18y2-93.] ^OTES cn the western denes. 1> 



because it designates as Parisi^wi- the inhabitants of Paris ; as 

 Londoni^^i" those of London, etc. ? Yet the identity of the two cases 

 is so evident that I need only translate the above, and say London- 

 hwo'tenne, Pali-hwo'tenne, to bring it home to the dullest intellect. As 

 with the -enses and the -ens of the Italic tongues, so it is with the 'tenne 

 of the Ddne idioms ; it never applies but to names of places or at least 

 of ethnographic divisions. Another point of similarity is that it varies 

 v^ith the dialects, being 'tenne in Carrier, 'tinni in TsijKoh'tin, 'qenne 

 in Tse'kehne, etc. 



Lastly the correct pronunciation of these word-endings requires a 

 lingual explosion which cannot be obtained except by those already ini- 

 tiated into the mysteries of the Dene phonetics. Hence the absurdity of 

 designating a whole nation by an accidental suffix, impossible of pro- 

 nunciation to the great majority of the readers, which is no word of itself 

 and changes according to the dialect of some twenty or more different 

 tribes. 



Another name no less widely used to denominate the Dene stock, and 

 for which Gallatin is said to be responsible, is " Athapaskan." Now fancy 

 the propriety of calling the whole British, not merely English, race, say 

 Bristolians or Manchesterians ! The Bureau of Ethnology of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution which has adopted this name in its official publications 

 has to confess that " it has been objected to by a number of missionaries — 

 students of various dialects of this family in the North-West — but," it is 

 added, " priority demanded that Gallatin's name should be retained." * 

 Methinks,, however, that time cannot of itself convert a wrong into a 

 right. 



Rev. E. Petitot replaces either vocable by Dene-Dindjie, thereby 

 " uniting in one compound word the southermost tribe, the Chippewayan 

 or Dene, with the northermost, the Loucheux which calls itself Dindjie."t 

 This name, which is undoubtedly a vast improvement on any of the 

 above mentioned, and has the merit of containing two genuine Indian 

 words, correctly spelt, has perhaps the disadvantage of unwittingly con- 

 tracting in the mind of the reader the area covered by the nation thereby 

 designated. The Chippewayans are not the most southerly branch of 

 the family not only on the North American continent, but even within 

 British America. The Tsi[Koh'tin and the Carriers inhabit a stretch of 

 land several degrees of latitude more to the south and are nevertheless 

 territorially connected, without any intervening gap, with all the North- 



* Bibliography of the Athapaskan Languages, by J. C. Pilling, p. v. ; Washington, 1892. 

 ^ Monogmphie des Dene-Dindjie, p. xix, ; Paris, Leroux, 1876. 



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