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and no special class of medicine men. Religious ideas were relatively 
simple. All living creatures were believed to be more or less endowed with 
supernatural power, which if rightly solicited they often placed at the 
service of man. The desire of every Carrier hunter was to obtain' in secret 
some tutelary bird or animal which he could call to his aid in time of 
stress. High gods had no place in this early religion; and of the various 
supernatural monsters that it was thought once peopled the earth the 
majority had been killed by a mighty hero in days long since. 
Early Educational System 
The loose organization of society among the early Carriers, and the 
simplicity of their religious doctrines, affected the education of the young. 
The name that a child received at birth was not hereditary in the family, 
but either some high-sounding title or a word derived from the “medicine” 
of his father or of some man renowned for “medicine” power; and the 
name was not changed later, through ascent in rank or dignity, but endured 
through life, except when it was superseded by some nickname or, in rare 
cases, by a name revealed when acquiring medicine power. Both boys 
and girls grew up during their early years free and untrammelled. As 
soon as they were old enough the boy followed his father and uncles to the 
chase, the girl helped her mother and aunts in all the domestic duties of 
camp life. Knowledge of religious matters and of the duties of social life 
was acquired from observation and from occasional folk-tales told mainly 
by old women at odd moments of the day or night. 
A little more attention was bestowed on the children when they reached 
their teens. The girl learnt from her female relatives all the restrictions 
that would surround her for the remainder of her life, the periodical seclu- 
sion, the foods that were henceforth forbidden to her, and the precautions 
that she must observe in handling the weapons of the hunters. The boy 
too was forbidden certain articles of food from the age of about twelve. 
Some two years later he was sent out into the woods to seek his “medicine.” 
Then for a few days he wandered alone in the forests, sleeping and dream- 
ing on an animal's tracks, or beside some silent lake, or high up on the 
slopes of a mountain. But from the moment he returned his probation 
ended, whether he obtained a “medicine” or not; thenceforward he was 
as free as in his childhood days, save that now he was classed among the 
hunters of the community and required to contribute his share towards 
its support. 
Change in Social Organization to West Coast Pattern 
Simple in the extreme then was the educational system of the Carriers 
in those early days before they crossed the Rockies. But, with everything 
else, it was revolutionized when some of the bands pushed westward 
into Skeena River valley and encountered Indians from the west coast. 
The social system was the first to be reorganized. The migratory life of 
hunting was partly superseded by fixed habitations at favourable fishing 
localities, and the loose structure of society gave place to a rigid clan 
system of nobles, commoners, and even slaves. Every clan possessed a 
“long” or semi-communal house presided over by a head man. Generally 
