110 THKOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



to development in those remote regions. Failure, of course, 

 at such a distance from transport and supplies, was inevi- 

 table. But some of the prospectors, Captain Hall and others 

 who came out with ourselves, seemed to have no doubt that 

 much of the country they explored is rich in minerals. 

 Indeed, should the ancient repute of the Coppermine River 

 be justified by exploration, perhaps the most extensive lodes 

 on the continent will yet be discovered there. 



If the Hudson's Bay route were developed, a short line of 

 rail from the western end of Chesterfield Inlet would tap 

 the mining regions prospected, and develop many great 

 resources at present dormant. The very moss of the Barren 

 Lands may yet prove to be of value, and be shipped to Eng- 

 land as a fertilizer. I have been told by a gentleman who 

 has travelled in Alaska that an enterprising American there 

 is preparing to collect and ship moss to Oregon, where it 

 will be fermented and used as a fertilizer in the dairy 

 industry. 



To return to Lake Athabasca. It seemed at one time to 

 have been the rallying-place of the great Tine or Dene race, 

 to which, with the exception of the Crees, the Loucheaux, 

 perhaps^ and the Esquimaux, all the Indians of the entire 

 country belong. It is said to have been a traditional and 

 central point, such as Onondaga Lake was to the Iroquois. 



It is noticeable that, in the nomenclature of the various 

 Indians of the continent, the names by which they were 

 knovTU amongst themselves generally meant men, " original 

 men," or people; e.g., the Lenni Lenape of the Delawares, 

 with its equivalent, the Anishinape of the Saulteaux, and 

 the Naheowuk of the Crees. It is also the meaning of the 

 word Dene, the generic name of a race as widely sundered, 

 if not as widely spread, as the Algonquin itself. 



The Chipewyan of Lake Athabasca speaks the same tongue 

 as the Apache of Arizona, the Navajo of Sonora, the Hoopa 

 of Oregon, and the Sarcee of Alberta. The word Apache 

 has the same root-meaning as the word Dene, though that 

 fierce race was also called locally the Shisindins, namely. 



