THE WESTERN DENES. 117 



are also gathered in regular villages. And here I must remark that 

 ■our tribes have scarcely any national economic policy ; but have 

 generally copied, wholly or in part, from the alien tribes with whom 

 they have been in contact. Until a short time ago, the Chilh;^otins, 

 like the Shush waps their eastern neighbours, used to pass the cold 

 season in semi-subterranean huts rotund in form. An aperture in 

 the centre of the mud covered roof to which an Indian ladder (a log 

 chojjped off every foot or so for seeps) led, served the double purpose 

 of a door and chimney. Imitating the Atnas or coast Indians with 

 whom they had commercial relations, the Carriers lived in houses or 

 lodges formed of slender poles, low in height and covered with spruce 

 bark. These had an enti-ance at both gable ends, the tire place being 

 in the centre to which con-es])onded an opening in the roof to let the 

 smoke out. Salmon skins sewn together made a good substitute for 

 boai'ds and were used as doors\ Generally, they kept the spoils of 

 their heraldic animals, fowl or rodent, nailed to the wall in the 

 inside, whilst in the case of leading members of the tribe, they had 

 their totem carved in wood and exhibited on the outside summit of 

 the gable. (See figure 1.) The Sekanais were less pretentious. 

 Even to this day, they content themselves with cii-cular coniferous 

 branch huts oi- lodges which they construct and abandon at a n?o- 

 ment's notice, whenever their incessant peregrinations after food and 

 peltries call therefor. 



Unlike the Esquimaux"- who sleep in a state of absolute naked- 

 ness, our Denes roll themselves in their blankets, their feet to the 

 file, with almost all their clothes on. Making due allowance for 

 theii' particular ideas of propriety, they are generally inodest in 

 dppo tment and chaste in privacy, despite the fact that several 



'Coui])are these with the nomadic Moguls' "rolling- habitations": "The houses they inhabit 

 " are placed upon wheels and constructed of a kind of wooden latticed work with an opening 

 " at the top that serves for a chimney. . . Before the entrance there is suspended a piece 

 ■ of felt." — Hubrick's Xarratioe in Abbe Hue's ChriMianity in China, Tartart/, etc , Volume i, 

 page 1 78. 



2 In a letter from the Rev. Mr. Morice, dated July ■2Sth, 1889, occur the following words : 

 " Concerning the passage in my paper which refers to the Esquimaux as sleeping naked, I have 

 not m view the Labrador Esquimaux, who if I mistake not, have been semi-civilized by the 

 Moravian brethern, but the Tchigh't or Esquimaux of the Anderson and Mackenzie Rivers, who 

 are still in their primitive state. Now, I take the liberty to refer you, by permission, to Mr. 

 McFarlane who passed part of his life as an H. B. Go's officer among said aborigines, and who, 

 hut yesterday, assured me that both in winter and summer time, men, women and children of 

 ■either se\', sleep stark naked." — CIi. S. Cm. 



