THE WESTERN DENES. 127 



•dreaming, supernatural communication as to the name they should he 

 known by. This was usual!}-, except in the case of girls, nidicative 

 of some peculiarity, the recalling of which was supposed to bring 

 good luck in hunting. When the child's parents were of i*ank or 

 influence, he was, at the occasion of one of their ceremonial banquets, 

 held up in the midst of the crowd by his or her maternal grandmother 

 and given a name previously borne by a maternal ancestor. 



It is a well known fact, that among the Aborigines of both North 

 and South America, mothers never carry their infants in their arms, 

 but unifoi-mly pack them on their back. Our Denes are no exception 

 to this rule. The Chilh;!^otin mothers manufacture as receptacles for 

 their babes, pretty little osier baskets or cradles generally placed in 

 closely fitting deer hide coverings, wherein the infant is tightly laced, 

 much as a little mummy. A birch bark conduit leading to an oritice 

 in the narrow end of the ci'adle pi-events its contents from remaining 

 in an unhealthy condition. In this respect they are decidedly ahead 

 of the Carriers who only use swaddling clothes tirmly secured around 

 the infant. 



Parental authority, either maternal or paternal, may be cori'ectly 

 qualified as nil or thereabouts, except among the Carriers and 

 Chilh;)^otins, when it is a question of mai-riage. The parents are under 

 any circumstances very averse to inflicting punishments on their oti- 

 spiing when young, and cannot well expect to be able to control them 

 when they become full grown. 



" Fecund-like an Irishwoman," the female Dene would soon glory 

 in a numerous family were she only to take pro2)er liygienic pre- 

 cavitions and wean her child after a reasonable period of suckling. 

 But, even at the present time, unless physically unable to do so, she 

 will nurse it as long as three and four years, sometimes longer ! 

 However, were it not for periodical visitations of contagious diseases 

 formerly unknown, the native population would soon increase in a 

 fair ratio, as will be seen by the following table of the births and 

 deaths of this place for the last years. The population was exactly 

 140 by the last (31st December 1888) census. 



