l6 2 EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



quence of the general eastward movement of the game. The 

 Slaveys, who formerly killed large numbers of caribou between 

 the Mackenzie and Rae, are now compelled to live principally 

 upon fish, and when these fail, as they did during the winter 

 that I spent in the country, they are reduced to actual starva- 

 tion. The score or two of Slaveys whom I saw at Providence 

 were dirty, thievish and poverty stricken. 



The recently established trade in robes has caused the musk- 

 ox to be driven out into the Barren Ground until they are 

 almost beyond the reach of the Dog Ribs. Several bands of 

 this tribe have therefore moved along the lake shore, into and 

 beyond the territory occupied by the Yellow Knives. 



The disappearance of the caribou from the neighborhood of 

 Good Hope and Norman has caused the Indians to withdraw 

 to a greater distance from the trading stations, and a few, such 

 as Naohmby, have encroached upon the Dog Rib hunting 

 grounds. An Indian made his appearance at Rae on the first 

 of February who had attended the Christmas feast at Norman. 

 He had come by the way of the Great Bear and Marten Lakes. 



The various bands seem to be more restricted in their move- 

 ments than before the advent of the traders, if we may judge 

 by the accounts of Hearne. This is due to their intercourse 

 with the traders, to whom they are always bound by "debt," 

 and especially to the influence of the missionaries. 



Religion. Nearly all the Indians of Mackenzie District are 

 nominally christians. The Trout Lake, numbering forty hunt- 

 ers, and some other Western Indians still adhere to the faith 

 of their fathers, whatever that may have been. Those profess- 

 ing Christianity are either Episcopalians or Roman Catholics. 

 The Dog Ribs are very strict in their observance of the outward 

 forms of the Catholic Church. No meal was ever eaten in my 

 presence, during a two months' residence among them, with- 

 out grace being repeated in concert, and it sometimes required 

 a strong effort of the imagination to see anything to be thank- 

 ful for. The Sunday services were very ceremonious functions 

 which always terminated in a feast when in camp. If traveling, 

 prayers were said before the day's journey was begun. They 

 displayed heroic faith when they knelt in the snows of the Bar- 

 ren Ground to offer up prayers with chattering teeth, shifting 

 their rosaries with half frozen fingers. In their hymn and 



