320 NOTES ON THE TINNEH OR CHEPEWYAN INDIANS 



life of another, especially if he be innocent — is a great crime, but the killing of 

 an enemy in a fair stand-up fight is honorable, although they seldom act up to 

 their principles. A Loucheux prefers the safest side of valor, and hardly ever 

 makes an attack unless he is pretty certain of coming off without harm. 



Formerly the young women had their chins tattooed in perpendicular lines 

 from the corner of the mouth to the chin. Latterly the practice has been dis- 

 continued. Until the introduction of fire-arms by the Company, they made use 

 of bows and arrows in the chase, also of twisted deerskin thongs for snaring the 

 deer and moose. Their arms of defence were the bow and arrow and the knife; 

 their clothing is of dressed deerskin in the summer, and in winter the same with 

 the hair on. They live in conical lodges, rather flat at the top, made of deer- 

 skins dressed with the hair on, as well described in Sir John Richardson's work. 



3.— THE KUTOHIN TRIBES.— /owe*. 



The Kutchin may be said to inhabit the territory extending from the Mac 

 kenzie, at the' mouth of Peel's river, latitude 68°, longitude 134°, to Norton's 

 sound, living principally upon the banks of the Youcon and Porcupine rivers, 

 though several of the tribes are situated fai; inland, many days' journey from 

 either river. The Kutchin nation is very numerous, and is divided into about 

 twenty-two different tribes, each speaking a dialect of the same language, and 

 bearing a very great resemblance to each other in habits and customs. The 

 dress is the same among all the tribes. According to their traditions they were 

 created here, but their account is so intensely obscene that I fear to write it. 



Character . — In this they differ entirely from the Tinneh tribes of the Mac- 

 kenzie, being generous, honest, hospitable, proud, high-spirited, and quick to re- 

 venge an injury ; in short, bearing a much greater resemblance to the Plain tribes 

 than any other of the northern Indians. They were once very numerous, but 

 wars among themselves, disease, and famine have reduced their aggregate very 

 much. One or two of the tribes are nearly extinct. 



Physical appearance. — The average height of the men is about five feet eight 

 inches, though there are numbers six feet high. The women average five feet 

 three inches, and are very strongly made. The color of the skin is dusky, the 

 hair and eyes black. The men are completely destitute of beard, and both men 

 and women are intensely ugly. 



Dress. — The men's summer dress consists of a shirt, pointed before and be- 

 hind, the point nearly reaching to the knee: trousers, and shoes, both sewed to- 

 gether, all made of dressed deer-skin without the hair. The shirt has a broad 

 fringe of beads across the breast, and there is a broad band of beads down the 

 front of the legs of the trousers. Both fringe and band were in former times 

 made of Hiagua shells ( Dcnlalium) or of wooden beads made from willows. The 

 dress of the women is nearly the same, differing only in the shirt reaching below 

 the knee and not being pointed. The winter dress is the same, but is made of 

 deer-skin, with the hair on and turned inside. Sometimes the shirt is made of 

 muskrat or rabbit-skin, but in this case the hair is turned outwards. Mittens of 

 deer or sheep skin, with the hair inside, and a cap of rabbit-skin, with the hair 

 outside, complete the winter dress. The children are dressed in the same wa}', 

 but have the mittens sewed to the shirt sleeves, instead of being fastened to a 

 line passing over the neck as in the case of the men and women, and their hood 

 js fastened to the shirt, and draws off and on like the hood of a Canadian capote. 

 The men paint themselves with vermilion in lines across the face; they use also 

 a kind of powder from the mountains exactly resembling black lead ; they pow- 

 der their hair with goose down and a kind of red earth during their feasts. The 

 women tattoo their chins with lines from the mouth to the throat by puncturing 

 the skin and rubbing in the black powder mentioned before. The men always, 

 and the women sometimes, bore a hole in the end of the nose, between the nos- 

 trils, and insert an ornament into it. Among the Kutcha-Kutchin, Vondt-way- 



