48 E. Petitot on the Athabasca District. 



ance with Lake Athabasca must have existed in Canada, for he 

 speaks of the Dog-rib Indians and the " Savanois " (now called 

 " Mashkegous " [Maskigos] or swamp-dwellers), the former of 

 whom lived at the north-east of the lake, while the hunting- 

 grounds of the latter were to the east and south-east. 



At this date, the Ayis-iyiniwok or Iyiniwok (Men), called by 

 Duponceau " Killistini," by the Ojibbeways " Kinistinuwok," and 

 by the French " Cristineaux " (also called " Klistinos " and 

 11 Knistineaux "), from which have finally been derived the names 

 Oris, Crees, Kree, and Kri, lived on the banks of the Beaver- 

 Churchill river, which they called Great Water (Missi-Nipi), as 

 well as on the shores of Cross-isle Lake, Moor-hen Lake, Cold 

 Lake, &c. In short, they occupied the country between the Sav- 

 anois Indians on the east and the Grandspagnes (also called 

 Prairie-Crees), on the west. The Chipewyans at that time lived 

 along the course of the Peace River, after crossing the Rocky 

 Mountains, not having yet ventured down into the country now 

 occupied by them between the Great Slave Lake and Frog Por- 

 tage on the English River. It was in fact their primitive home 

 in the Rocky Mountains that originated the Canadian name 

 a Montagnais " or Highlanders for these Tinneys, who now live in 

 a flat country. 



Lake Athabasca, the Slave River, and the shores of the Great 

 Slave Lake were the exclusive territory of another tribe of Tinneys, 

 to whom the epithet of Slaves was given, from their natural tim- 

 idity and cowardice. They themselves recognized two divisions, 

 people living among the hares (or northern Tinneys), and among 

 the rabbits (meaning the Chipewyans). The latter name is 

 applied by the Crees to the entire Tinney nation, and means 

 t l Tailed men," i.e. f men clothed in tailed skins. This arose from 

 the fact that all the Tinneys, like the modern Dindiies of Alaska, 

 used to wear a fringed robe of moose or reindeer skin, ending in 

 a long point in front and behind. 



The Indians using the Algonquin tongue, such as the Crees, 

 Savanois, Grandspagnes, and Ojibbeways, carried on a pitiless 

 war against the Athabascan Tinneys or Slaves, who from natural 

 timidity gave up their territory to their enemies, and fell back on 

 the Great Slave Lake, pursued by the Crees, who made a great 

 slaughter among them. Various islands and archipelagos retain 



