114 PROCEKDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



eiices on the contrary ar-e so wide that the Carriers and the 

 Sekanais, though geographically neighbours, can scarcely understand 

 a word of each others' language unless tliey have previously learned 

 it by personal intercourse. 



Many of the remarks I am g)ing to offer on the social status of 

 the western tribes should be understood as applying to their original 

 condition when no missionaries had as yet (20 years ago) endeav red 

 to civilize and moi'ally coerce them into giving up the most obnoxious 

 of their customs. It would scarcely be to the point to spe k of 

 them as they are at present, since, being generally progressive in ilis- 

 230sition, they are socially speaking pretty much as we have made 

 them. However, the Sekanais and Nah'anes, owing to their nomadic 

 mode of living and the consequent difficulty to produce permanent 

 eflects upon them, may be said to have to this day almost })reserved 

 their original social status. 



JI. 



The American aboriginal type is too well known on this continent 

 to require a description from me. Our Denes, in spite of the char- 

 acteristics which particularize them into various tribes, do not 

 materially differ from it. Suffice it to say that whilst the Chilh;^otins 

 ai*e generally of low stature, broad shouldered and not unlike the 

 Chinese in their physical features ; the Carriers are, as a rule, rather 

 tall and stout without being corpulent, while most of them possess a 

 fine physique. On the other hand, the Sekanais and Nah'anes, 

 especially the former, are slender and bony, with hollow cheeks and 

 almond sha])ed eyes shining with ophidian brightness. 



Of course, tattooing prevailed everywhere. The face was par- 

 ticularly the object of would-be ornaments in the shape of incrusted 

 crosses or birds on the cheeks, the forehead or the temples. But 

 more commonly they consisted of ])arallel stripes, more or less 

 numerous, on the chin or the cheeks converging to the mouth corners. 

 On exceptional occasions, such as dances or " potlatches " the 

 Denes had recourse to charcoal to render themselves apparently more 

 redoubtable. And the young folks had vermilion to enhance tlieii- 

 natural beauty, and it may safely be conjectured that they did not 

 use it sparingly. 



