BULL. 30] 



ATHAPASCAN FAMILY 



109 



at the N., the Kawchodinneh or Hares, 

 and the Etchaottine or Slaveys; the 

 Chipewyan on Slave r., the Tsattine or 

 Beavers on Peace r. ; and some 500 ni. to • 

 the s. beyond the area outlined, the 

 Sarsi, a small tribe allied with their 

 Algonquian neighbors, the Siksika. The 

 northwestern group occupies the interior 

 of Alaska and adjacent portions of British 

 territory as far as the Rocky mts. The 

 shore lands to the n. and w. are held by 

 the Eskimo, except at Cook inlet and 

 Copper r. The people seem to have been 

 too much occupied with the severe strug- 

 gle with the elements for a bare existence 

 to have developed much material culture. 

 They are usually distinguished into three 

 principal divisions: The Kutchin of Por- 

 cupine and Tanana rs.,the middle course 

 of the Yukon, and -the lower Mackenzie 

 (where they are often spoken of as 

 Louchoux); the Ahtena of Copper r. ; 

 and the Khotana of the lower Yukon, 

 Koyukuk r., and Cook inlet. The south- 

 western group occupies the mountainous 

 interior of British America from the 

 upper Y'ukon to lat. 51° 30^, with the 

 Rocky mts. for their e. barrier, and with 

 the Skittagetan, Koluschan, Chimmes- 

 yan, and Wakashan families between 

 them and the Pacific. Their s. neighbors 

 are the Salish. Theyare said to show con- 

 siderable variety of physical appearance, 

 culture, and language. The tribes com- 

 posing this group are, according to Morice, 

 beginning at the n., the Nahane; the 

 Sekani; the Babine (Nataotin), on the 

 shores of a lake bearing that name; the 

 Carriers (Takulli), who occupy the terri- 

 tory from Stuart lake southward to Alex- 

 andria on Eraser r., and the Chilcotin 

 (Tsilkotin), who live in the valley of the 

 river to which they have given their 

 name. 



The Pacific division consisted formerly 

 of a small band in Washington and of 

 many villages in a strip of nearly contin- 

 uous territory about 400 m. in length, 

 beginning at the valley of Umpqua r. in 

 Oregon and extending toward the s. along 

 the coast and Coast Range mts. to the 

 headwaters of Eel r. in California. Their 

 territory was cut through at one point 

 by the Yurok on Klamath r. These vil- 

 lages were in many cases separated by 

 low l)ut rugged mountains, and were sur- 

 rounded by, and here and there sur- 

 rounded, the small stocks characteristic 

 of the region. The culture throughout 

 this territory was by no means uniform, 

 partly on account of the great differences 

 between .the conditions of life on the sea- 

 coast and those of inland mountain val- 

 leys, and partly because there was little 

 intercourse between the river valleys of 

 the region. For the greater part, in lan- 

 guage there was a gradual transition 



through intermediate dialects from one 

 end of the region to the other. There 

 were probably 5 of these dialects which 

 were nuitually imintelligible. There were 

 no tribes in this region, but groups of 

 villages which sometimes joined in a raid 

 against a common enemy and where the 

 same dialect was spoken. The following 

 dialectic groups made uj) this division: 

 The Kwalhioqua in Washington; the 

 Umpqua and Coquille (Mishikhwutme- 

 tunne) , formerly on rivers of these names; 

 the Taltushtuntude, Chastacosta, and 

 Tututunne on Rogue r. and its tributa- 

 ries, and the Chetco on Chetco r. in Ore- 

 gon; the Tolowa on Smith r. and about 

 Crescent City; the Hupa and Tlelding on 

 the lower portion of Trinity r. ; the Hoil- 

 kut on Redwood cr. ; the Mattole on the 

 river of that name; the Sinkyone, Las- 

 sik, and Kuneste in the valley of Eel r., 

 in California. But few of the members 

 of this division now remain. The Ore- 

 gon portion has been on the Siletz and 

 Grande Ronde res. for many years; those 

 of California still reside near their an- 

 cient homes. 



The Southern division held sway over 

 a vast area in the S. W., including mo.st 

 of Arizona and New Mexico, the s. por- 

 tion of Utah and Colorado, the w. bor- 

 ders of Kansas and Texas, and the n. part 

 of Mexico to lat. 25°. Their principal 

 neighbors were the members of the Sho- 

 shonean family and the various Pueblo 

 tribes in the region. So far as is known 

 the language and culture of this division 

 are quite uniform. The ])eoples compos- 

 ing it are the Navaho s. of San Juan r. in 

 N. E. Arizona and n. w. New Mexico, the 

 Apache (really a group of tribes) on all 

 sides of the Navah(j excej^t the n. , and the 

 Lipan formerly in w. Texas but now living 

 wdth the Mescaleros in New Mexico. 



Not included in the three divisions de- 

 scribed above are the Kiowa Apache, a 

 small ))and which has maintained its 

 own language while living on intimate 

 terms with the Kiowa. They seem never 

 to have been connected with the South- 

 ern division, but appear to have come 

 from the n. many years ago. 



The tendency of the members of this 

 family to adopt the culture of neighbor- 

 ing peoples is so marked that it is diffi- 

 cult to determine and describe any dis- 

 tinctive Athapascan culture or, indeed, to 

 say whether such a culture ever existed. 

 Thus, the tribes of the extreme N., espe- 

 cially in Alaska, had assimilated many of 

 the customs and arts of the Eskimo, the 

 Takulli had adopted the social organiza- 

 tion and much of the mythology of the 

 Tsimshian, the western Nahane had 

 adopted the culture of the Tlingit, the 

 Tsilkotin that of the Salish, while the 

 Sarsi and Beavers possessed much in com- 



