ASIATIC TRIBES OP NORTH AMERICA. 175 



and other Tariars to have displaced, enumerate the Tungus. This 

 is exceedingly probable, and so far agrees with the Tinneh traditions 

 reported by Mackenzie and Father Petitot. These state that the 

 enemies of the Tinneh, who were very wicked men, dwelt to the west 

 of their nation ; that, fleeing from them, they crossed a shallow sea, 

 passing from island to island in a bitterly cold climate, and at last 

 found the sea to the west of them and their enemies to the east. 

 Such traditions j^lainly indicate the northern Asiatic origin of the 

 Tinneh, and, together with their vocabulary and grammar, limit 

 them to an original home in the neighborhood of Siberia. Mr. Dall 

 and other observers bear testimony to their love of a gipsy, vagabond 

 life, which Martin Saner, in his account of Billing's expedition, has 

 similarly remarked upon in speaking of the Tungus. The latter 

 stated in reference to this customary moving continually from place 

 to place that • the Tungus did so to avoid the contraction of dis- 

 agreeable odours ; and the traveller Hearne, in his " Voyage to 

 Hudson's Bay," mentions a similar dislike to bad smells among the 

 Tinneh tribes: In regard to personal appearance nothing can be said 

 of stature, . for, while some writers describe the Tungus as tall, 

 athletic and straight, others speak of them as generally below the 

 middle size. The same apparently contradictory statements are 

 made regarding the Tinneh, showing that both Tungus and Tinneh 

 present much variety in this physical characteristic, although the, 

 writers on both sides are agreed that neither in the one family nor in 

 the other is there any tendency to corpulence. The small eyes, 

 high cheekbones, low forehead and coarse black hair of the Tungus 

 are alluded to by Santini and Sauer, and identical features are 

 ascribed to the Tinneh by Hearne, Mackenzie and later writers. 

 Although both peoples are genei-ally in the habit of depilation, it is 

 not universal among either the Tungus or the Tinneh. Some of the 

 Tungus tribes, such as the Tshapojirs, tat- too their faces after the 

 prevailing Siberian fashion with bars or straight lines on the cheeks 

 and forehead, and so, according to many authorities, do the 

 Chipweyans and other Tinneh tribes. 



The Tungus is inclined to be demonstrative, mirth-loving, com- 

 municative, and the contrast in this respect between the midignified, 

 fun-making and talkative Athabascan and the reserved, grave and 

 silent Cx'ee, his neighbour, has escaped few travellers in tlie North. 

 West. The docility of the Tinneh is a frequent subject of favorable 



