1898-99. | ON THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE DENE TRIBES. a4 
states that some of the names are not tribal. He has no other fault to 
find with it. Now, I am almost certain that the very first tribe he 
mentions, the Ahtena, is not Déné.* Again I will ask: Where are in 
that list my TsijKoh’tin and my Sékanais (or Tsé’kéhné) and the 
Beavers and the Hares and the Dog-Ribs, etc.? Perhaps they are not 
really distinct tribes? will venture our reviewer, Let a single circum- 
stance be my answer. When I was stationed among the TsijKoh’tin I 
used to preach without an interpreter. On my coming to Stuart’s Lake, 
my residence since the last fourteen years, I could not understand or 
formulate a single sentence in Carrier. Moreover, who, with even a slight 
tincture of Déné phorology, could recognize as Déné the foreign looking 
Nagailer of Powell’s list? Lastly, Tahltan—which should read 
Thahlthan +—is not the name of a tribe; itis a local name denominative 
of a body of water frequented by Indians within my sphere of action. 
Commenting on that list, Mr. Campbell remarks: “ The Montagnais 
are the Chippewyans or typical Athapaskans and their true name is 
Déné-Dindjié, . .. . while the Slaves or Dogribs are the Thing-e-ha- 
dtinne.”t The pre-occupation to find aboriginal names has evidently 
betrayed our reviewer into error and loose writing. The true name of 
the Montagnais or Chippewayans is mot Déné-Dindjié, but simply 
Déné. As I have plainly noted in a monograph much quoted by Prof. 
Campbell, § the compound word is a name invented by Father Petitot 
to designate the whole of the Déné family, not any single tribe 
thereof. On the other hand, the Slaves or Dog-Ribs are not a single 
tribe, as one would seem warranted to infer from the above quoted 
sentence. They are two distinct tribes, though their territory is 
contiguous. The Dog-Ribs are well known as such in ethnographica] 
literature, while the Slaves are called Strong-Bow or Thick-Wood 
Indians in Franklin’s journal. 
On Mr. W. Dall’s classification Dr. Campbell has no criticism to offer. 
Indeed he aimost seems to approve of it, since he therewith compares 
mine disparagingly. In his eyes what I wrote of the former, ten years 
ago, must be so much useless scribbling. To make out for his silence, I 
will refer the unprejudiced reader to my remarks which I deem as 
apposite to-day as they were then.|| 
* See ““Notes . . onthe Western Dénés,” p. 15, foot-note, and p. 17, text. 
+ Tha, water (in composition), Althan, lies (is stagnant, non-running). The population of that place is 
Nah’ane. 
PP. 172. 
§ ‘The Western Dénés,” Proc. Can. Inst., Vol. vii., p. 110. 
|| Lbid, tbéd. 
