33 
cally hunt over most of the country from Great Slave lake to the Arctic 
ocean and from Mackenzie river to Hudson bay. In the centre of this 
area exists a fifth tribe or politically autonomous unit, the Satudene or, 
translated, Great Bear Lake people. It is uncertain whether they were 
always an independent group or whether they have become such during 
the past hundred years, due to conditions created by European contacts. 
In either case the Satudene are probably more closely related to the Hares 
than to any other tribe and may have at one time been one of a number 
of Hare bands. Today they are politically, socially, and linguistically 
differentiated from the Hares and more often associate and intermarry 
with the Dogribs. 
This group of tribes cannot have formed only one cultural unit in pre- 
historic times. There were, probably, considerable differences between them, 
though the remnants of aboriginal culture have been rendered similar by 
European influences which brought the tribes into much closer association. 
For this reason, and also because it is hard to be sure which of these tribes 
are referred to in early literature, all the available information is here set 
forth as critically as possible. 
Dogribs. The Dogrib tribe (kli tcp go t’ine — dog-rib people) comprises 
four bands which trade into Rae, on the north arm of Great Slave lake, 
and a fifth band which has become disassociated, living in Satudene 
country and trading into Norman since 1914. 
The first Dogrib band inhabits the country close to Rae (Figure 1). 
A subdivision of this first group hunts in the country west of the north 
arm of Great Slave lake to within 75 miles of Mackenzie river. The 
second band inhabits the country around lac la Martre and lac Grandin 
which are a part of a good canoe route north from Great Slave lake. The 
third band occupies the country on both sides of the canoe route between 
Great Slave lake and McTavish bay. It does not come closer to Great 
Bear lake than lake Clut, south of Conjuror bay. It is from this band 
that the present Bear Lake Dogribs emigrated. Band four lives east of 
band three (Figure 1). The information about the Dogribs is from A. W. 
Boland, who lived for many years at Rae and Good Hope and who speaks 
the native language fluently. 
Yellowknives. The Yellowknives are located to the east of the Dog- 
ribs, ranging east and north to Eskimo territory and south to the Caribou- 
eaters. No information is available on their social organization. 
Hares. Trading out of Good Hope on Mackenzie river is a tribe 
called Hare Indians (ka tco go t’i ne — big- willow people). The name is 
not literally Hare People (Ga tco go t’i ne — big-rabbit people) as might 
be expected because of their common appellation. The similarity of the 
roots for 'rabbit', 'arrow', and 'willow 7 have led people into confusion 
over the terminology. The Hare Indians are divided into five bands. 
The first band (ka' tco go t’i ne — big-arrow people) inhabits the 
territory 50 to 100 miles east of Mackenzie river (Figure 1). Part of this 
group hunts to the west of Good Hope up to the Great Divide and in late 
years has crossed over by two trails to the Lansing Creek trading post 
51326 — 3 
