LANGUAGE OF THE CHIPEWYANS. 403 



substance obtained as high as 112°. On the 14th 

 we entered the Riviere de Rocher, thence passed into 

 the Athabasca Lake, and in the evening landed at 

 Fort Chipewyan, which was once the head-quarters, 

 on this side Methy Portage, of the North- West 

 Company, once the rival of the Hudsons' Bay 

 Company, with which however a coalition was formed, 

 I believe about the year 1827. We were politely 

 received by Mr. Todd, and at supper were introduced 

 to the Pere Pharoux, a French missionary of the 

 Roman Catholic religion, with whom I enjoyed the 

 privilege of much interesting conversation. Mons. 

 Pharoux had apparently devoted considerable time 

 to the study of the Indians in this locality, who 

 consist chiefly of Chipewyans, or "Mountains," and 

 Crees. The men were mostly tall, well made, 

 and moderately stout ; the females were generally 

 tail, slight, and weU-featured. With reference to the 

 language of the Chipewyans, Mons. Pharoux observed 

 that their grammatical rules are distinctly defined, 

 though eccentric, and of almost infinite variety, certain 

 terminations or prefixes being applied to words in 

 classes, or according to the sense in which they were 

 to be used; as, for instance, things animate or 

 inanimate, natural or artificial, were distinguished by 

 certain terms expressing the quality : and here again 



D D 2 



