386 
The Chipewyan were an ecl^e-of-the-woods people. They fol- 
lowed the movements of the caribou, spearing them in the lakes and 
rivers of the barren gioiinds during the summer, and snaring them 
in pounds or shooting them down with bows and arrows during the 
winter when they took shelter in the timber. Buffalo, musk-oxen, 
moose, and smaller game tifled them over periods when caribou were 
lacking. They snared, too, numerous water-fowl, and caught many 
fish with spears, bone hooks, and nets of babiche. Some bands kept 
almost entirely to the timber, moving from one grove to another. 
Others spent the greater part of the summer on the barren grounds, 
carrying their tent-poles (which they converted into snow-shoes in 
the autumn), and pounding their dried meat into pemmican, or eat- 
ing raw meat and I'aw fish like the Eskimo. 
Life under these conditions was hard and uncertain. i\ loving 
about the country were many independent bands, some large, some 
small, whose leaders had no authority or power to keep their fol- 
lowers under control. Strong men plundered the weaklings, and 
forcibly carried off their women. The latter ranked lower than in 
any other tribe; separated from all boy companions at tlie age of 
eight or nine, married at adolescence, often to middle-aged men. and 
always subject to many restrictions, they were the first to perish in 
seasons of scarcity. In winter they were mere traction animals; 
unaided, they dragged the heavy toboggans. In summer they were 
pack animals, carrying all the household goods, food, and hides on 
their backs. ^ The aged and infirm of both sexes were abandoned by 
their comjianions and starved to death on the trail. A superstitious 
horror of bloodsherl checked murder within the tribe, and though the 
Chipewyan massaci’ed enemies from other tribes without respect to 
age or sex, they imposed on themselves afterwards many severe pen- 
alties and taboos. They seldom covered their flead, but left them 
to be devoured by Inrds and animals. Families destroyed their prop- 
erty on the death of kinsmen, widows cut off their hair and went into 
moui'iiing for a year, but widowers suffered no restrictions. 
It recjuired from eight to eleven caribou skins to make a com- 
jffete costume for one man (robe, shirt, leggings, moccasins,- breech- 
cloth, cap, and mittens), and as many more to furnish him with a 
1 TliP Chi|ioyuan did not cm)ilo.\' doRs for hiiiitinR, and miK' iriroly for drasRins tlie toboRRans; 
but tlu'y loaded them with tlie cariboii-skiii tents <iuring 1hc sutniiier iiioiillis. 
-The Chipewjan, like seveial other iiortliern trila’S, joiiii-t! the mocea.iiin to the legginR. Maekenzie: 
Op. eit., p. cxx. 
