1896-97.] THE DENES OF AMERICA IDENTIFIED WITH THE TINGUS OF ASIA. 185 



in the ground, the component parts of which are furnished in the middle 

 with transversal beams, upon which rests the floor of the tsa-tcen proper. 

 With the exception of the front end, the whole is made of heavy poles 

 superposed one upon another or laid in close juxtaposition, as the case 

 may be, and fastened to the frame of the building by means oVken or 

 high-cranberry bush wattle. The front end is entirely of boards. All 

 the wall poles being laid with their larger ends in the same direction, a 

 slight inclination results at the top, which constitutes the roof of the 

 building. This is furthermore covered with spruce bark." This tsa-tcen 

 is identical with the food-box of the Tungus, and differentiates the race 

 on both continents from neighboring tribes who make caches in the 

 ground. 



In regard to marriage. Father Morice writes : " Marriage in the 

 Christian sense of the term is rather a misnomer when intended to 

 designate native unions such as were contracted before the advent of the 

 Missionaries in the country. Co-habitation would better answer the 

 purpose. In fact, it is the corresponding expression they employ them- 

 selves when referring to a man married to such and such a woman. 

 They s^.y,yeroesta, " he stays with her." For, as there was no valid 

 contract, and no intention on either side to consider their union as a 

 permanent connection, divorce resulted as a matter of course whenever 

 one of the partners was tired of the other. * * * Among the 

 Se'kanais nothing was simpler or more expeditious than the contraction 

 of marriage.. Whenever a young hunter had made up his mind on 

 mating a fair child of the forest, with scarcely any previous courting, he 

 would, in the day time, simply ask the girl of his choice : " Will you 

 pack my beaver-snares for me?" To which, if she refused him, she 

 would make answer : " No, there are plenty of women, ask another one." 

 But, if agreeable to the maid, she would at once answer, without any 

 conventional blushes: " Perhaps, ask my mother." Upon which, the 

 lad would not ask her mother, but the girl would immediately tell her 

 about it. Then, following her parent's advice, she would hasten to erect 

 a branch lodge alongside their own primitive habitation, and, in the 

 evening, the affianced youth (such was he after the proposee's answer) 

 would, on entering it, hand her his " beaver snares." Without further 

 ceremony they were man and wife. * * * The preliminaries, if not 

 more complicated, were at least more difficult and tedious among the 

 Carriers. According to their etiquette, the intended wife had absolutely 

 nothing to say for or against the projected union. Whenever a youth of 

 a different clan had singled her out to be his future wife, he would not 

 exchange a word with her, even when proposing, but, installing himself 



