CHAP, xxvii. TIIK COUNTRY OF THE XASQUAPEES. 97 



also the correct spelling, as far as letters can indicate 

 sounds. It is not probable that the French had much 

 intercourse with this people ; and anY(ine Avho is familiar 

 with the several modes of speUing and pronouncing the 

 same Indian name in different places will easily be able 

 to account for the slight diversities in that of the Nas- 

 quapees. Chippeway, Ojibway, and Ojebway, mean 

 the same people ; so also do Esquimaux, , Esquimo, and 

 Husky. 



The country of the Nasquapees extends from Lake 

 Mistassinni to the Atlantic coast of the Labrador Penin- 

 sula, a distance exceeding 800 miles. They occupy the 

 table-land, and it is only lately that they have visited the 

 coasts and shores of the Gulf and Eiver St. Lawrence in 

 considerable numbers. They make their way from the 

 interior, chiefly by the Manicouagan, the St. Marguerite, 

 the Trinity, and the Moisie rivers. In figure the Nasqua- 

 pees are shorter and of hghter build than the Montagnais ; 

 they have very dehcately formed and clean-cut features, 

 small hands and feet, a large and rather soft eye, inchned 

 towards the nose ; their hair is intensely black, coarse, and 

 thick, theu" teetli regular and beautifully white. They 

 speak a dialect of the Cree language, and can hold 

 communication with the Montagnais without any chffi- 

 culty. The men are tattooed on the cheek, generally 

 from the cheek-bone to the nostril on either side. 

 The marks which I saw consisted of slight cuts about 

 a line long, parallel to one another, and about a line 

 apart. 

 . The incision is made with a flint or a knife, and the 



VOL. II. " H 



