THE WESTERN DENES. 131 



most southern tribes, it was done only in summer time. For, strange 

 as it may appear, before Sir Alexander MacKenzie's discovery of 

 New Caledonia in 1793, snow shoes were unknown except among the 

 Sekanais and Nah'anes. Locomotion among the Western D^nes is 

 ordinarily by walking in very narrow paths though the Chilh;)(Otins 

 and Southern Carriers now travel not unfrequently on horseback. 

 More commonly however, the Cai'riers utilize as public high- ways the 

 numerous lakes which dot their country, whether it be summer or 

 winter time. They use "dug-out" canoes made of the hollowed out 

 trunk of a large cotton-wood tree (Abies subalpina). There is no. 

 artistic mei"it in their design, which is of a rather rough desci'iption, 

 for we must not forget that " dug-outs " are among them a x'ecent im- 

 portation from the East.^ In the beginning of this century they used 

 only birch bark canoes. 



Another mode of travelling, proper to the cold season, is by means 

 of light toboggans or sleds drawn by three or four dogs trotting along 

 in Indian hie. These animals (which are now of different breeds) 

 are very serviceable to the natives; for, even during the summer, 

 when families are en route for their hunting grounds, their canine 

 companions ai'e compelled to assist the women in packing part of their 

 master's baggage, firmly secured with lines to their sides. 



The chief object of our Dene.s' pursuit when hunting is beaver. 

 Since they have learned the commercial value of fur, they have waged 

 such a constant war on this valuable animal that he i< {tactically and 

 rapidly verging towards ultimate extinction. It is during the winter 

 months, as well as after the opening of the spring, that beaver hunt- 

 ing is practised on the most extensive scide. Once they have found 

 his lodge, an indispensable pi'elirainary to secure his capture is to dis- 

 cover the exact location of his path or trail under ice. It appears 

 that ho follows well marked routes when swimming from, or return- 

 ing to, his winter quarters. These our Den^s easily find out by 

 sounding the ice in different directions with cariboo horns. Their 

 well exercised ears readily discover by a peculiar resonance of the ice 



where the rodent's usual path lies. So, at a given point, they cut a 



% 



1 Some sixty or seventy ^ears ago, a party of Iroquois having' crossed the Rocky Mountains 

 reached Lake Tatlh'a in two wooden canoes which at once excited the curiosity and covetousnesft 

 of a band of Carriers who killed the strangers for the sake of their canoes. These having been 

 brought here (Stuart's Lake) served as models for the building of the first homemade "dug-outs. 



