312 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 



The Loucheux generally live in large parties, each band headed by a chief 

 and one or more medicine men. The latter, however, do not possess any secular 

 power as chiefs, but they acquire an authority by shamanism to which even the 

 chiefs themselves are subject. 



All the chiefs, medicine men, and those who possess rank acquired by prop- 

 erty have two, three, or more wives, so that only few of the young men have 

 wives, unless they can content themselves with some old cast-off widow, who, 

 from ill health and the effects of bad treatment, is no longer able to perform 

 heavy work. The consequence is that those who have wives are invariably 

 jealous, and treat their women most brutally. It is one of the principal causes 

 of the great falling off of the Loucheux nation. They ai-e not half the number 

 they used to be. The other causes of the decrease in the population are female 

 infanticide, and premature birth and very frequent miscarriages from over exer- 

 tion, &c. Infanticide is caused by the misery of the women— at least, this is 

 the only reason they give for it. When questioned on the subject, they in- 

 variably give the same answer, " that they love their children, and destroy them 

 only to save them from the hardships and misery to which their mothers are 

 exposed in this life." To preserve them alive is equivalent to the unnatural 

 crime of a mother wilfully placing her daughter in misery. When a young 

 man has acquired the means, he purchases a young girl (perhaps an infant) 

 from its mother, who has the power to dispose of her daughter to whom she 

 pleases, though no doubt she will sometimes consult the wishes of her husband. 

 The fathers and brothers have no voice in the matter by the laws of the tribe. 

 The females are fewer than the men, especially when young, and might be con- 

 sidered pretty, but they get proportionably coarse and ugly as they grow old, 

 owing to hard labor and bad treatment. The very low position which they oc- 

 cupy in the social scale, is a sign of the dej^th to which the Loucheux are still 

 sunk in barbarism. The women are literally beasts of burden to their lords and 

 masters. All the heavy work is performed by them. When an animal is 

 killed, they carry the meat and skin on their backs to the camp, after which 

 they have the additional labor of dressing the skin, cutting up the meat and 

 drying it. They are the drawers of wood and water; all the household duties 

 devolve upon them ; they have to keep up the fires, cook, &c., besides all the 

 other work supposed to belong to the women, such as lacing the snow shoes for 

 the family, making and mending their husband's and children's clothes, &c. In 

 raising the camp, or travelling from one place to another, if, in winter, the 

 woman hauls all the baggage, provisions, lodge poles, cooking utensils, with 

 probably a couple of children on the top of all, besides an infant on the back, 

 while the husband walks quietly on ahead with his gun, horn and shot-pouch, 

 and empty hunting bag. In the summer the man uses a small light hunting 

 canoe, requiring very little exertion to propel it through the water, while the 

 poor woman is forced to struggle against the current in a large ill-made canoe, 

 laden with all the baggage, straining every nerve to reach a particular place 

 pointed out beforehand by her master as the intended camping ground. 



They are a lively, pleasant race, and have many rules and reguktions, wtiich 

 are strictly adhered to both in public and private life. Their games and pastimes 

 are more manly and rational than those of the dull, apathetic Slaves. They are 

 passionately fond of dancing, wrestling, running, &c., in ail which sports the 

 women, especially the younger, take a part. Their dances, which are accom- . 

 panied by singing, are not void of harmony, as they keep time with their 

 bodies, beating cadence with their feet, and moving themselves in grotesque 

 though not unpleasant postures, which are apparently rather difficult to perform, 

 as they perspire profusely. Their wrestling matches are commenced generally 

 by two little boys. When one of them is thrown he retires and another, a little 

 bigger, takes his place. As soon as he has thrown his opponent he rises up 

 t^uickly and places himself in preparation for the next, who will make a sudden 



