114 PROCEKDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



ences on the contrary are so wide that the Carriers and the 

 Sekanais, though geogi-aphically neighbours, can scarcely understand 

 a word of each other.-j' language unless they have [n•e^'iously learned 

 it by personal intercourse. 



Many of the lemarks I aui going to offer on the social status of 

 the western tribes should be understood as applying to their original 

 condition when no missionaries had as yet (20 years :tgo) endeav red 

 to civilize and morally coerce them into giving up the most obnoxious 

 of their customs. It would scarcely be to the point to spe k of 

 them as they are at present, since, being generally progre.ssive in dis- 

 position, tlii'y are socially speaking pretty much as we have made 

 them. However, the Sekanais and Nah'anes, owing to their nomadic 

 mode of living and the consequent difficulty to produce permanent 

 effects n])Ou tlieui, may be said to have to this day altuo.st preserved 

 their original social status. 



J I. 



The American abor.ii;iuul ty[)e is too well known on this continent 

 to require a description from me. Our Denes, in sjjite of the cliar- 

 actei'istics which j)articularize them into various tribes, do not 

 materially differ from it. Suffice it to say that whilst the Chilh;>^otins 

 are generally of low stature, broad shouldered and not unlike the 

 Chinese in their physical features ; the Carriers are, as <i rule, ratlier 

 tall and stout without being corpulent, while most of them possess a 

 fine physique. On the other hand, the Sekanais and Nah'anes, 

 especially the former, are slender and bony, with hollow cheeks and 

 almond .shaped eyes shining with ophidian bi-ii:htness. 



Of coui-se, tattooing prevailed everywhere. The face was par- 

 ticularly the object of would-be ornaments in the .sha])e of iucrusted 

 crosses or birds on the cheeks, the foi'eliead or the tem})les. But 

 more commonly they consisted of parallel sti-i[)es, more or less 

 numerous, on the chin or the cheeks converging to the mouth cornei-s. 

 On exceptional occasions, such as dances or " potlatches " the 

 Denes had recourse to charcoal to render themselves apparently more 

 redoubtable. And the young folks had vermilion to enhance their 

 natural beauty, and it may safely be conjectured that they did not 

 use it sparingly. 



