72 
among the hunters, each having usually a river valley which was his 
exclusive and hereditary property. The Satudene deny that any such 
idea was held by them, saying that any man may hunt where he pleases; 
and they laugh at the idea of ownership by individuals. 
The people as a group have a very strong feeling of communism, and 
freely give and ask for things among themselves. Morice (“Anthropos”, 
vol. 1-5, page 643) expresses the same attitude for the Carrier of Stuart 
lake, one of whom he quotes as saying, “We people, we are not a set of 
mercenaries like the whites, who speak of nothing but selling and pur- 
chasing. We simply give away our goods.” The changes due to modern 
conditions of life often give the opposite impression of the Indians but on 
analysis it would appear that formerly, at least, this was their real attitude. 
Morality. Undoubtedly the standards of morality among the various 
tribes of northern Canada previous to white contacts varied considerably 
in different groups. They have been described by some writers as having 
the greatest virtue and by others as being grossly immoral, but all such 
views are necessarily comparative and based on the moral ideas of the 
cultures to which the observers belonged. Probably the majority had 
little regard for chastity but without deserving the charge of licentiousness. 
Sexual relationships between the unmarried were overlooked and it is 
unlikely that adultery was regarded as a sin. In the case of the latter, 
if there was any punishment, it was accorded to the woman, and not very 
severe. Where the seducer was a married man, the idea of retribution 
was probably embodied in the perpetration of a similar act by the injured 
husband. Incest was also not uncommon. 
In recent years, a feeling of the immorality of certain acts is growing 
among the Satudene, due to the influence of Christian missionaries, and 
ancient custom is struggling with imported ideas of right and wrong. 
Murder, in the true sense, is notably rare among the Satudene. Hearne 
(1795, page 144) remarks of the Chipewyan that, “A murderer is shunned 
and detested by all his tribe, and is obliged to wander up and down, for- 
lorn and forsaken even by his own relatives and former friends.” He 
also adds, perhaps humorously, that an unlucky blow from a husband to 
a wife is not considered murder. The idea of blood revenge, however, 
was not uncommon. Capt. Back was told by two Yellowknives that 
they had killed a Chipewyan, but nothing would come of it since he was 
an orphan (See King, 1836, vol. 2, page 140). Formerly a bond of blood 
brotherhood was established between individual hunters on Great Bear 
lake and those of other tribes. This, called si-kli, was fundamentally a 
guarantee of personal protection from other tribes, since a murder by 
them would be avenged by the dead one’s blood brother in the offending 
tribe. Since conflicts for some years have been non-existent, the si-kli 
organization has been disappearing. Justice for lesser wrongs was prob- 
ably as impartially dispensed as might be expected from a people without 
an organized system of law, and material payment for injury seems to 
have been customary. 
Treatment of Dependents. The treatment of children is very kindly 
among the Satudene. They are very seldom punished for any misdemea- 
nor, and then only very mildly by perhaps a slap from the father. The 
