152 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute [vol. x 



caps, ornamented with a small piece of board projecting forwards, as 

 it seemed, for a defence against the arrows".^ 



Of the inhabitants of Alaxa, Umnak, Unalashka and the neigh- 

 bouring islands, the same author likewise records that "on their heads 

 they wear wooden caps, ornamented with ducks feathers and the ears 

 of the sea-animal called Scivutcha, or sea-lion ".- 



With regard to the other defensive weapons attributed to the Denes' 

 traditional enemies, they are also to be found, without an iota of differ- 

 ence, among the same maritime aborigines. I myself minutely described, 

 years ago, both of the kinds of armour mentioned by Petitot's infor- 

 mants.^ I gave them out as the Carrier shield and cuirass, but they 

 are common to all the North Pacific coast Indians. By referring to 

 Coxe's valuable work, we find the same among the islanders of the Far 

 West — and probably the Asiatics of the Extreme East as well. 



"On the 4th of October [1763] about two hundred islanders made 

 their appearance, carrying wooden shields before them, and preparing 

 with bows and arrows for an attack", he writes of the natives met by 

 the Russians on Kadyak Island.'* A specimen of this armour having 

 fallen into the hands of the white explorers, it was found to be "made 

 of three rows of stakes placed perpendicularly, and bound together with 

 sea-weed and osiers; they were twelve feet broad, and about half a yard 

 thick".5 



As to the "couteaux tranchants lies au bout d'une perche", these 

 were also to be seen throughout the same region, viz. the North Pacific 

 coast of America and west thereof, as well as the wigs which the Denes' 

 old enemies are said to have worn. 



All of which cannot but create the impression that the Denes tra- 

 versed that country while on their way to their present habitat. 



VI. 



So much for the traditions of the Eastern Denes. 



The main division of those who live west of the Rockies is the Carrier 

 tribe, the seats of which are around the numerous lakes of Central 

 British Columbia. The Carriers have no reminiscence of having moved 

 from a western continent. They even contend that they always dwelt 



1 Op. cit., p. 56. 



2 Ibid., p. 211. See also Sarytschew, ubi supra, Vol. II, p. 59. 



3 "Notes . . . on the Western Denes" (Transactions of the Canadian Institute, Vol. 

 IV, pp. 117 and 149; Toronto, 1893). 



* Op. cit., p. 129. 

 ' Ibid., p. 130. 



