3(31 
(laneerl roiiiid fires in lionour of the sun-god. They worshipped the 
sun above all the multitude of supernatural beings with which they 
peopled the universe. Before every war expedition they offered it 
prayers and tobacco smoke; and, to win its favour, some warriors 
even chopped off the joints of their first fingers, or, like certain plains’ 
tribes, sacrificed pieces of flesh from their arms and breasts. 
The Kootenay have adjusted themselves to l^iuropean domina- 
tion more successfully than any other tril)e in British Columbia; for 
the isolation of their country jn-cvented much settlement until the 
second half of the nineteenth century, when they had already taken 
to ranching and the raising of horses, an occupation that closely 
corresponded with their earlier pursuits. They have continued it 
ever since, although a certain number of the men find emjiloyment 
as guides for sportsmen and as labourers for white farmers and 
ranchers. To-day the Kootenay number around 1,050, of whom 501 
were living in Canada in 1024, the remainder in tlie United States. 
Mooney estimated their number at about 1,200 before they came 
into contact with Europeans. ^ 
CHI LOOT IN 
The Chilcotin (“Inhabitants of Young Man’s River”), the 
southei’nmost of the Athapaskan-speaking tribes in British Columbia 
that survive to the jiresent day, occupied the headwaters of the Chil- 
cotin river and the Anahim Lake district from about latitude 51° 10" 
to latitude 52“ 40', and from the Cascade mountains in the west to 
within measurable distance of the Fraser river in the east.- Like 
other Atha])askan tribes,*^ they clung tenaciously to their language, 
but derived the colour of their social and material life from neigh- 
bouring peo])les — from their Carrier kinsmen in the north with whom 
they were frequently at enmity, from the Interior Salish tribes to 
the east and south, and from the Bella Coola and Kwakiutl Indians 
on the coast. Their country was rich in game — caribou, bears, goats, 
sheep, marmots, and rabbits — and yielded many edible roots and 
iMooiicy: 0 |t. cir, p. 27. 
- Stmnti Fni.scf niet siniie «if ilicm in 18()S at thn jiinrlion nf Chilcotin aiul Fraser rivers; Masson, 
i, 165, 218. Cf. " The Talkatins, who inhabit the hanks of Fra.ser’s river in the vicinity of .Alexandria 
were formerly on the most friendly terms with the Chileotin.s, and when s.almon failed ainons the 
latter they were always permitted to fish in Fraser’s rit'iT ” (Cox, Ros.s : '‘Allventures on the Columbia 
Itiver” ; vol. ii, p. 369 (Ijondon, 1831)). 
3e.g., the Sareee on the jtrairies, who ndoided tlu- rulfure of tVio Blackfoot, the Carrier, who copied 
the Tsimshian, and the Tahltan, who imitated the Tlinkit. 
86959- 24 J 
