425 
their jirincijml heatkiuarters, especially for salmon fishing, was at 
Meziadin lake. They stretched across the head of the Skeena river 
abo^■e Kuldo river over to Bear and Sustut lakes.” 
TIinkit. I have marked as Tlinkit the region around the upper 
Taku river and Tesliii lake (which is commonly considered the home 
of an Athapaskan-speaking tribe called Takutine) on tlie authority 
of an unpublished manuscript by James Teit, which states that in 
1914, at least, its inhabitants were Tlinkit. It seems highly probable 
that an Athapaskan-speaking tribe did occupy this region formerly, 
but the date when it was displaced by Tlinkit Indians is quite un- 
certain. 
Tagish. This tribe may have been originally an Athapaskan- 
speaking peo])le, and have ado]Aed the Tlinkit tongue after 1725 
A.D. It was not recorded until after the middle of the nineteenth 
century. 
Sekani. Mackenzie’s narrative indicates that before the irrup- 
tion of the Cr-ee the Hekani occupied all the upper reaches of the 
Peace river as far as the mouth of the Smoky (Mackenzie: Oj). cit., 
p. 140). The Beaver j^resumably occupied its lower reaches and 
the country west and southwest of lake Athabaska. 
Chipeivyan. Petitot’s sole evidence for locating tlie Chipewyan 
in the Rocky mountains at the headwaters of the Peace river before 
the establishment of the fur posts on Hudson bay seems to be a rather 
fantastic tradition current in the tribe about 1860, a century and a 
half later (Petitot, E.: “ On the Athapaskan District of the Canadian 
North-West Territory”; Proceedings of the Royal Ceographical 
Society, volume V, pages 649-651, London, 1883). In 1725 they 
were jirobably scattered into many bands that occupied the country 
from the eastern ends of lakes Athabaska and Gr’eat Slave to Hudson 
bay. Kelsey undertook a journey in 1689 “ to discover and endeav- 
our to bring to a Commerce y‘‘ northern Indians Inhabiting to y^ 
Northward of Churchill river and also y"' dogsidc Nation” (Kelsey 
Papers, page 25); and Stewart brought ten of them to York Factory 
in 1716, the year before the establishment of tlie fort at Churchill 
(Captain Knight’s Diary of York Factory, manuscript copy in 
Dominion Archives, Ottawa). In Hearne’s flay there were several in- 
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