28 CHEPEWYANS. 



such cases that the poor husband, dreading to be 

 deprived of his most valuable property, retires 

 to a remote hunting-Ground ; for he is sure to 

 receive a message, from some passing Indian, ex- 

 pressive of the chief's intentions ; and he generally 

 comes to the conclusion that submission is the best 

 policy. He is certain to fall in with the chief and 

 his band sooner or later, either as he goes to the 

 fort for supplies of ammunition or elsewhere. A 

 free expenditure by the chief of the presents he 

 receives from the traders, and even of the produce 

 of his furs, is a main bulwark of his authority, in 

 addition to the skill which he must possess in the 

 management of the various tempers with which he 

 has to do. 



The sounds of the 'Tinne language can scarcely 

 be expressed by the English alphabet, and several of 

 them are absolutely unpronounceable by an English- 

 man. In my attempts to form a vocabulary I had 

 great difficulty in distinguishing several words from 

 one another which had dissimilar sounds to the 

 native ear, and were widely different in their signifi- 

 cation. A Dog-rib or Athabascan appears, to one 

 unaccustomed to hear the language, to be stut- 

 tering. Some of the sounds must have a strong 

 resemblance to the Hottentot cluck, and palatal 

 and guttural syllables abound in the language. 

 Vocabularies of this tongue cannot be greatly de- 



