12 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. IV. 



arising from a trivial offense,* separated, not very long ago from the 

 main body of the Den^ nation and were adopted by the Blackfeet, an 

 Algonquian tribe, among whom they have since lived, while keeping 

 their linguistic autonomy. They do not number more than lOO souls. 



An ethnologic problem which is not yet, and will perhaps never be 

 solved, is the question. How did it come to pass that large portions of 

 the Dene nation detached themselves from the main stock and migrated 

 south ? When did this exodus occur? What was the route followed by 

 the adventurous bands? The man is probably yet unborn who will 

 satisfactorily answer these questions. It may be that the interested 

 tribes have some legends or traditions which might throw some light on 

 the subject ; but I think this is hardly the case.f As far as the northern 

 Den^s are concerned, they do not even suspect the existence of any 

 kinsmen south of the Tsi|Koh'tins' territory. Two facts only seem pretty 

 safely established, namely : the separation of the southern from the 

 northern tribes happened centuries ago ; and, moreover, the national 

 movement resulting in the division of the nation into two different 

 camps was from north to south. The first assertion is proven by the 

 fact that "when the Spaniards first met them [the Navajos] in 1541, they 

 were tillers of the soil, erected large granaries for their crops, irrigated 

 their fields by artificial water-courses or acequias, and lived in substantial 

 dwellings, partly underground." j In support of the second statement, 

 I need only refer to a tradition current among some western tribes 

 according to which " days were formerly exceedingly short ; so short 

 indeed that sewing the edge of a muskrat skin was all that one woman 

 could do between sunrise and sunset." This unmistakably points to the 

 arctic regions as places of previous residence. 



Unknown to themselves, important branches of the great D^n^ tree 

 thrive thousands of miles away from the parental stem. As far as I can 

 ascertain from the latest and most reliable source § available, they are, 

 or were until recently : — 



* According to Mr. W. E. Traill, an H . B. Co's officer who has passed many years in close 

 proximity to the Sarcees, this separation was caused by the following circumstances : A party of 

 Tse'kehne were target shooting when a dog happened to take on the arrow planted in the ground 

 as a target one of those liberties of which the canine gent is so fond. Thereupon the dog was 

 shot by the possessor of the arrow, upon which that of the shooter was killed by the master of 

 the original offender. Then followed numerous reprisals which could only be stopped by the 

 voluntary departure of one band of related families which became the Sarcees. 



tThe above had been written for some time, when I read in Dr. Brinton's American Race 

 that " the Navajos have no reminiscence of their ancestral home in the North." 



J Brinton's American Race, p. 72, citing A. A. Bandelier " Indians of the Southwestern U. S." 



§6oth Annual Report Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1891. 



