﻿RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 385 



Hare Indians or Dog-ribs. They are a lively, 

 cheerful people. Dancing and singing, in which 

 they excel other Indians, are their favourite amuse- 

 ments, and they practise leaping, wrestling, and 

 other athletic exercises. All these are called into 

 play when different bands meet on friendly terms. 

 They are inveterate talkers. Every new comer, as 

 he arrives at a trading post, halts at the door of the 

 house and makes a speech, in which he tells where 

 he has been, what he has done, how hard he has 

 laboured to obtain furs, and urges the propriety of 

 his being well paid for his exertions, relating also 

 the news he obtained from other tribes, and any- 

 thing that has chequered his life or crossed his 

 thoughts since his former visit. Established eti- 

 quette forbids any one to interrupt him until he 

 has concluded. 



Of their religious notions no full account has 

 as yet been obtained, but they speak of good and 

 evil spirits, and belief in shamanism is common to 

 them, the Eskimos, and the Chepewyans. The evil 

 spirit whose malevolence they dread is propitiated 

 through their shamans, who profess to have the 

 sole power of communicating with the unseen 

 world, and of foreseeing deaths and foretelling 

 events. Such powers clothe the shamans with 

 authority and awfulness. Should any one have a 

 quarrel with the members of another tribe, his death 



VOL. I. ' c c 



