49 
As though in reiteration, speaking of the Filthy Lake and Grand River 
Indians (Marten lake and Mackenzie river, probably actually speaking of 
Slave people), Keith (1890, II, page 116) says: 
“Their huts, in winter, are generally of an oblong square form, and covered only with 
fir branches or moss, with a pretty wide space in the middle of the roof as an outlet for the 
smoke. The square is only about 2^ to 3 feet high, with an almost flat roof.” 
Keith is here probably speaking of the Mackenzie River Indians, for there 
is no reason to believe that he was ever on Marten lake. He acknowledges 
that the Grand River and Filthy Lake Indians consider themselves different 
tribes, but himself assumes their culture to be identical. In the case of 
log houses, he may have been mistaken, as the Marten Lake Indians were 
probably Dogribs. 
Of the habitations of the Big Arrow people (a Hare band), he says 
(Keith, 1890, II, page 121): 
“The same poverty, nastiness and sloth distinguish their habitations, -which are 
generally of an oblong square form, entirely built of pieces of wood piled one upon the 
other until the square is about 2 or at most 3 feet high; the wood is placed perpendicularly 
at the gable ends and a little higher than the sides of the hut. All this is interlaced or 
covered with the branches and tops of the fir tree, leaving a pretty large space in the 
middle, the length of the roof, for the smoke, an almost unnecessary precaution as the 
smoke would easily find its w'ay anywhere through the many chinks of this miserable 
and frail building. A hole is left at each end to creep out, and they shut up one and some- 
times both in bad weather. The hut being in general no more than 8 feet in breadth, 
with the fire in the middle, it is hard to conceive what misery and inconvenience the 
inhabitants will suffer. Sometimes a couple of men and women with three or four chil- 
dren will heap themselves up in a diminutive hut of this description.” 
But of the Bear Lake Indians he (Keith, 1890, II, page 109) says: 
“Their habitations are circular lodges or tents, covered with dressed animals' skins, 
to screen them from the inclemency of the weather, and the fire is made in the middle.” 
From all the meagre information on this subject, it appears that the 
log house was not used by the tribes east of the Mackenzie, but was certainly 
widely distributed south of the Kutchin among tribes who occupied the 
mountain regions and by the people of the river proper. 
At the present time the Indians of northern Canada live mostly in 
the common wall tent imported by the traders. These are easier to acquire 
than caribou skins and do not have to be protected from dogs. Small 
cast iron stoves are set up inside with stovepipes let through a fire-protecting 
rim of tin pie plate. It is a familiar picture to see the husband lying on a 
dirty blanket smoking his pipe, while the woman pokes in the brush for 
some piece of handiwork dropped while preventing a half-clothed child 
from falling on the stove. 
TRANSPORTATION AND TRAVEL 
Packing. The most primitive form of transportation among the 
Satudene was human packing. Women bore the heaviest burdens, since 
the men, even while travelling, required freedom of movement for hunt- 
ing. To this day men seldom carry more than a rifle. Loads were suspended 
from a shoulder strap made of braided babiche or of a strip of tanned moose 
skin. Small sticks of wood were sometimes inserted parallel to the arm 
51326 — 4 
