modelled into a thousand forms and tastes. They are made by the hands of the women from a tough black clay, and baked in kilns which are made for the purpose, and are nearly equal in hardness to our own manufacture of pottery; though they have not yet got the art of glazing, which would be to them a most valuable secret. They make them so strong and serviceable, however, that they hang them over the fire as we do our own pots, and boil their meat in them with perfect success. I have seen some few specimens of such manufacture, which have been dug up in Indian mounds and tombs in the northern and middle states, placed in our eastern museums, and looked upon as a great wonder; when here this novelty is at once done away with, and the whole mystery, where women can be seen handling and using them by hundreds, and they can be seen every day in the summer also, moulding them into many fanciful forms, and passing them through the kiln where they are hardened."* Catlin does not mention the shape of these vessels; but they appear incidentally in several of his plates, and would seen to be often of the form of that referred to in these notes, though sometimes in that of flat bowls.

The interesting points in connection with this and other examples of Indian pottery, are, the general prevalence of the art even among the rudest tribes, its rapid disappearance on the introduction by commerce of better vessels, the similarity in form of these vases to those of most ancient nations and to the general forms of modern pottery, the accuracy of contour bestowed on them without the potter's wheel, and the selection of a material which has in all countries approved itself as the best suited for the purposes of the potter. These points are, I think, of sufficient ethnological interest to entitle this donation to a short notice in the proceedings of the Society.

J. W. D.

ARTICLE XV.-On the Indian Tribes of McKenzie River District and the Arctic Coast; from a Correspondent.

(Presented to the Natural History Society.)

This sketch of the language and manners of Chipewyan tribes, may be divided into three heads: 1st. the Geographical Distribution; 2nd. the various Branches of which the tribes are composed; and 3rd. an account of other tribes of different origin to be found in the McKenzie River District.

• American Indians, vol. 1, p. 116, and plate 46.

The Chipewyans may be considered the purest stock, and call themselves Tonish or Dimish, (the People.) They are scattered over a large and important portion of North America, either themselves or their off-shoots. They are to be found in greater or lesser numbers from about 95° west longitude, to the Rocky Mountains, and from about 55° of lat. to the Arctic circle. By this statement I do not mean to say that they inhabit so extensive a tract of country, but merely that they are to be met with between these extremes. The most eastern of the H.B. posts to which they resort for purposes of trade is Churchill on Hudson's Bay, which they reach by descending the English River. I do not suppose they winter any where in the vicinity of the Great coast line, nor that they have much intercourse with the Esquimaux, what intercourse does exist however, is of a friendly character. On the south they are not met with below Isle-à-la-Crosse. About Lesser Slave Lake, and at St. Johns on the Upper waters of Peace River, Crees are the present inhabitants. The Lesser Slave Lake country, from its source evidently belonged at some former period to the Chipewyans, as the usual name given to numbers of this tribe is slaves, but they not being by any means so warlike as their opponents, have been in all probability beaten back by the superior arms and energy of the Cree nation. I have heard that one of the plain tribes the Cirsees was a Chipewyan off-shoot, and resemblance of language and general reports render this very propable. To the westward, the Chipewyan is found along Peace River, in the Beaver tribe, at Fort au Levid in the Slave tribe, and along the McKenzie in Slave and Stare tribes as far north as the Arctic circle, and the Bloody Fall on the Coppermine River.

The Chipewyan nation is bounded by the Crees to the southward, this latter people have penetrated though in small numbers to Athabasca Lake, and hunt in common with the Chipewyans the country along the Athabasca and English Rivers, and that lying between Peace River and Lesser Slave Lake. Although enemies formerly, they are now on intimate and friendly terms. To the eastward the intercourse of the Chipewyan with the Esquimaux is but trifling. A wide and barren tract of country intervenes between their hunting grounds and the coast, while the best means of water communication, the Great Fish River, is very dangerous. The Stare Indians indeed meet with the Esquimaux in an amicable manner on the Anderson river, a stream lately dis

covered and surveyed by Mr. Roderick Ross McFarlane, lying to the eastward of Fort George Hope, and flowing into Liverpool Bay. To the northward and westward they fall in with the Loucheux, or Kutching, and are on the best understanding with them, although these people speak an entirely different tongue, are distinguishable in features, and distinct in their superstitions and habits of life. On the western side an intermixture takes place with the Nahannies, Siccanees, Manocies, Monde and other tribes of different names, but most likely all of cognate race with the Chipewyans themselves.

The known branches into which the Chipewyan race has divided itself are as follows: 1st. the Chipewyans of English River, Athabasca and Great Slave Lake; 2nd. the Beaver Indians of Peace River; 3rd. the Caribou Eaters and Yellow Knives of Athabasca and Great Slave Lake; 4th. the Dog Ribs of Great Slave Lake and Martin Lake; 5th. the Slaves of Great Slave Lake and the McKenzie and Levid Rivers; 6th. the Hare Indians of McKenzie River and Bear's Lake, all of which will be passed separately and briefly in review.

1st. The Chipewyans inhabit the south east portion of the territory already mentioned, and are the most numerous family of their race. The name Chipewyan or Chipawyan is apparently one given by the Crees, meaning (Chipaw), pointed and (wyan) shirts. If this be actually its derivation, it would appear that the Chipewyan tribes wore shirts or tunics of the same shape as the Loucheux dress at some former period. This shape is now never seen among them. The name among themselves is the rather grandiloquent one of Dimish, or The People. They are in general of middle-size and well proportioned, the face flat with high cheek bones, giving a pear-like appearance to the head. Their hair is strong and coarse, but they have neither beard nor whiskers; the hands and feet are small and well made. For an aboriginal people their character is not bad, for although selfish and grasping to the utmost degree, they are honest and far from blood-thirsty. They are all confirmed liars, and they treat their women more as slaves than companions. Morality among them is at a low ebb. Polygamy though not common exists, and, although very jealous of their wives, chastity in unmarried females is scarcely considered a virtue among them. A Roman Catholic Mission has been for several years established among this tribe, which doubtless has had some effect, in preserving the outward decencies of mo

rality among its converts. Their Christianity is very impure, as they have mixed up many of their superstitions with the ceremonies of that Church. Fancy their sending letters to God, when any one dies, using the coffin as the post office!

2nd. The Beaver Indians, whose dialect is farther removed from the Chipewyans than that of any of the other branches, reside in the country along both sides of Peace River, as far as the upper waters of Hay River on one hand, and Lesser Slave Lake on the other, from just below Fort Vermilion to the Rocky Mountains. They are a bolder and braver race than the others, honest and hospitable, indeed superior in most points to the Chipewyans, whom they much resemble in features, customs, and moral character, as well as in the treatment of the softer sex. They live as Nomades, possess houses, and subsist principally on the products of the chase. They are good workers in iron, and fabricate very neatly formed spears and crooked knives from worn out files.

3rd. To the northward and eastward of the Fond du Lac of Athabasca, as far as to the north end of Great Slave Lake, Lake Aylmer, and the east side of Yellow Knife (Copper Mine) River, dwell the Caribou Eaters or Yellow Knives, who are the same tribe under two designations. They are a large and stout race of men, fairer and better featured than the Chipewyans, especially the women, who are much prettier. This may arise from the superior quantity and quality of their nutriment. Their language is almost pure Chipewyan; they bear the worst character of any of the cognate race. Their notions of morality, honesty and veracity are very lax. Their location is in the low woods bordering on the barren grounds, at which latter they meet every summer for the Reindeer hunt, this animal being their great support. On its flesh they subsist, its skin affords them clothing, its sinews thread, and the raw hide when cut up into small lines like cat-gut, is used by them sometimes as a substitute for twine in the formation of nets. Though formerly at war with the Esquimaux residing at the outlet of Back's River, there is now no hostile intercourse between them, and the Yellow Knives seldom proceed further coastwise than the Head waters of the before mentioned river.

4th. Adjoining the Yellow Knives are the Dog Ribs, (Kloy Dimish), whose lands extend from Yellow Knife River to the southeast side of the Bear Lake, and to about midway between Martin Lake and the McKenzie River. In the latter part they CANAD. NAT.

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VOL. IV. No. 3.

are much intermingled with the Slaves, from whom they can scarcely be distinguished, except by being of large stature, and possessing a thick stuttering and disagreeable manner of enunciation. They are comparatively very numerous, living principally like the Yellow Knives upon the Reindeer which abound in their country, and like that tribe clad much in skin dresses. Like all the Slave tribes in contradistinction to the Beaver Indians, Chipewyans, and Yellow Knives forming the Chipewyan division, these people are kind in their treatment of their women and dogs, and have the custom universal in all their race of dropping their original name upon the birth of a child. They are then only styled the father of so and so. But the Kloy Dimish go farther still, they change their name after the birth of every child, and an unmarried man is called the father of his favorite dog if he have one.

5th. The Slave Indians inhabit the tract between the west end of Great Slave Lake to below Fort Norman, extending up the Liards on one side and to Bear Lake on the other. At Fort aux Liards there is in this tribe a great mixture of Beaver race, to the westward of the McKenzie of the Siccanee and Nohanney. They are a well disposed and peaceable race, their life is a hard one; they subsist on hares, fish and deer, and often have great difficulty in obtaining the means of living. Notwithstanding this, a Slave would sooner starve than eat a piece of a dog or mink, indeed he will not skin the latter animal when captured in his traps, although its pelt is a valuable article of barter. They manufacture twine for nets out of the bark of a species of Willow, and dishes that hold water out of its plaited roots, more durable than from Birch bark.

6th. The Hare Indians reside in the country around Fort Good Hope on the McKenzie to beyond the arctic circle where they come in contact with the Loucheux, Quarrelers, or Kootchin, with whom by intermarriage they have formed the tribe of Loucheux Bâtards. They are a stout thickset race, subsisting partly on fish partly on Reindeer. There is little difference in the language from that of the Slaves, and their dress and customs are the same. With the Esquimaux of the newly discoverd Anderson River, they are on good terms. This tribe is not numerous, having perished in large numbers from starvation in 1841, when many sad scenes occurred. From long intercourse with the whites, for whom they have great respect and affection, most of the superstitions and customs of these tribes are extinct. Their idea either of the formation of the world or the deluge is that a muskrat dived