THE WESTERN DENES. 141 



i-ubbed on the sjiiidy shores of a stream or lake and dried witli the 

 sand and small pebbles adherino; thereto, afterSvhich it was thoroughly 

 coated with a species of very tenacious glue, the principal ingredient 

 of which was boiled isinglass obtained from the sturgeon. Being 

 again before drying subjected to a thorough rubbing over sand, it 

 received a new coating of the aforesaid glue. When this process had 

 been repealed three or four times, it formed an armour perfectly in- 

 vulnerable to arrows over the parts which were thus protected. 



All these Mveapons and armours were in use among tlie Western 

 Denes, immediately prior, and even for some time subsequent, to the 

 -discovery of their country by Sir Alexander MacKenzie's jiarty.'^ 



XIII. 



It would scarcely be proper to speak of war as an institution 

 obtaining among the pre-historic Western Denes. Although the var- 

 ious tribes despised and mistrusted each other, general fights were 

 rare enough, and as surprises constituted the main part of their 

 .system of warfare, it followed that success was, as a rule, on tlie side 

 of the assailants. Sometimes the wliole population of a village would 

 be massacred in a single night. In that event, the victors would 

 chant their hymn of victory, generally improvised on the spot and 

 composed of the last words uttered by their victims. After their 

 return from the fray, they would also repeat it dancing for several 

 nights in succession. In no instance was scalping resorted to, at 

 least, on this side of the Rockies. 



Such general massacres, however, were not of very frequent occur- 



1 Abb(^' E. Petitot in his " Appendice relatif aux armes de pierre des Indiens arctiques " j>re- 

 sented in 1875 to the Paris Geographical Society states that the Denes of the Great MacKenzie 

 Basin know only by tradition some of the above described war weapons, as well as the wooden 

 masks spoken of in the previous paragraph. The two most northern tribes of the whole nation, 

 the Loucheux or Kut-ehins and the Hares contend, he says, that they formerly dwelt among a 

 powerful nation which oppressed them and whose warriors wore the pecesto which he graphically 

 describes without knowing that it was used here but a comparatively short time ago. Would 

 not this be evidence tending to prove that the aforesaid Denes migrations might liave been 

 North-Eastwards instead of Southward as, I think, is commonly believed? The learned Abbe 

 is evidently mistaken when he affirms that none of these defensive weapons were used by the 

 Denes since their probable arrival on this continent. Because Samuel Hearne and MacKenzie 

 who travelled in time of peace did not actually observe any of these weapo!is and cuirasses 

 among the natives they visited, it does not follow that they were not used by them when on the 

 war path. Indeed, many of the present older inhabitants of this lake, have seen in actual use 

 all of the arms, offensive or defensive which I have endeavoured to describe. 



