MARRIAGES. 23 



Dog-ribs, or Red-knives, in the course of four or 

 five years passed among them, though I have many- 

 times seen some of the old men throw trifling arti- 

 cles into the water, to procure a fair wind, or se- 

 cure a safe passage across a lake or down a rapid. 



From a people so liable to be actuated by fears 

 of imaginary evils no steady line of action can be 

 expected, and the Dog-ribs are in reality as volatile 

 as children. When accompanied by a white man, 

 they will perform a long journey carefully to a 

 distant post ; but we found, by experience, that 

 however high the reward they expected to receive 

 on reaching their destination, they could not be 

 depended upon to carry letters. A slight difficulty, 

 the prospect of a banquet on venison, or a sudden 

 impulse to visit some friend, were sufficient to turn 

 them aside for an indefinite length of time. 



In general, the 'Tinne have only one wife, the 

 numbers of the sexes being equal, or the males 

 rather predominating. The women are married 

 very young, but the man must have shown some 

 skill in hunting before he obtains a helpmate 

 readily. The consent of the parents is usually 

 gained by the suitor, and is seldom withheld 

 from a man whose activity promises the old folks 

 some addition to their comforts or consequence. 

 The woman's wishes have, perhaps, some weight 

 with her parents, but I could not ascertain that 



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