU-yu. The Toad. Tmtten-yu. The Grizzly Bear.f •Totemism, Edinburgh, 1887, p. I. tjudgiug from fig. 188, it would seem that the crow or raven is regarded as the totem of some clan among the Lower Carriers. It is not known here in that capacity. ■ 204 TRANSACTIONS OF THE OANADIAK INSTITTTrX. [Vol. IV. With the exception of Tsa-yu, which means " Beaver-n»edicine," those words are untranslatable and are probably imported from among the heterogeneous tribes from which the whole system is undoubtedly derived. The first gens, qt'samac-yu, is by all odds the most powerful among the Carriers, while the two last named are considered as having a sort of affinity which entitles the members of each to mutual consideration and protection. The name of the latter, Tam'ten-yu in Babine, is changed to Kw^n-pa-hwo'tenne • among the Carriers proper. In great native festivals, the totem of the celebrating clan was carved and exposed at the door of the lodge so that every exogentile incomer may have an opportunity of presenting it with anything of value which he may intend for the givers of the feas* with the tacit, but well-known, understanding that it be subsequently paid for by a donation of at least equal worth. Even the public naming of one's gentile totem by a member of a different clan demanded the gift of a blanket, a piece of dressed skin, or iny article of wearing apparel, so that the crest may not remain ignored and the whole gens thereby dishonoured. An important sociological peculiarity which I have nowhere else noted claims attention in this connection. The clan totem is called mtsi in Carrier. But beside the nstsi there existed here another kind of totem w!uch I have named thfe "honorific totem." It was personal and did not pass to one's descendants, though it differed from that revealed in dreams. Its native name was sh9n-koh, a compound word which may be freely translated by "rite." It was voluntarily assumed with an accompaniment of befitting ceremonies by any titled or untitled individual who wished to advance in social standing. It entitled the owner to special con- sideration, though the latter could on that account lay claim to the possession of no hunting grounds nor to the exalted rank which was the strict property of the " noblemen " or tmeza'. In a word, those honorific totems created a sort of middle class, the bourgeoisie of the Carriers. They were many and varied, and, with the exception of one, they followed the clan in such a way that those proper to one could not be assumed by a member of another. Here are those now remembered by the natives ; — To the qt'samac-yu belonged the Owl, the Moose, the Full Moon, the Weasel, the Wind, the Crane, the Wolf, the " Darding Knife," the " Rain of Stones," and the Brook Trout. Of those pertaining to the Tsayu or Beaver gens, only the Mountain Goat is now remembered. * " Inhabitants of the fireside. 1892-93.] NOTBS ON THE WESTERN D^S^. 205 The Yasilyu had the Sturfcon, the Arrow, the Porcupine, t..c Wolverine, the Red-headed Woodpecker, the Cattle and the Tiltsd, a kind of fabulou s animal resembling a gigantic toad, with large, bulging eyes. My informants know of only the Goose as belonging to the Tam'tenyu clan. Another honorific totem or crest was called Sdnnaj, a word of extraneous origin. The exact nature of this cannot now be defined, as the mimicking accompanying its exhibition is but vaguely remembered. All that is known for certain is that it was very highly appreciated and, as a rule, it was the appanage of the notables exclusively. For here I must remark that even the notables or noblemen were not debarred from assuming one or more of the different honour crests proper to their gens. Lujem is another word of forigin origin which designated the Bear as an honorific totem.* It could be assumed by anybody, irrespective of clannish differences. The connection f1 the individual with his crest appeared more especially during ceremonial dances, when the former, attired, if possible, with the spoils of the latter, was wont to personate it in the gaze of an admiring assemblage. On all such occasions, man and totem were also called by the same name. The adoption of any such " rite " or crest, was usually accompanied by initiatory ceremonies or observances correspond- ing to the nature of the crest, followed in all cases by a distribution of clothes to all present. Thus whenever anybody resolved upon getting received as Luiem or Bear, he would, regardless of the season, divest him- self of all his wearing apparel and don a bear skin, whereupon he would dash into the woods there to remain for the space of three or four days and nights in deference to the wonts of his intended totem animal. Every night a party of his fellow-villagers would sally out in search of the missing "bear," To their loud calls; Yi ! Kdlujeml^ he would answer by angry growls in imitation of the bear. The searching party making for the spot where he ha J been heard, would find by a second call followed by a similar answer that he had dexterously shifted to some opposite quarter in the forest. As a rule, he could not be found, but had to come back of himself when he was speedily apprehended and con- ducted to the ceremonial lodge, where he would commence his first bear- * The D^ne word for Black Bear is s»s or 'sas according to the dialect. + Words of Tsimpsian parentage meaning apparently : Come on, Bear ! The nature of those words plainly denotes the origin of the whole institution. 1D6 TRAIT8i«n«9l3 OT TKC OAirADIATT ItMTITtrrB. (V«L. IV. dance m conjunction with all the other totetn-people, each of whom MTOuld then personute his own particular tote.n. Finally would take place the potlatch of the newly initiated " bear," who would not forget to present his captor with at least a whole dressed skin. The mitiation to the "Darding- Knife" was quite a theatrical perform- ance. A lance was prepared which had a very sharp point so arranged that the slightest pressure on its tip would cause the steel to gradually sink into the shaft. In the sight of the multitude crowding the lodge, this lance was pressed on the bare chest of the candidate and apparently sunk in his body to the shaft, when he would tumble down simulating death. At the same time a quantity of blood — previously kept in the .mouth — would issue from the would-be corpse, making it quite clear to the uninitiated gazers on that the terrible knife had had its effect, when lo I upon one of the actors striking up one of the chants specially made for the circumstance and richly paid for, the candidate would gradually rise up a new man, the particular proUgi of the " Darding Knife." Pictography. " All the known graphic systems originate in a picture-writing as rude as that of the American Indian or of the South African Bushman. All have advanced from the picture to the conventionalized hieroglyphic representing an idea or a word ; while from the hieroglyph has sprung the syllabary represented by rougher sketches of the monumental emblems, and requiring a smaller number of necessaiy symbols. Finally among the more civilized of ancient races the alphabet was gradually in- troduced as a simplification of the syllabary which reduced the necessary emblems to about a fifth of their previous number."* Gauged after this criterion, the Western D^n^s may be said to have been in a state of transition between the first and the second stage of graphic culture ; or perhaps, it would be as correct to say that they were already in the second while retaining lingering reminiscences of the first. Their petroglyphs were in a large measure pictures with some admixture of conventionalized forms ; but their usual means of communication while travelling and their tattoo marks had, to a great extent, become the mere shadows of the original pictographs. Of their rock inscriptions I cannot find any better specimen than that reproduced in fig. 190. Its most conspicuous character represents a grizzly bear, the tracks of which may be seen some distance behind. The waving lines at the .bottom stand for water, wherefrom a sturgeon *Froin an article in the "Edinburgh Review," reproduced in Little's Living Age, Aug, 23, 1890, p. 451. 1892-98.] IrOtlU Otr T^R WRSTkHN D^lf^S. 207 is sefcn emerging. The natives are not agreed as to the meaning of the large spider-like figure to the left, but the probability is that it is intended to represent Yihta, the Great Bear. Immediately above is a toad in a somewhat conventionalized shape, while below, and to the left, are two figures of birds, the lower one of which is a grouse. The other signs are the emblems of fishes, figures of men or symbols of objects which cannot now be identified. There is no ensemble or unity in the whole. It is •only an aggregate of pictures or signs painted in red ochre by different individuals and at different times. Most of them are very old. xi\ Fig. 190. The various objects represented are personal totems, and the object in view in depicting them on rockis will be better understood by a reference to the locality of the inscription reproduced above. It is to be seen about half way between this place, Stuart's Lake or Na'kraztli and Pintce, the nearest village by water. By painting in such a conspicuous place the totem which had been the object of his dream, the Pintce Indian meant to protect himself against any inhabitant of Na'kraztli, as the intimate connection between himself and his totem could not fail, he believed, to reveal by an infallible presentiment the coming of any person who had passed along the rock adorned with the image of his totem. Thus it will be seen that clairvoyance had adepts even in such an out of the way place as Stuart's Lake. Fig. 19! IS, of course, a niere picture. The oval circle wherein the cari- boo stands is intended to represent a mountain. A shield is instinctively called to mind by fig. 192 ; but the natives are positive that this is a false ittipfe)ssidn, as the ihner circle stahds for a den within or upon & mountain. Th^ four figut'es between the two circles are the known 208 TIUNaAOTIONS OF THR CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vol. IV. emblems of the beaver ; but the meaning of the whole figure is not very clear. Such is the case with fig. 193, wherein some say we have a crane, while others profess to see therein some large species of beetle. Fig. 191. Fig. 192. F'B. >93- So far we have dealt with signs or pictures such as seen in stone inscriptions only. But it is chiefly through the tattoo markings or the signs occasionally executed in charcoal while travelling that the Carriers have shown their departure from the earliest or pictorial stage of the graphic art. Even within such classes of totemic representations the gradual alteration from the pictorial or life-like forms to the mere con- ventional outlines is easily discernfiW. I need adduce no better illustration i 1 / a Fig. 194. of this than the three styles of representing the beaver shown in fig. 194. A is the original pictorial form, and is adopted whenever the beaver is tattooed on the breast ; ^ is a middle, altered form, with a strong tendency to simplification, and is used in connection with face tattooing, whilst - 's the conventionalized form of the same, and is the common mode of representing the beaver in those rude, ephemeral drawings in the woods> though it is occasionally found even in ancient rock inscriptions. I have already stated that tattooing on the breast was rare among the Western D6n6s. This is so true that I know of no other totemic marks there situated than the few exhibited herewith. We have just seen that a stands for the beaver, ^ represents a toad, c and d are the fore and hind paws of the grizzly bear, while e is the figure of the moon. 1892-93.] H0TE8 ON THB WRSTKRN XiivtB. 20» All the face tattqo marks which can now be seen or remembered among the Carriers are found in fig. 196. They may be briefly described Q n >fe^ . e Fig. 195. thus :—a is the emblem of the otter ; d that of any fish ; c that of a bird ; // IS a beaver ; e is the silhouette sign of a stick in the wa;er ; / that of a \i i yf^ -h J Fig. 196. mountain ; ^ is a fern root digger; h is the symbol of the marten ; i that of the lizard, and /, that of the cariboo. 7 3 tTTTr \ ni Fig. 197. Fig. 19; presents us with the graphic signs used as means of com- munication between different hunting parties. They alone might be : 240 TBANSACTfONB OF THC OANANAK IHflTlTUTE. [VCh. IT. pointed to^s the elements of native "writing." The two last are taken from rock inscriptions. They are now tininteUigible to the Carriers, Here is the meaning of the others : — a, bird ; d, lizard ; c, beaver ; d, bear ; e, lynx ; /, cariboo ; ^, marten ; /i, canoe ; /, woman ; j, man ; k, snake. These are generally drawn in charcoal on trees or, by exception, on stones, and as such it must be confessed that they afford but a very restricted medium of expression to the native mind. It has therefore to call into requisition any other material means which may be at hand, and it must be said that the use made of them is sometimes wonderful. I wais lately travelling in the forest at a time when tiic yearly re- appearance of the salmon was eagerly looked for. At a certain spot not very far from a stream we came upon one of those aboriginal drawings made by an old man who had no knowledge of the syllabic signs now used to write the D6n^ languages. The drawing represented a man with a woman, a horse with a burden, the emblem of a bear with three marks underneath, and a cariboo. Above the whole and hanging from a broken branch were four pieces of young bark cut out in the conventional form of the fish. Now the message was instantly read by my companions, and it ran thus : " Such a one (whom they named)* has passed here with his wife, and a good load of furs, after having killed three bears and one <:ariboo ; ;\nd furthermore he captured four salmon two days ago. He is now gone in the direction that we follow ourselves." This date could evidently not have been told had the Indian marked with charcoal the sign of the salmon. He was so well aware of this and was so much intent upon fixing the time of the first appearance of the fish that he had had recourse to the pieces of bark, the relative degree of freshness of which he knew could easily be determined by the experienced eye of his fellow Carrier. This leads me to detail the various non-graphic means of commuiiicp.ticp between the different bands of huntsmen. Does the traveller intend to mark his passage in the forest ? He cuts a switch or rod and plants it in his trail pointing to the direction he is following. Is he in distress, and does he beg for succour at the hands of those who he knows shall pass by the Same trail } Forthwith he breaks or bends the top of as many shrubs as possible all along his path. No native party will profess ignorance of his meaning rtor, as a rule, leave unheeded his appeal. Other significant combinations will be found sketched in our last figure. Thus b, a stick broken by the middle, means : " we are going to camp a ^ They ideirtified him by the very cii-camstahce that tie travelled ^rhh a hone, at he was the ' jfily dttt likely to pass there who possessed such an ammM. ^^ \. .♦>'■'•■- . .', 1892-93.] NOTCS ON THB VTESTERN D^is. 211 short distance off. You need not be in a hurry". C has the opposite meaning : " we are going to camp a long distance from here ; hurry up!" By disposing the stick as shown in d, the natives are understood to say : « we have turned back awhile, but finally gone on." E is intended to rq>resent a piece of burnt rag hanging from a bent down rod ; it is the signal of famine and an appeal for help, the direction of the stick always Fig. 198. pointing to the trail of the distressed party. If in ;ead of parched rags, an abundance of cariboo or moose hair is to be seen on the stick, the reading must be just the reverse. It is then a notification that the party has killed plenty of cariboo or of moose, and, at the same time, an in- vitation to go and help dispose of them. /?" is a small bunch of dry grass wherein a small rod has been driven as an indication that a member of the band has been shot. Lastly, when a short stick is found hanging across the trail, as shown in g, everybody will understand that a person in the prece(.llng party has come to his death from natural causes. i wssxm 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN D^N^S. 213 INDEX. N. B. — When the same subject is treated in several con /Hjutive pages, only the first is given. A. Ages (the prehistoric) not strictly successive, »37- Ahtena, not Dini, 15. Alluvial strata, their age exaggerated, 42, Animals hunted by the Western Denes, 93 — large ones never killed for oneself, 95. Antiquity of archaeological objects exagger- ated, 39. Antiiropology, an uncertain criterion of ethno- logical differences, 17. Apaches, their habitat, subdivisions and popu- lation, 13. Archaeological remains, their age exaggerated, 41. Archaeology of the Egyptians and the As- syrians easy to fully describe, 5. Armour, wooden, 117 — skin, 149. Arrow-heads, 53 — bone, 55 — how connected with the shaft, 55. Arrows, $6 — their varieties, 56 — how released, 57- Arrow-shafts, 55. Aspen, its root used against bleeding, 130. Astringents, native, 131. Athapaskan, inappropriate as a generic name, 9. Atiyih, a Carrier game, 81. Atlih, a Carrier game, 78. Atnas, Adanas, etc., not Difn^, 17. Atrium of winter lodges, 190. Awls, bone, 69. Axes, of unpolished stone, 43 — partially polished, 44 — polished, 46 — how used, 47 — of iron, 140. 3. Babies, how earned, 134. Babines, their physical peculiarities, 18 — habitat, 27— subdivisions, 27 — their gam- bling sticks, 78. Bad- People, a Dene tribe, its habitat and population, 16, Bag-net fishing, 91. Bags, their varieties, 146. Bait of bone, 72. Bandelier on the early Navajos, 12. Bark peelers, 76— bottles, 135. Bark vessels, 120. Bear, what part of it not eaten, 107 — how its skull is treated, 108 — as a totem, 205. Bear traps, 95 — snares, 99. Beard, not rare among the Babines, t8 — how trimmed among the Tse'kehne, 139 Beaver, what part of it not eaten, ia3. Beaver Indians; a branch of the Tse'kehne, II— their habitat, 29, Beaver snaring, 66 — nets, their working, 67 —trapping, 87. Belts, weaving of, 157. Berries, how treated, 127. Berry baskets, 122 — boilers, 126. Bible, its authority undiminished by archaeo- logical discoveries, 40. Black-feet, their usual position while sleeping, 187. bleeding, how practised, 82. Blue berries, how prepared, 127. Blunt arrows, 57. Boas' map incorrect in one particular, 23. Boilers, 125. Bone baits, 72. Bone implements in use among historical nations, 43. Bones of animals, how eaten, 49. Bones of the dead, how treated after crema- tion, 146. Bottles, for the castoreum, 66, 135. Bow-points, 60. Bows, of the Tse'kehne, 58- of the Carriers, 59 — how held while shooting, 60 Bowstrings, how made, 58. Boyle on palaeoliths, 63. Bracelets, 139, 172. Breast-blankets, 164. Breast-plates, ceremonial, 167. Breech-duth, ceremonial, 180. Brinton on the distribution uf :hc D6n4s, 14 — on the Kepai, 15 — on Dene technology, 3S- Bronze age, contemporaneous vith stone age, >37. Bulbous root diggers, 1 15. o. Callbreath on the Tahl-tan Indians, 35, Cambium scrapers, 76. \: mmsmmm »« TRANSAflmOMS Or TH» CAMADIAV KMSITUTE. [YoifclT. Canoes, 114. Cap-holders, 83. Caps of the Carriers, the, 164. Cariboo-eaters, their habitat and population, 16. Cariboo skina, how treated, 68. Cariboo snares, 100, Carrier Indians, (the), progressive, 5 — their population, 16- -physical characteristics, 17 — timid, iS-'habitat, 24 — subdivisions, 24 — sociologically considered, 28^their bows, 59 — their bow-poir.ts, 60 — their bone scra- pers» 7(^r-their utensils. lao— how tbcy> carry their babies, 134— rusin)^ copper and iron before contact with the whites, 137 — their dnims, 150 — formerly practically unac- quainted with snow-shoes, 151 -ttheir weav-« ing method, 156 — their ordinary head-dress, 164— their ceremonial costume, 173 — their houses, 184 — their store-houses, 196— their mortuary columns, 199. — their graphic sys- tem, 200. Carvings, 199. Castoreum bottles, 66, 135. Categories of Dene nouns, 32. Ceremonial dress of the Carriers original, 172. Chaldean head-dress compared with that of the Carrier noblewomen, 177. Charcoal, as a means of ornamentation, 170. Cherokees, monnd-builders, 39. Chirkasaw, mound-builders, 40. Chippewayans, not the southernmost of the D6a6 tribes, 9 — their habitat ^nd popu- lation, 16. Chipping, how done, 65. Clans of the Carriers, 203. Cloaks, 164. Clubs, war, 641 Columns, mortuary, 199. Comin, 117. Confession to the shaman, 107. Continence, regard for, 107, Copper, in use in prehistoric times in the Mac- kenzie valley, 136 — in use contemporane- ously with stone implements, 137— in use among the prehistoric Carriers, 137 — how procured formerly, 137 — its use probably ancient, 138. Copper tower, the, 137. Cow-parsnip, how eaten, 129, Cradles, 133. Cranberry, swamp and highbush, eaten, 127. Cranio ..letry, an uncertain criterion uf ethno- logic certitude, 17. Crescents in the septum, 167. Crossbows, 59. Cuirass, of wood, 1 17 — of skin, 149. " Cut arrows," 56. Cuticle (inner) of skins, how removed, 70. Daggers, of stone, 63— of steel in pre-Euro~ pean times, 142. Dalt on labretB, 170. " Darding Knife," the, 206. Dini (tlie), progTtBsive, 5-<-th«ir nunck 8 — the nature of their territory, II — divided lon^ ago in two camps, 12 — their distri- bution, 13 — misconception as to their ethno- graphical 4Utu«, 14 -^ classification and. population of all the tribes, 16 — points of "physical similarities, 18— psycholo^cally dtnering among themselves, 18 — phuolog- ically homogeneous, 2J. D^ne Dindjie, improper as a collective name, 9. Dentalium, its fitness as an article of orna- mentation, 178. Dentalium nose-ornaments, 168, Devil's bush, its medical properties, 132. Dip-nets, 159. Dishes, 1 19. Diuretics, native, 131. Dog collars, 139. i ' Dog- Ribs, a D^n^ tribe, its habitat and popu- lation, 16 — knew copper before contact with the whites, 136. Dress of the Western Denes, 162— of pubes' cent girls, 165. Drills, 143. Prinking tubes, 82. Drums, 150. Dug-outs, formerly unknown, 115. Dyes, 173. Ear pendants, 166. F.astem Dines : knew of copper before con- tact with the whites, 136 — their dress, 162. Elk, now disappeared from among the Carriers, 93- Emmenagogue, native, 131. ^s, A fish-trap, 89. ^sroflh, how cooked, 1 16, gstas and the swans, 104. Ethiopians, using stone and bone weapons, 42. Siik, S3- F. Fat scrapers, 68. Feathering of the arrows, how made, 56. Febrifuge, native, 130, Fenni, (the), using bone arrows, 43. Fern root, how cooked, 1 16. Fern root diggers, 1 1 5. Finger rings, {40. 1892-93.] MOTBS ON TUB WB8TBRN Oisis. 21» Fire, pri:nitive mode of starting a, 1 14. Fire-bags, common, 148 — ceremonial, 180. Fire-place, where situated, 187. Fire-wood, how procured by the poorer classes, Fishes, species of, 73. Fish-hooks, 72, Fishing, 71 — with bait, 72 — with traps, 84. — with bag nets, 91. Fish traps, 84. Fish trays, 123. Flaking, how done, 65. Floats, III. Folk-lore, differs according to the tribe, 2it Forts, 195. Foxes, different varieties in the same litter, 95. Fox snares, 102. Fraas on ancient weapons, 42. Frazer on the varieties of totems, 203. G and W commutable in the Aryan languages, 8. Oambler and the Great Bear, the, 79. Gambling-sticks, 77. Game sought after by the Western 1 )ends, 93, Games of the Western Denes : nft'sfa, 78 — atlih, jS—atiyM, Si—MguA, iii—O'io; 112 — Mzaz, 112 — 'keilapas, 1 12, Gentes, their number, 203. Geology against the great age attributed to archaeological remains, 42. ■ Gorgets, unknown, 35. Gouges, unknown. 35. Graphic systems, their origin, 206 — that of the Carriers, 208. Graves, monuments on, 2CX). Great Lear and the Gambler, the, 79. Great IJear and the Hunter, the, 194 — deduc- tions from that legend, 195. Grizzlj' Bear, are there two varieties of it ? 94. Hair, sometimes fair among the Carriers, 18 — mode of wearing it, 181. Hr.ir scrape.-s, hone 69 — steel, 143. Hair tweezers, 138. Hale on the country of the Eastern Denes, 11. Hammers, stone, 47. Hares, a Dene tribe; its habitat and popu- lation, 16. Head-dress of the Carriers, 164— of the pubes- cen' girl, 165 — of the same when of noble paiintage, 166— of the noblemen, 173 — of the noblewomen, 177 — the same compared with that of the Chaldean Kings, 177— of the shamans, 181. Head-scratchers, 82. Heart of animals, not eaten, and by whom^ 107. Hemlock, its medical properties, 13a, Hiemorrhage, how stopped, 131. Hides, how dressed, 49, 69, 145. History against the great age attributed .tO: archaeological remains, 42. Hole-borers, 143, Horse-tails, their medical properties, 131, Houses, see Lodges. Hupa, their habitat and numbers, 13, 16 — their influence over neighljouring tribes, 19 — their conservatism, 20. Hurdles for the salmon weirs, 85. Huts, subterranean, 191. I. Ice-breakers. 75. Ice-scoops, 156. Indians, mound builders, 40. Industries, why and how treated of, 6. Iron, in use among the negroes of Africa, 137' — m use among the pre-historic Carriers, 140. Iron, axes, when first introduced, 140— how iron tools were prized on the Coast, 142. J. Juniper, its wood used to make bows with, $9' — its boughs used as a febrifuge, 1 30. K. Kekule houses, 190. 'Km, 85, 186, 196. Kenai, their ethnographical status, 15. K3S, their use, 87. Kettles, prehistoric bark, 125. Kinnikinik, its berry eaten, 128. ICnaia-kho-tana, their ethnographical status, 15- Knap-sacks of the Carriers, 148. Knives, salmon, 51 — skinning, 51 — carving or woiking, 52. 'A'iinizai, their make and working, 87 . kutchin, ideiUicnl with Loucheux, ;s. Labrets, 1 70. Ladles, 75— how made, 76. Lances, known to prehistoric Carriers, 149. L4ni, 36. Man, his age absurdly exaggerated, 41. Marmot skins, how treated, 68. Marmot traps, 98 — snares, 103. Mas, 67. Masks, 118. Material of the arrow and spear heads, 53 — zealously guarded, 65. Mats of the TsiiKoh'tin, the, 157. Maul, wooden, ill. Means of communication while travelling, 210. Measures of length, 92. Medicinal herbs, 130. Menses, observances relative to the, 107. Mesh-sticks, 158. Middle class of the Carriers, 204. Mittens, 164. Mocassins, their material, 163 — not used in rainy weather, 163. Months, their native names, 106. Monuments, rare, 199. Moose skin scrapers, 143. Morice on the varieties of Din6 nouns, 32 — on the "cut-arrows," 56 — on beaver sr-'r- ing, 66— on fern root cooking, 116— on the introduction of copper among the Carriers, 137 — on the head-dress of pubescent girls, 165. Morse on arrow release, 57. Mortars, unknown, 35. Mortuary columns, 199. Mosaical chronology, its accuracy not weakened by modem discoveries, 40. Mounds unknown among D^nt, 35- -the work of Indians, 40. Muskokis, probably mound-builders, 40. Mnskrat trapping, 87. Mythology, why occasionally referred to in the monograph, 7. N. Nah'ane, different spellings of their name, 31. Na'kwsl's descendants, 141. Navajos, long established in the south of the United States, 12 — their habitat, 13 — still old fashioned, 20 — philoloeically congenerous with the Northern Denes, 22. Nazrwit, a fish trap, 85. Necklaces, 170. Needle pouches, 149. Nets, their material, 159 — beaver, 67. Nt^a-a, a game, 78. Netting, 158. N»y>v.hwolluz and the Gambler, 79. Nitaz, a game, 112. Niblack on maize growing Indians, 35. NiVi>dtnai, i68. Northern .'^^end, timid and not industrious, 18 — of assimilative dispositions, 19. Nose-pendants, 167. Nose- rings, 168. Nouns, the four categories of Ddne, 32. o. Observances of the hunters and women, 106, 165. Ochre (red) as a means of cmamentalion, 170. Old man and the Loon, the, 171. Oregon grape, how eaten, 129. Orthography of Indian words, 34 — of the names of Indian tribes, mixed, 30. Osier-willow, its medical properties, 131. Packing, how done, 118. Packing bags, of the women, 147 — of the men, 161. Packing chairs, 118. Paddles, how used, 115. Palaeolitha, their age exaggerated, 40 — found along with neoliths, 63. Peelers, 76. Pendants, 166. Pestles, stone, 48. Petiiot on the name "Den^-Dlndjie," 9— -on copper and iron among Eastern Den^, 136 -—on prehistoric weapons, 149 — on the dress of the Eastern Denes, 162, Petroglyphs, 2o6. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTEKN D^N^S. 217 the Philology, its importance as an ethnographical criterion, 21 — Us bearing on archasology, 32. Pictographs, 2o6. Filling on the word " Athapaskan," 9. Pipes, stone, 36. Plan of the monograph, 6, Plants, those the economic value of which is not appreciated unnamed, 127 — which are eaten by the Western Denes? 128. Potlatch, of comparatively recent origin, 125. Pottery, unknown among the Western Denes, 35- Powder pouches, 148. Powers on the Hupa, 20. Prehistoric ages not strictly successive, 1 37- Prognostications common among the Carriers, no. Pubescent girls, their dress, 165 — their drink- ing tubes, 81 — their head scraichers, 82 — their peculiar observances, I07. Purgatives, native, 130. Q- Quintilian on Language, 21. B. Rabbit snares, 103 — skins, how utilized, 156, 164. Rattle?, 118. Red willow, used as wattle, 84— its uedical properties, 131. Rings, 140, 166. Rol)e, ceremonial, 179. Rock inscriptions, 206. Rose, its medical properties, 1 32. s. Salmon, species of, 7r— how caught, 84 — how cured, 92— how kep;, 49, 196. Salmon fishing, 84. Salmon oil, how obtained, 92. Salmon pits or cellai-s, 197. Salmon roe, how prepared, 197. Salmoii weirs, 85, Sarcees, how they separated from the Beavers, n — their present habitat, 15 — their popu- ition one hundred years ago, 29. Satchets, 146. Scaffoldings, on the banks of river?, 91 — of the TseTcehne, 197. Scoops, 156. Scrapers, stone, 49— how made, 50— bone, for the fat, 68— horn, for the same, 70 — hair, 69— cambium, 76. Sedatives, native, 131. Semilkameen Indians partly descended from the TsiiKoh'tin, 24. 15 Service-berry, how preserved, 125. Shamans, their head gear, 181. Shields, 117. Shushwap Indians, their former relations with the TsiiKoh'tin, 23. Signalling in the woods, 2 10. Sinkers, rude and uncarved, 36, Skin tanning, 49, 69, 145. Skull-crackers, stone, 64. Slaves, their habitat and numbers, 16. Sleeping place in the lodge, 187. Slickstones, 49. Smoking, originally unknown, 36. ires, bear, 99— cariboo, loo— fox, 102 — marmot, 103— rabbit, 103— waterfowl, 104 — how prepared, 107. Snaring devices, their details useful, 99. Snow-shoes, formerly practically unknown among the Carriers, 151 — earliest moer irv prehitoric times, 136. Ytita-iViai, a fish trap, 86. 1892-1)3.] KOTE8 ON THE WESTERN 0£N'£s. 219 WORKS QUOTED OR REFERRED TO. Bandklier, a. a. — Indians of the Southwestirn United States. BlANCONi, J. A. — Materiaux pour 1' Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de 1' homme ; Toulouse, 1876. Boas, F. — Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Reports on the Northwestern Tribes of Canada ; B. A. A.S. 1889, 1890, 1891. The Central Eskimo ; Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology ; Washington, 1888. Boyle, D. — Archaeological Report lor 1891, Toronto. Brinton, D. G. — The American Race ; New York, N. D. C. Hodges, 1891. •Cali.breath, T. C. — Notes on the Tahltan Indians ; in Notes on the Indian Tribes of the Yukon District, reprinted from Annual Report Geological Survey of Canada ; Ottawa, 1887. Dawson, G. M. — Notes on the Shushwap People of British Columbia ; Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Section II., 1891. On the Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte Islands ; Montreal, 1880. Report on the Queen Charlotte Islands; Montreal, Dawson Bros., 1880. Dawson anu Tolmie. — Comparative Vocabularies of the Indian Tribes of British Columbia)- Montreal, 1884. '**"- Fraas, O. —Die alten Hohlenbewohner. Eraser, J. G. — Totemism ; Edinburgh, 1887. 'Gatschet, a. S — The Karankawa Indians ; Cambridge, Mass., 1891. The Klamath Indians of Southwestern Oregon ; Contributions to North American Ethnology ; Washington, 1890. 'Gunn, D. — History of Manitoba from the earliest settlement to 1835 ; Ottawa, 1880. Hale, H. — Language as a Test of Mental Capacity ; Transactions Royal Society of Canada, Seot. II., 1891. Holmes, W. H.— A Study of the Textile Art ; Sixth Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology ; Washington, 1888. Hough, W.— Fire Making Apparatus in the U.S. Museum ; Report U.S. Museum, Washington, 1890. Jordan, D. S. and Gilbert, Ch. H.— Synopsis of the Fishes of North Amenca ; Washing- ton, 1882. Legal, E. — Lea Indiens daas lee plaines de I'Amerique du Nord ; Petites Annales, O. M. I., Paris, 1891. Lenormant, F. — D-e Anfange Der Cultur, Vol. I. AIackenzie, Sir A.— Voyages from Montreal on the River St. Lawrence, through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in the years 1789 and 1793; London, 1801. S20 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. IvoL. rv. Mackenzie, A. — Descriptive Notes on certain Implements and Weapons, etc., from Grahanv Island ; Transact. Roy. Soc. Can., Sect. II. 1891. Mason, O. T. — The Ray Collection from Hupa Reservation, Washington. Anthropology in 1886 ; Washington. Matthews, W.— The Mountain Chant ; Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology ; Washington, 1S87. Morgan, T. J. — Sixtieth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs ; Washington, 1891. MoRiCB, A. G. — The Western Denes, their Manners and Customs ; Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, Vol. VII. ; Toronto, 1890. The D^n6 Languages considered in themselves and inciiiont.Jly in their relations to- non-American Idioms ; Transactions Canadinn Institute, Vol. I., Toronto, 1891. Are the Carrier Sociology and Mythology Indigenous or Exotic ; Transactions Roy. Soc. Can., Sect. II., 1892. Murdoch, J. — Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition, Ninth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnology, Washington, 1892. Niblack, a. p. — The Coast Indians of Southern Alask.t and Northern British Columbia;. Report U. S. National Museum, 1890. Petitot, E. — Monographie des Ddne-Dindjie ; Paris, I^eroux, 1876. En route pour la Mer Glaciale ; Paris, 1888. Six Legendes Americaines, identifiees k I'Histoire de Moise ; Paris, A. Hennuyer, 1877. Rapport .Succinct sur la Geologie des Vallees et de I' Athabaskaw- Mackenzie et de r Anderson ; Paris, A. Hennuyer, 1875. Appendice relatif aux armes de pierre des Indiens Arctiques ; Paris, A. Hennuyer,. 1875. Pilling, J. C. — Bibliography of the Alhapaskan languages ; Washington, 1892. Powell, J. W. — Indian Linguistic families ; Seventh Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology,. Washington, 1892. Third Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology ; Washington, 1884. Powers, S. — Contributions to North American Ethnology ; Vol. II., Washington. QuiNTli.lAN — De Instilutione oratoria, translated by Iji Harpe ; Dijon, 1820. RoYCE, C. C. — The Cherokee Nation of Indians ; Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1887. SouTHALL- Recent Origin of Man. Thein, J. — Christian Anthroiwlogy ; New York, Benziger Bros., 1892. Thomas, C. — Manuscipt Troano ; Coni^butions to North American Ethnology, Vol. V.,. Washington. ^ Burial Mounds of the Northern Section of the U. S. ; Fifth Annual Report Bureau oi Ethnology, Washington, 1887. Work in Mound Exploration of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1887. The Problem of the Ohio Mounds, Washington, 1889. VlGOUROUX, F.— Les Livres Sainu vengds, Vol. III. Dictionnaire de la Btble ; Letouzey et Ane ; Paris (still in course of publication). And a few others with which I am not personally acquainted. 1892-93.] NOTES ON THB WE8TBRN D^nAb. 281 ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA. Page 25— After paragraph 4 add the following as an additional subdivision : — Hwozahne, two villages, namely, Stony Creek (Sai'ksz), population 88, and Laketown or Nujkre, population 65, both of which are situated a little south of Fraser Lake. Page 30 — After " Fort George " insert : — Hwozahne, south of Fraser Lake P*Ke 35— Strike out " the Eskimo " and add :— to which might almost be added the Eskimo, were it not that J. Murdoch ( Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition, Ninth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnology, Washington, 1892) slates that he obtained from a Point Barrow tribe three fragments of a sort of pottery, the material of which " was said to be earth (nu'na) bear's blood and feathers, and appears to have been baked " (p. 91). Fig. 199. Page 118 — Dele the whole paragraph beginning "These other objects" and substitute: — Three other objects, which as sociological items were also due to »''e influence of the maritime tribes, but had become naturalized among, and were made by, the CJarriers, were the nt;rw»s or medicine-rattle, the Aans'taiA, or ceremonial mask, and the i'aak, or long, festival dish. These were almost the only objects of art of genuine Den6 manufacture to which I can point, and yet I do not think I unduly depreciate my Indians' artistic capabilities by adding that they were rather below than above the average of similar aboriginal carvings. The appositeness of this remark will become evident by a comparison of fig. . 199, wherein we have a representative Carrier medicine-rattle, with illustrations of similar implements so frequently met with in modem essays on the Northwest Coast Indians. As may be seen by the cut i, the Den^ rattle is made of two hollowed halves bearing some resemblance to wooden dippers. Its material is birch, ai.d its only ornamentation is in paint, not carving. The figure explains the mode of connection of the two parts of the rattle. 222 TnANSACTIONS Or THK CANADIAN INBTITUTR. [Vol. IV. The masks Vere used only by mimics accompanying by grotesque gestures and jerkings of the head the dance of a privileged few ; l>ut the rattles served a double purpose : they did service in connection with a notable's dance, being then held in the hand by the dancing personage himsell, and also as an accompaniment to the incantations of the ttytn or shaman. No ceremonial masks of genuinely Y>ini make are now available for illustration : but such objects are, even at the present day, so common among the natives of the Pacific Coast that they hardly need any descrip- tion. It may suffice to refer the reader unacquainted with North American aboriginal parapher- nalia to the plates or figures illustrating. . . . Page i8i — After "their occult art" insert : — Let me add that some of these head-dresses, while retaining the name of cyas-krei, were composed of beaver-teeth, sometimes daubed with red ochre. Une such specimen recently came into my possession which lacks the double row of dentalium shells usual with crowns made of real bear's claws. I ! 4..V V-- OFFICERS, 1893-9' PROF. R. RAMSAY WRIGHT, M.A., B.80. 1st ^««-|}rt(KtJ»tnt : I. C. HAMILTON, M.A., LL.B. «• K. WALKER, E»<». (^ccrttars = IXii MAOPOUGALL, M. Iiw,, C.B. .1AME8 BAIM, J*., Rg,. Sibraristt ; )). B. KEYS, M A. CttrntOT : DAVID BO VLB, Gk). (SbUar ; GEORGE KENNEDY. M.A, LL.D. ,^cmb(r« of tttouncii .- O. A. HOWLAND, V^. h. J. CLARK, EtUi. AKTHdR H*RVKY, Kmq. JOHN MAl,'aHAN. K,,., Chairman «U,loi,(mt S,c. W. CANNIKF. M.n., Chair-man Himrieal Stc .••«>F. A. ... OOLKMAN, M.n.. aha(nn«n Q^U^icaX * mni„„ S^. 3l»«i«tant i*nrc;ar)i iinb iJtlintriHn : H. W. YOCNO, M.A.