120 FATHER MORICE ON 



embryotic stage of existence wheu the Carriers commenced looking to others than Coast 

 Indians for models to copy from. 



I have hinted at frequent intercourse between the inland and coast aborigines, and tried 

 to expose some of its results. It may be well to explain its rais'm d'etre. As has been pointed 

 out elsewhere,' the Carriers of the old stock, though great imitators, were but poor workmen. 

 So they periodically repaired in large numbers to the principal Alliage of the Hwotso'tin — 

 Tse'chah — where they met important parties of natives who had come up all the way from 

 the sea-coast, Tsimshian, Haida, occasionally Tlingit, desirous of trading with the inland 

 tribes. Stone axes and other impl ments, dentalium and haliotis shells, copper ore and 

 ornaments, wooden boxes made of cedar slabs, carved ceremonial paraphernalia, ouiachon 

 oil, etc., were generally the objects brought in by the maritime Indians and bartered away 

 for the Carriers' dressed skins, fur blankets and pelts generally. Naturally, feasting 

 parading, speechifying and story-telling were inseparable from such large gatherings, and 

 thus our Indians could not help witnessing, and afterwards trying to imitate, the 

 practices of people who boasted of such skill and brought them such useful and precious 

 goods. The legends narrated to them were, of course, reported with no lack of 

 embellishments when back in their forest homes, and the source of such stories was soon 

 forgotten. I never saw any such fairs, but my predecessor here witnessed one where fully 

 two thousand Indians had congregated. 



Passing from the general organization of the Carriers, we come to the style of their 

 habitations, the constitution of their families and their mortuary practices. I think no 

 better points could be cho.seu as illustrative of their wonderful power of observation and 

 propensity for assimilation. 



The Denes, as a distinct nation, when socially unchanged by foreign influences, had, 

 as may still be observed among some of their tribes, for habitations huts of coniferous 

 branches, or, more generally, frame tents, or lodges covered with moose or caribou skins. 

 Let us hear on this subject the Rev. E. Petitot, who for twenty years laboured and 

 extensively travelled among almost all the eastern tribes : 



" Peuple nomade de chasseurs, de trappeurs et de pêcheurs, les Déné-Dindjié habitent 

 sous des tentes de peaux d'élan ou de renne, garnies de poil ou sans poil, coniques ou demi- 

 sphériques. * * * Ces loges ou 6o2<fa«îè/-es circulaires reposent sur des i)erches réunies 

 en faisceau ou sur des cerceaux plantés en terre. Une ouverture ménagée au sommet laisse 

 échapper la fumée d'un feu qu'on y entretient sans cesse. Certaines tribus plus apathiques 

 ou plus endurcies à la rigueur du climat se contentent de cahuttes en branches de sapin 

 décorées pompeusement du titre de maisons proprement dites." ■ 



Now, I suppose that every American sociologist is familiar with the large wooden 

 lodges, with pole or log walls, gable and roof, accommodating several families common to 

 the Tsimshian and Tlingit races. These he will find likewise among the Carriers and 

 such Nah'ane as have come into immediate contact with the Tlingit, while the Chi[Koh'tin 

 adopted the " Kekule houses," alizkhdn, or serai-subterranean huts, described by Dr. Boas 

 and others,'' as the distinctive style of dwellings of the Shushwap, the Chi[Koh'tin's 



' The Western Dônés, p. 130. 



-' Monographie des Déné-Dindjié (prefixed to that author's polyglot dictionary), p. xxv. 



' Sixth Report on the North-Western Tribes of Canada, p. 80 et seq. 



