OF THE POLAR SEA. 



43 



CHAPTER IX. 



Continuation of Proceedings at Fort Enterprise— Some 

 Account of the Copper Indians — Preparations for 

 the Journey to the Northward. 



March 18, 1821. — I shall now give a 

 brief account of the Copper Indians, termed 

 by the Chipewyans Tantsawhot-dinneh, or 

 Birch-rind Indians. They were originally 

 a tribe of the Chipewyans, and, according 

 to their own account, inhabited the south 

 side of Great Slave Lake, at no very dis- 

 tant period. Their language, traditions, 

 and customs are essentially the same with 

 those of the Chipewyans, but in personal 

 character they have greatly the advantage of 

 that people, owing probably to local causes, 

 or perhaps to their procuring their food 

 more easily and in greater abundance. They 

 hold women in the same low estimation as 

 the Chipewyans do, looking upon them as a. 



