176 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute [vol. x 



Compare this with this passage from Hearne, which refers to the 

 way his Dene companions prepared themselves for the famous 

 Massacre of Bloody Falls, that is, for "war" as they understood it: 



"When we arrived on the West side of the river, each painted the 

 front of his target or shield, some with the figure of the Sun, others 

 with that of the Mooi. several with different kinds of birds and beasts 

 of prey, and many with the images of imaginary beings, which, accord- 

 ing to their silly notions, are the inhabitants of the different elements, 

 Earth, Sea, Air, etc. 



"On enquiring the reason of their doing so, I learned that each man 

 painted his shield with the image of that being on which he relied most 

 for success in the intended engagement. Some were contented with a 

 single representation, while others, doubtful, as I suppose, of the quality 

 and power of any single being, had their shields covered to the very 

 margin with a group of hieroglyphics quite unintelligible to every one 

 except the painter".^ 



On the other hand, if we are to take totemism in the same sense 

 as Mr. Frazer, then we will say that if this was really wanting among 

 the Asiatic tribes nearest to America, it is a further trait of resemblance 

 with the northernmost Americans, who do not know of what I call 

 social totemism and its consequent system of clans, endogamy or exo- 

 gamy. 



XII. 



As to the contracting of marriage, if the taking of a woman to wife 

 can be so called when it is a question of primitive peoples, I have written 

 that, among the Carriers — and I might have added the Tsilkotins, 

 the Babines and the Western Nahanais — "the intended wife had abso- 

 lutely nothing to say for or against the projected union 'V not any more 

 than is the case with her sisters among the Kirghis of Asia,^ and that this 

 latter happy consummation was the result of two or three years' arduous 

 work on behalf of the parents of the girl, with whom he would live as a 

 son during the stage preparatory to his marriage. 



The same custom prevails among the Kamtchadales, where the 

 suitor of a particular maiden "asks her parents permission to serve 

 them for a time with a view to get her".* 



^ "A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort to the Northern Ocean", pp. 148-49. 



* "The Western Den^s; their Manners and Customs", p. 122. 

 ' Prjdvalski, Mongolie et Pays des Tangoutes, p. 208. 



* Grieve and Jeflterys, Description abregSe du Pays de Kamtschaika, p. 77. 



