304 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 



1.— THE EASTERN TINNER— i2o5*. 



PHYSICAL CHARACTER. 



The eastern Tinneh are of middle stature, squarely and strongly built. 

 Although tall men are not uncommon in some of the tribes, the extremes in 

 either direction are far from numerous. The lowest adult whom I have seen was 

 four feet four inches in height, and the tallest, six feet eix inches, the former a 

 ir^laA'e, and the latter a Yellow Kuife. As a whole they are tolerably fleshy, and 

 their weight may be averaged at 140 pounds. The crania of these people are 

 very large, with a tolerably good facial angle, the forehead rather high, and the 

 skull elongated towards the occiput in most cases. The females appear to have 

 the largest heads, and those of both sexes are covered with a matted profusion 

 of black, coarse, and straight hair. They are, generally, long-bodied, with short, 

 stout limbs, but without any disproportion between the lengths of the upper and 

 lower ones. The extremities are small and well-formed, the hands thick, with 

 short, tapering fingers, offering a strong contrast to the narrow, long, and bony 

 hands of the Crees, and resembling a good deal in this particular the Eskimo 

 of the Arctic circle. The mosi distinguishing feature in the race is the breadth 

 of their faces between the cheek bones ; this, with a high and rather narrow fore- 

 head and elongated chin, gives them a pear-like appearance. They are possessi d 

 of considerable bodily strength, of which, as the Hudson's Bay Company em- 

 ploy them as boatmen, there are excellent opportunities of judging. They can 

 carry 200 pounds, in a strap passed over the forehead, without difficulty, but they 

 are, as a Avhole, considerably under the average of the European servants in en- 

 durance and strength. 



There is no particular cast of features other than the large and high cheek 

 bones. Large mouths are universal ; the teeth are white and regular, even to old 

 age ; the chins are commonly pointed, but cleft ones are not unusual among the 

 Yellow Knives; the usual description of noses are the snub and bottle, with a 

 slight sprinkling of aquiline ; the ears, generally large, are placed well up towards 

 the crown of the head ; sparse mustaches and beard are sometimes seen, but 

 whiskers are unknown ; the eyes are mostly of a very dark brown hazel, varied 

 with lighter, but never clear tints of the same color, and with black; they are 

 often placed obliquely in the head, and although there is no general rule in the 

 case, 1 think this form is oftener met Avith among the northern than among the 

 more southern tribes. The prevailing complexion may, with propriety, be said 

 to be of a dirty yellowish ochre tinge, ranging from a smoky brown to a tint as 

 fair as that of many half-caste Europeans. I'he color of the skin is, in all cases, 

 opaque, and its texture close and smooth. In a few instances I have seen the 

 blood through the cheeks, giving a vermilion color to that part of the face. 

 Cases of corpulency, though the rule in childhood, are very rare in old age. 

 The women, if anything, are uglier than the men ; of smaller stature, and in 

 old age become positively hideous. The mammae become pendulous and large, 

 though they never, to my knowledge, attain the almost fabulous dimensions that 

 [ have heard are not uncommon among the Carrier women. 



Nature certainly does more than art for the rearing of the children of these 

 people. •' God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," and causes them to thrive 

 under numerous disadvantages. Immediately after birth, without washing, the 

 infant is laid naked on a layer of moss in a bag made of leathei', and lined with 

 hare skins. If it be summer, the latter are dispensed with. This bag is then 

 securely laced, restraining the limbs in natural positions, and leaving the child 

 freedom to move the head only. In this phase of its existence, it resembles 

 strongly an Egyptian mummy. Cradles are never used ; but this machine, called 

 a ''moss bag," is an excellent adjunct to the rearing of children up to a certain 

 age, and has become almost, if not universally, adopted in the families of the 



