384 
probably of si>ruce bark or woven sinaice roots, although in more 
recent times they used vessels of birch bark. They were skilful in 
treating hides, and packed all their possessions in bags made of moose 
or caribou skin, either solid or netted from babiche. Arrowheads and 
knives had blades of flint, but some knives were made of moose horn 
and others had beaver-toot ii blades. The principal weapons were 
spears and bows and arrows; but whether the bows had stone points 
for stabbing, and whether the Beaver wore armour of any description, 
is not known. In fishing they used a bone hook attaclied to a line 
of babiche, fish-nets also made from babiche, and occasionally stone 
weirs with platforms of poles below on which the fish became 
stranded. 
Like all the Athapaskan peoples of northern Canada, the Beaver 
had no real tribal unity, but were divided into a number of inde- 
penrlent bands that roamed over separate hunting territories. Women 
underwent restrictions of the same character, and youths fasted for 
guardian spirits and serverl their parents-in-law in the same manner 
as the Sekani. The funeral rites, however, were more reminiscent of 
the plains’ tribes. The B»eaver deposited their dead in trees or on 
platforms, and relativ^es gave themselves over to an excessive display 
of grief, destroying or throwing away all their property. Men lacer- 
ated their bodies, put on their war caps and often set out on the 
war trail; women cut off their hair and severed a joint from the 
finger. There can be little doubt tliat the Beaver believed in a 
future life, but their religion, apart from the doctrine of guardian 
spirits, is unknown. Goddard describes a semi-annual sacrifice of 
food accompanied by ]:»ublic jirayers for ])rosperity, but one strongly 
sus])ects that the ceremony was derived from the C’ree.^ 
In 1924 the Beaver numbered about GOO, scattered on several 
reserves along the Peace river. They were raising a number of horses, 
and trapping tlie fur-bearing animals during the winter months. 
Estimating from Mackenzie’s statement that some 210 hunters traded 
at Vermilion aiul at the mouth of the Smoky river in 1790, we may 
presume a pre-European population of about 1,500.- 
1 G odd a id, P. K. : " T!ie Pcmnr Indians”; Antli. Pajiors, Am. Mvis. Nat. Hist., vol, x 
p. 228 (New York, Cf. Rlatkonzie ; Op. cil., p. 118, "I witin‘.ss(.'d any cni'eiiiony of devotion 
which tlu'.v iiad not borrowed from 1lio Kni.slenfaux.” 
2 Mooney: Op. fit., p. 26, eslirnate.s 1,2.50. 
