BOLL. 30] 



SEKHATSATUNNE SEKUMNE 



499 



skins, the hair turned outside or next to 

 the skin according to the season. They 

 cover themselves at night with goat-skins 

 sewed together, wluch communicate 

 to them a strong odor, though less 

 pungent than the Chipewyan receive 

 from their smoked elk skins. Petitot 

 (Autour du lac des Esclaves, 309, 1891) 

 pronounces them the least frank and the 

 most sullen of all of the Tinneh. They 

 are entirely nomadic, following the moose, 

 caribou, bear, lynx, rabbits, marmots, and 

 beaver, on which they subsist. They eat 

 no fish and look on fishing as an unmanly 

 occupation. Their society is founded on 

 father-right. They have no chiefs, but 

 acce{)t the council of the oldest and most 

 influential in each band as regards hunt- 

 ing, camping, and traveling (Morice, 

 Notes on W. Denes, 28, 1893). When a 

 man dies they pull down his brush hut 

 over the remains and proceed on their 

 journey. If in camp, or in the eventof the 

 deceased being a person of consequence, 

 they make a rough cofhn of limbs and 

 erect a scaffolding for it to rest on, cover- 

 ing it usually with his birch-l)ark canoe 

 inverted; or, on the death of an influen- 

 tial member of the tribe, a spruce log 

 may be hollowed out for a cofhn and 

 the remains suspended therein on the 

 branches of trees. Sometimes they hide 

 the corpse in an erect position in a tree 

 hollowed out for the purpose. They 

 keep up the old practice of burning or 

 casting into a river or leaving suspended 

 on trees the weapons and clothing of the 

 dead person. AVhen a member of the 

 band was believed to be stricken with 

 death they left with him what provisions 

 they could spare and al)andoned him to 

 his fate when the camp broke up. They 

 are absolutely honest. A trader may go 

 on a trapping expedition, leaving his 

 store unlocked without fear of anything 

 being stolen. Natives may enter and 

 help themselves to powder and shot or 

 any other articles they require out of his 

 stock, but every thne they leave the ex- 

 act equivalent in furs (Morice). 



Morice (Trans. Can. Inst., 28, 1893) 

 divides the Sekani into 9 tribes, each 

 being composed of a number of bands 

 having traditifjnal hunting grounds the 

 limits of which, unlike those of their 

 neighbors, are but vaguely defined. It 

 is not uncommon for them to trespass 

 on the territory of one another without 

 molestation, an unusual custom amongthe 

 tribes of the N. W. The tribes are as fol- 

 low^s: (1) Yutsutkenne, (2) Tsekehneaz, 

 (3) Totatkenne, (4) Tsatkenne (Tsat- 

 tine), (5) Tsetautkenne, (6) Sarsi, (7) 

 Saschutkenne, (8) Otzenne, (9) Tselone. 

 Besides these there is an eastern division, 

 the Thekkane. 



Drake (Bk. Inds., xi, 1848) gave their 

 number as 1,000 in 1820. Dawson (Eep. 



Can. Inst., 200b, 1889) said that in 1888 

 there were 78 near Ft Liard and 73 near 

 Ft Halkett, making 151 in the INIackenzie 

 r. region. Morice (Proc. Can. Inst., 113, 

 1889) said that they numbered 500 in 1887, 

 not more than 250 of them being in 

 British Columlna. The same authority 

 (Notes on W. Denes, 16, 1893) estimated 

 the total population of the Sekani group 

 at 1,300; the Sekani proper, on both sides 

 of the Rocky mts., numbering 500, the 

 Tsattine 700, and the Sarsi lOOr In 1909 

 the Sarsi (q. v.) alone were officially re- 

 ported to number 197. 



Al-ta-tin. — Daw.son in Rep. Geol.Surv. Can., 192b, 

 1887. Lhtaten.— Morice in Proc. Can. Inst., 118, 

 1S89 ('inhabitants of beaver dams': applied 

 also to Nahane). I'tat-'tenne. — Morice, Notes on 

 W. Den6s, 29, 1893 ('people of the beaver dams': 

 Takulli name.) Rocky Mountain Indians. — Ban- 

 croft, Nat. Races, l, map, Zr^, 1882. Secanais. — 

 Petitot in .Tour. Roy. Geog. Soc, 651, 1883 ('men 

 who live on the mountain'). Secunnie. — Hale, 

 Ethnol.and Phik)!., 202, 1846. Sekanais.— Petitot, 

 Diet. Dene-Dindjie, xx, 1876. Sekanais toene. — 

 Morice in Proc. Can. Inst., 113, 1889. Sekan'-es. — 

 Petitot, MS. vocab., B. A. E., 1869. Sicannis.— 

 Bancroft, Nat. Races, l, 115, 1874. Sicanny.— Pope, 

 MS. vocab., B. A. E., 1865. Sicaunies.— Harmon, 

 Jonr., 190, 313, 18'20. Siccane.— Can. Ind. Aff., 91, 

 1876. Siccanies.— Taylor in Cal. Farmer, July 19, 



1862. Siccannies. — Hind, Labrador Penin., ii, 261, 

 app., 1863. Siccony. — Ross, MS. notes on Tinne, 

 B. A. E. Sickanies. — Ross in Smithson. Rep. 1866, 

 309, 1872. Sickannies.— Ross, MS. vocab., B. A. E. 

 Siconi.— Wilkes, U.S. Expl. Exped., iv, 451, 1845. 

 Sikanis.— Duflot de Mnfras, Expl. de I'Orcgon, II, 

 339, 1844. Sikanni.— Latham in Trans. Philol. Soc. 

 Lond., 71, 1856. Sikannies. — Keane in Stanford, 

 Compend., 535, 1878. Sikennies.— Ibid., 464. ^ Thae- 

 oanies. — Dunn, Hist. Oregon, 79,1844. The-ke-ne. — 

 Petitot, MS. vocab., B. A. E., 1865 ('dwellers on 

 the mountains' ). The'-ken-neh. — Ross, MS. notes 

 on Tinne, B. A. E. The-ke-ottine.— Petitot, MS. 

 vocab., B. A. E., 1865. The-khene.— Petitot in Bull. 

 Soc. G6og. Paris, chart, 1876. The-kk'a-ne. — 

 Petitot, Autour du lac des Esclaves, 362, 1891 

 ('people on the mountain'). The-kka-ne — Petitot, 

 Diet. Dene-DindjiO, xx, 1876. The-kke-Ottine.— 

 Petitot in Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc, 651, 1883. 

 Thickcannies. — Hind, Labrador Penin., ii, 261, 



1863. Thikanies.— Hardistv in Smithson. Rep. 

 1866,311, 187'2. Tsekanie.— McLean, Hudspn'sBay, 

 1, 235, 1849. Tse'kehne.— Morice, Notes on W. 

 D^nSs, 19, 1893. Tsekenne.— Morice in Proc. Can. 

 Inst., 112, 1889 ('inhabitants of the rocks'). 

 Tsikanni.— Latham, Nat. Hist. Man, 306, 1850. 

 Tsitka-ni.— Richardson, Arct. Exped., ii, 31, 1851. 



Sekhatsatunne {Se-qn'-ts'd i{mne). A for- 

 mer village of the Chastacosta, o^ the n. 

 bank of Rogue r., Oretj. — Dorsey in Jour. 

 Am. Folk-lore, in, 234, 1890. 



Sekhushtuntunne {Se-qfic-tun p'mn^, 

 'people at the big rocks'). A band of 

 the Mishikhwutmetunne formerly living 

 on Coquille r., Oreg. — Dorsey in Jour. 

 Am. Folk-lore, iii, 232, 1890. 



Sekumne {Se-kum^-ne). A former Maidu 

 village on the right bank of American r., 

 about 10 m. above Sacramento, Cal. 

 Lacomnis.— Taylor in Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860, 

 Secumnes.— Hale, Ethnol. and Phllol., 631. 1846. 

 Secumni.— Latham in Proc. Philol. Soc. Lond., vi, 

 79, 1S54. Sekamne.— Hale, op. cit.,'222. Sekomne.— 

 Hale misquoted bv Bancroft, Nat. Races, i, 450, 

 1874. Sekume.— La'tham. Opuscula, 313, 1860. Se- 

 kumne.— Dixon in Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., xvii. 

 pt. 3, pi. 38. 1905. Sekumne.— Hale, op. cit., 631, 

 Sicumnes. — Ibid., 630, 



