CAERIEE SOCIOLOGY. Ill 



be advantageously replaced by the name they give themselves, " Déné," in the dialect of 

 the largest and most central of the tribes into which this family is divided. 



The Carriers, as a separate tribe, are generally called Tacully, or Taknlli by 

 outsiders, on what grov^nds I never could find out. Among themselves they are to-day 

 known as Takhepie (singular, Takhe^), a word perfectly meaningless, at least in their own 

 language, to which it is exotic. From iheir eastern neighbours (the Tsé'kènne) they 

 receive the name of Arepie (singular, Are^), or " Carriers," though the custom which 

 gave rise to this appellation, that in deference to which widows " carried " or packed a 

 few charred bones of their deceased husbands, has long been abolished. 



As will be seen by a glance at the map accompanying this paper, except on iheir 

 western frontier, the Carriers proper are surrounded by congenious tribes, namely : the 

 Chii^Koh'tiu in the south, the Tsé'kènne in the east, and the Tsé'kènne and Nah'ane in the 

 north. But, as to all practical purposes, the ChilKoh'tin — and, indeed, the western 

 Nah'ane as well — have the same general characteristics and, in the main, possess similar 

 social institutions as the Carriers, it may truly be said that the latter's neighbours are : 

 In the south, the Salish, Sequapmuq or Shushwap, aud Stlatlumq, or Lillouet ; the 

 Kawichin in the south-west. 



In the west from south to north, the Kwakwiutl, the Bilqula (a Salish race), the 

 Kwakwiutl again, and the Tsimshian. 



In the south-east they also border on the Nehiyawok, or Crées, through a portion of 

 their frontier. But, owing to the natural barrier opposed to frequent intercourse in 

 the shape of the Rocky Mountains, they never had much contact with them.' 



So that the Carriers may be said to be environed by no less than four very distinct 

 races, each of which is subdivided into several different tribes possessing ethnic aud 

 linguistic characteri.stics of their own. This fact should be borne in mind by the reader 

 who wishes to easily understand the bearing of the remarks I shall submit to him after 

 I have giv^en some idea of the Carriers' social institutions. 



SOCIOLOGICAL. 



With the exception of that custom to which they owe their name, the Carriers' 

 sociology was sixbstantially that obtaining amongst the nearest heterogeneous races with 

 which they had social or commercial intercourse. Aud, remember, that here I associate 

 with the Carriers their kindred in blood and language, the Chi[Koh'tin, who, as has 

 already been said, are also sociologically related to them, though, as will be seen, their 

 particular environment caused them to differ in some points. 



They were divided in two very distinct social classes : the hereditary nobles, or 



case I would beg to say : Then, by al! means, write the word as it ought to be ; for, in all the Déné dialects, there 

 is as much ditieience between the sense of Thnw and 'liniieaa there is between that of niglu and day. Moreover, 

 this suffix varies more according to the tribe than the word for "man {Déné, etc.,") for which reason I tliinlc the 

 latter should be preferred. Everybody calls tlie Tlingit after the word they use for " inai." Why not do tlie same 

 with regard to tlie Denes '.' 



■ Yet the Carriers owe to tlieir intercourse with Cree-spealdng people— more probably half-bree l,s in the 

 the H. B. Co.'s employ— the words Mut (swine); musins (cattle); sûiwja (money and silver), and si'mûnpul (Crée 

 sanûnpan) ribbon. 



