292 



A JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



people report that in their hunting excursions to the northward of 

 Great Bear Lake they meet small parties of Esquimaux. 



Immediately to the northward of the Hare Indians, on both banks 

 of Mackenzie's Eiver, are the Tykoihee-dinneh, Loucheux, Squint- 

 Eyes, or Quarrellers. They speak a language distinct from the 

 Chipewyan. They war often with the Esquimaux at the mouth of 

 Mackenzie's Kiver, but have occasionally some peaceable intercourse 

 with them, and it would appear that they find no difficulty in under- 

 standing each other, there being considerable similarity in their 

 languages. Their dress also resembles the Esquimaux, and differs 

 from that of the other inhabitants of Mackenzie's River. The 

 Tykothee-dinneh trade with Fort Good-Hope, situated a consider- 

 able distance below the confluence of Bear Lake River with Mac- 

 kenzie's River, and as the traders suppose, within three days' march 

 of the Arctic Sea. It is the most northern establishment of the 

 North- West Company, and some small pieces of Russian copper 

 coin once made their way thither across the continent from the west- 

 ward. Blue or white beads are almost the only articles of European 

 manufacture coveted by the Loucheux. They perforate the septum 

 of the nose, and insert in the opening three small shells which they 

 procure at a high price from the Esquimaux. 



On the west bank of Mackenzie's River there are several tribes 

 who speak dialects of the Chipewyan language, that have not hitherto 

 been mentioned. The first we came to, on tracing the river to the 

 southward from Fort Good-Hope, are the Ambawtawhoot-dinneh, or 

 Sheep Indians. They inhabit the rocky mountains near the sources 

 of the Dawhoot-dinneh River which flows into Mackenzie's, and are 

 but little known to the traders. Some of them have visited Fort 

 Good-Hope. A report of their being cannibals may have originated 

 in an imperfect knowledge of them. 



Some distance to the southward of this people are the Rocky 

 Mountain Indians, a small tribe which musters about forty men and 



