﻿388 KUTCHIN. 



Mr. Murray reports that the Kutchin are a treach- 

 erous people, that they never attack their enemies 

 in open "fight, and only when they consider them- 

 selves to be unquestionably superior, either by 

 numbers or in position. They boast of their suc- 

 cesses, but seldom tell of their reverses, which are 

 nevertheless frequent, as their wars are chiefly 

 with bands of their own nation, who are as wary 

 and treacherous as themselves. By these feuds one 

 half of the population of the banks of the Yukon 

 has been cut off within the last twenty years. 

 Little value is set by this turbulent people on 

 human life, and the constant dread of ambuscade 

 deters them from travelling except in large parties. 

 They have not as yet imbrued their hands in Euro- 

 pean blood. Messrs. Dease, Bell, and others of the 

 Company's oflicers, who have resided at Fort Good 

 Hope and on Peel River, have used their influence, 

 and distributed large presents among the tribes, for 

 the purpose of establishing peace, but only with 

 temporary success. The pretensions and arts of 

 the shamans are fertile sources of mischief. 



The Peel River Kutchin, in speaking to Mr. Bell 

 of their contests with the Eskimos, always charged 

 the latter with treachery, but it is more likely 

 that they were themselves the aggressors. One 

 of their encounters with that people deserves to 

 be mentioned here, because of its resemblance 



