194 Indians of McKenzic River District. 



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 enun- 

 ciation. They are comparatively very numerous, l ; ving 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, Chipe- 

 wvans, 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 ori- 

 ginal 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 un- 

 married 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 ' r 

 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 

 Batards. 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. Fmm long intercourse with the whites, for 

 whom they have great respect and affection, most of the supersti- 

 tions and customs of these tribes are extinct. Their idea either of 

 the formation of the world or the deluge is that a muskrat dived 



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