94 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN IXSTITUTK. [VOL. IT. 



to their provision store. Prominent among them is of course the beaver 

 {Castor fiber, Linn.), which is called tsa by all the Western Dene tribes. 

 Its small congener, the muskrat {Fiber zibetJiicns, Linn.), is the beaver of 

 the children and the poor, to whom it is known as the tse'kct. However 

 a much more precious game even than the beaver is the black bear 

 {Ursiis americaiius, Pallas), called sas by both the Tse'kehne and the 

 TsijKoh'tin and S9s by the Carriers. Our Western Denes, who usually 

 prove so cowardly against a human enemy, are so courageous when 

 matched with almost any wild beast, that among them he would not be 

 considered a man who would be afraid of a bear. Personal encoun- 

 ters wherein bruin comes out second best are by no means a rare 

 occurrence here, and not a few Carriers still bear the marks of the bear's 

 teeth and claws. Even the grizzly {U. Jiorribilis) is no terror to them. I 

 have here at my side an Indian who has killed one with a revolver, while 

 I am well acquainted with another, a most reliable man, who by his fear- 

 lessness and sangfroid put to flight a bear of that species with which he 

 had been sitting face to face for perhaps a quarter of an hour without 

 receiving as much as a scratch from the monster, and without having 

 used the shotgun which he had not had time to load. The main point 

 in such awkward circumstances is not to betray the least fear and to look 

 one's adversary right in the eyes. Show any degree of hesitation and 

 you are lost. Although no two species of the grizzly bear are known to 

 science, it might be, however, that the sJiyas, the bear of which I am 

 speaking, is but a variety of Ursus Jiorribilis, inasmuch as the Indians 

 pretend to know another and much more formidable one which they call 

 tsa-rana or " he busies himself with the beaver," by allusion to its favorite 

 occupation, beaver hunting. This animal they fear, and so far they pro- 

 fess never to have killed any adult of the species, but to have occasionally 

 seen a few. It is, they say, much larger than the sliyas or common 

 grizzly ; its heel is proportionately narrower and the fore end of its paw 

 much broader. It is worthless as an economic item, as it emits a most 

 offensive smell. 



The other fur bearing animals sought after by the Western Denes are 

 the marten (Mustela inartes. Rich.), the fisher (Mustela canadensis, Linn.), 

 which the Carriers call a " big marten, " tcdnnih-tco, the otter (Lutra 

 canadensis, Turton), the wolverine (Gulo liiscus, Linn.), the lynx (Felis 

 canadensis, Rich.), the fox (Vidpes vulgaris), the wolf (Canis lupus 

 occidentalis), the coyote (Canis latraiisj, and the two small carnivores, 

 the ermine (Putorius vulgaris, Linn.), and the mink (P. vison, Brisson j. 

 In addition to waslii, its regular name, the lynx, whose ancestors are 

 believed to have had intercourse with women, is often half jocosely 

 called simte, " my first cousin " by the Carriers. As to the different 



