14 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Many valuable photographs were secured at Ft. Chipewyan and at 

 Fond du Lac near the eastern extremity of the Lake. The physique of 

 the Chipewyan differs considerably from the Sioux prototype on which 

 popular conceptions of Indian appearance are modeled. Their cheek- 

 bones are, on the whole, less prominent; and, as the hair of the face is 

 not plucked out, fairly heavy moustaches are common and whiskers 

 also occur. Though not averaging below five feet seven inches in height, 

 the natives of the Athabasca district are short as compared with the 

 Plains Indians. 



Ethnologically, the Chipewyan were found to share two fundamental 

 traits of all their Athabascan congeners: (1) great simplicity of organi- 

 zation and (2) extraordinary susceptibility to extraneous influences. 

 They do not practise any elaborate ceremonials, nor is there any strongly 

 centralized executive power; esoteric fraternities and age-societies are 

 lacking. Shamanistic activity, however, flourished until recent times, 

 and within the memory of men still living at the fort, there resided at 

 Fond du Lac a medicine-man, who, according to the belief of the natives, 

 could transform himself into a wolf and thus hunt the moose. In their 

 mythology, the Chipewyan betray a strong family resemblance to their 

 northern congeners. There are tales of giants, of the man in the moon, 

 of a weird foundling who by his magical powers aided his people in 

 times of famine, and of a powerful shaman Avho avenged his father's 

 murder and destroyed all his enemies until the time when he himself 

 perished by an accident. The receptivity of the Chipewyan is shown 

 bv the strong influence exerted by the Catholic missions and the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company, both of which have profoundly modified primitive 

 conditions. Other instances in point are the adoption of a complete Cree 

 cvcle into their mythology, and the imitation of their southern neighbors 

 in the Cree tea-dance, a purely social diversion. 



In July, an opportunity offered to return to civilization with a free- 

 trader. Our little craft was towed for three days by a small tug through 

 172 miles of lake and river to Ft. INIcMurray. There the eight men of 

 the crew were harnessed to a tow-line to pull the boat up the remaining 

 265 miles of the Athabasca River. At each of the rapids, we were 

 obliged to get out and commence an "olxstacle-walk," at times for 

 several miles, now clambering up a five-foot ledge of limestone, now 

 trying to get a foot-hold on a slippery earth-bank, dodging lodged 

 deadfalls, and jumping across logs in our way. Every night we camped 



