Section IL, 1892. 



[ 109 ] 



Trans. Eoy. Soc, Canada. 



V. — Are the Qo'rier Socioloyi/ mid Mijtlioloyij Lidiyenous or Exotic? 



(WITH A MAP.) 



By The Eev. Father A. G. Morice, O.M.I. 



(Presented by Dr. G. M. Dawson, May 31st, 1892.) 



LIST OF INDIAN (DÉNÉ) VILLAGES, REFERRING TO NUMBERS SHOWN UPON THE MAP. 



Though very few aboriginal words occur in the course of this paper, I give below the chief peculiarities of 

 the Déné phonology such as rendered in the following pages : 



The vowels are as in French, except e, u, a.s in Italian ; é as the c in the French " mets " ; t as c in English 

 " ten " ; 8 as the so-called French c rtmet ; au as in German " hauss ; " at as the i of the English " file." 



N is a nasal followed by a sonant n; i is a lingualo-sibilant of peculiar sound ; r and k are very guttural ; 

 7 almost corresponds to ty, both letters being consonants ; cli and sh as in English. The apostrophe (') accom- 

 panying certain letters adds to their original value the peculiar exploding sound common to most Indian 

 languages. 



The names of non-Déné tribes on the map and through the paper are according to Dr. Boas's orthography. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



In the first place, who are the Carriers ? Unless I am greatly mistaken, a respectable 

 majority of the intelligent reading public, and even not a few professional Americanists, 

 would not be the worse for some light being thrown on this subject before an attempt 

 is made to answer the question heading this paper. For, strange as it may seem, while 

 all of their heterogeneous neighbours hare served as the theme of many a learned 

 dissertation by Canadian and American ethnologists, the Carriers, and in general the whole 

 aboriginal stock to which they belong, had before the publication of the present writer's 

 monographs on their sociology and philology hardly been honoured by aught else than brief 

 passing references which, I am bound to say, evidenced as a rule more ignorance of, than 

 familiarity with, the subject. The conscientious reports of Dr. Franz Boas published in 

 1889 and 1890 under the auspices of the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, while minutely describing all that is worth knowing concerning every Indian 

 tribe having its habitat in British Columbia, do not contain any more lengthened mention 

 of our Carriers than this brief remark, which implicitly refers to them : " The author's 



