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labours which are inevitable to them through life; while the future hunters strut in their 
tiny snow-shoes after the men, and ape their contempt of women. The women drag 
the sledges alone or aided by dogs, clear the ground for the tent, cut poles to extend the 
lodge or tent skins upon, collect firewood, bring water, make all the dresses and shoes, 
clean the fish, and smoke or jerk the venison for its preservation. They also cook both 
for themselves and their husbands. 
Richardson adds that the women were not, however, generally, dis- 
contented with their lot and were not without influence over the male 
sex. The attitude of the boys which he mentions is of little significance, 
as it would appear to be an attribute of age rather than of any particular 
people. It is undoubtedly true that women carried the most of the bur- 
dens, but the hunting, which was the most essential occupation for life, 
was carried on by the men, and precluded the carrying of heavy packs. 
In the erection of a tipi or tent, for example, the man cleaned away the 
snow and brought in brush for the floor. Then he went away to hunt 
while the woman put up the tent. If there were plenty of meat, however, 
he stayed and helped her. McClean (1849, page 244), speaking of the 
Mackenzie River tribes as a whole, says that the men performed all the 
drudgery that usually falls to the women and speaks of the women as 
finally assuming supremacy. He contrasts them with the Chipewyans 
in this respect. McClean’s viewpoint may be a considerable exaggeration, 
but even to this day the women are said to be in authority in some matters, 
at least among the Satudene. If there is a choice of food to be prepared, 
the women choose, and it is said that the women tell the men when to 
locate and pick up their traps. 
At present, probably a great deal less work is done than formerly 
when the natives were entirely dependent upon their own resources, and 
it is particularly the men's work that has lessened. It is not unusual today 
to see men hauling wood or cutting it up, but very often they tell their 
sisters to do the latter. The men have no occupations except those in 
connexion with hunting, trapping, and fishing, and at the present time 
they engage in these very listlessly. 
Ownership. The concept of ownership is very weakly developed 
among the Satudene. Women own practically nothing except their 
clothes and snow-shoes, the men having all the rest. When a son becomes 
old enough to use things, he apparently assumes control over what he 
appropriates. A case in example is that of an Indian boy named Antoine 
who drives his father’s team of dogs. He goes off on trips with other 
Indians while his father remains at home, and the people speak of Antoine’s 
dogs. If he sells one, his father has nothing to say. Trap lines are not 
owned except in the sense that the person, or generally partners, who 
set the traps have a monoply on the line, and even this is not very closely 
respected. If the line is given up for the season, it is open to any one who 
wishes to use it. It is said that formerly beaver lodges were not owned; 
they are now marked in passing by the man who finds them, and he 
assumes the ownership or hunting right, at least until the first season 
when the beaver are prime. Pike (1892, page 102) has pointed out that 
a band of musk-ox was the property of the discoverer among the Yellow- 
knives and that only friends were granted the privilege of killing them with- 
out payment. Seton (1912, page 150) says of the Chipewyans that there 
was an ancient, unwritten law by which the whole country was divided 
