1896-97-] THE DENES OF AMERICA IDENTIFIED WITH THE TUNGUS OF ASIA. 20I 



Hearne represents the dog as the father of the Northern Indian race and 

 of all creatures. Then he says : " The Indians have no religion, and 

 though their sorcerers, by songs and long discourses, conjure beasts of 

 prey as well as imaginary beings, by which they pretend to be helped 

 in the cure of diseases, they are as deficient as their credulous 

 compatriots of any religious system." He tells how his Indians had 

 been rendered ceremonially unclean by killing the Eskimo, which 

 condemned them to abstinence of many kinds. " When the time to put 

 an end to these ceremonies arrived, the men, having carefully removed 

 the women, lighted a fire at some distance from their tents and threw 

 into it all their ornaments, their pipes and their eating utensils, which 

 were soon reduced to ashes. They then prepared a feast, composed of 

 everything that had been denied them during their time of expiation, 

 and, when it was ready, they were all free to eat, drink, smoke and 

 embrace their wives and children at will." 



Mackenzie gives the story of creation somewhat differently, making 

 the large bird, which, according to Hearne, produced all creatures from 

 the fragments of the primitive dog, to call forth " all the variety of 

 animals from the earth, except the Chipewyans, who were produced 

 from a dog ; and this circumstance occasions their aversion to the flesh 

 of that animal as well as the people who eat it." The same author 

 says : " They are superstitious in the extreme, and almost every action 

 of their lives, however trivial, is more or less influenced by some 

 whimsical notion. I never observed that they had any particular form 

 of religious worship ; but, as they believe in a good and evil spirit, and a 

 state of future rewards and punishments, they cannot be devoid of 

 religious impressions. At the same time, they manifest a decided 

 unwillingness to make any communications on the subject. * * * 

 They believe that, immediately after their death, they pass into another 

 world, where they arrive at a large river on which they embark in a 

 stone canoe, and that a gentle current bears them on to an extensive 

 lake, in the centre of which is a most beautiful island ; and that, in the 

 view of this delightful abode, they receive that judgment for their 

 conduct during life which terminates their final state and unalterable 

 allotment. If their good actions are declared to predominate, they are 

 landed upon the island, where there is to be no end to their happiness ; 

 which, however, according to their notions, consists in an eternal 

 enjoyment of sensual pleasure and carnal gratification. But, if their bad 

 actions weigh down the balance, the stone canoe sinks at once, and 

 leaves them up to their chins in the water, to behold and regret the 

 reward enjoyed by the good, and eternally struggling, but with unavail- 



