Part 15 (1/2)

_Bodega y Quadra_, _Nav._, MS. p. 48. 'Rudely excavated and reduced to no particular shape, but each end has the resemblance of a butcher's tray.' _Dixon's Voy._, p. 173. 'Their canoes are much inferior to those of the lower coast, while their skin ”baidarkes” (kyacks) are not equal to those of Norton Sound and the northern coast.' _Whymper's Alaska_, p.

101. At Cook's Inlet, 'their canoes are sheathed with the bark of trees.' _Lisiansky's Voy._, p. 188. These canoes 'were made from a solid tree, and many of them appeared to be from 50 to 70 feet in length, but very narrow, being no broader than the tree itself.' _Meares' Voy._, p.

x.x.xviii. 'Their boat was the body of a large pine tree, neatly excavated, and tapered away towards the ends, until they came to a point, and the fore-part somewhat higher than the after-part; indeed, the whole was finished in a neat and very exact manner.' _Portlock's Voy._, p. 259.

[164] 'Ont fait beaucoup plus de progres dans les arts que dans la morale.' _La Perouse_, _Voy._, tom. ii., p. 233. Thlinkeet women make baskets of bark of trees, and gra.s.s, that will hold water. _Langsdorff's Voy._, pt. ii., p. 132. They have tolerable ideas of carving, most utensils having sculptures, representing some animal. _Portlock's Voy._, p. 294. 'Ces peintures, ces sculptures, telles qu'elles sont, on en voit sur tous leurs meubles.' _Marchand_, _Voy._, tom. ii., p. 71. 'De la vivacidad de su genio y del afecto al cambio se debe inferir son bastantemente laboriosos.' _Bodega y Quadra_, _Nav._, MS. p. 48. 'Tienen lana blanca cuya especie ignoraron.' _Perez_, _Nav._, MS. p. 16. 'Masks very ingeniously cut in wood, and painted with different colors.' A rattle, 'very well finished, both as to sculpture and painting.' 'One might suppose these productions the work of a people greatly advanced in civilization.' _Lisiansky's Voy._, pp. 150, 241. 'Found some square patches of ground in a state of cultivation, producing a plant that appeared to be a species of tobacco.' _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. iii., p.

256.

[165] 'The skins of the sea-otters form their princ.i.p.al wealth, and are a subst.i.tute for money.' _Kotzebue's New Voy._, vol. ii., p. 54. 'In one place they discovered a considerable h.o.a.rd of woolen cloth, and as much dried fish as would have loaded 150 bidarkas.' _Lisiansky's Voy._, p.

160.

[166] 'Le Gouvernement des Tc.h.i.n.kitaneens paroitroit donc se rapprocher du Gouvernement patriarchal.' _Marchand_, _Voy._, tom. ii., p. 83. 'De su gobierno pensamos cuando mas, oiendo el modo de someterse a algunos viejos, seria oligarhico.' _Bodega y Quadra_, _Nav._, MS. p. 50. 'Though the toyons have power over their subjects, it is a very limited power, unless when an individual of extraordinary abilities starts up, who is sure to rule despotically.' _Lisiansky's Voy._, p. 243. 'Chaque famille semble vivre d'une maniere isolee et avoir un regime particulier.' _La Perouse_, _Voy._, tom. iv., p. 61. 'Ces Conseils composes des vieillards.' _Laplace_, _Circ.u.mnav._, tom. vi., p. 155.

[167] Tribes are distinguished by the color and character of their paint. _Kotzebue's New Voy._, vol. ii., p. 51. They 'are divided into tribes; the princ.i.p.al of which a.s.sume to themselves t.i.tles of distinction, from the names of the animals they prefer; as the tribe of the bear, of the eagle, etc. The tribe of the wolf are called _Coquontans_, and have many privileges over the other tribes.'

_Lisiansky's Voy._, pp. 238, 242.

[168] 'The women possess a predominant influence, and acknowledged superiority over the other s.e.x.' _Meares' Voy._, p. 323. 'Parmi eux les femmes jouissent d'une certaine consideration.' _Laplace_, _Circ.u.mnav._, tom. vi., p. 87. They treat their wives and children with much affection and tenderness, and the women keep the treasures. _Portlock's Voy._, p.

290. The Kalush 'finds his filthy countrywomen, with their lip-troughs, so charming, that they often awaken in him the most vehement pa.s.sion.'

_Kotzebue's New Voy._, vol. ii., p. 56. 'It is certain that industry, reserve, modesty, and conjugal fidelity, are the general characteristics of the female s.e.x among these people.' _Langsdorff's Voy._, pt. ii., p.

133. 'Quoiqu'elles vivent sous la domination d'hommes tres-feroces, je n'ai pas vu qu'elles en fussent traitees d'une maniere aussi barbare que le pretendent la plupart des voyageurs.' _La Perouse_, _Voy._, tom. iv., p. 61.

[169] 'Weddings are celebrated merely by a feast, given to the relatives of the bride.' _Kotzebue's New Voy._, vol. ii., p. 57.

[170] 'Ils ne s'ecartent jamais de deux pas pour aucun besoin; ils ne cherchent dans ces occasions ni l'ombre ni le mystere; ils continuent la conversation qu'ils ont commencee, comme s'ils n'avaient pas un instant a perdre; et lorsque c'est pendant le repas, ils reprennent leur place, dont ils n'ont jamais ete eloignes d'une toise.' _La Perouse_, _Voy._, tom. ii., p. 221.

[171] 'Ont un gout decide pour le chant.' _Marchand_, _Voy._, tom. ii., p. 75. 'The women sit upon the ground at a distance of some paces from the dancers, and sing a not inharmonious melody, which supplies the place of music.' _Langsdorff's Voy._, pt. ii., p. 114. 'They dance and sing continually.' _Lisiansky's Voy._, p. 240. Besides the tambourine, Captain Belcher saw a castanet and 'a new musical instrument, composed of three hoops, with a cross in the centre, the circ.u.mference being closely strung with the beaks of the Alca arctica.' _Voy._, vol. i., p.

103.

[172] They lose at this game all their possessions, and even their wives and children, who then become the property of the winner.' _Kotzebue's New Voy._, vol. ii., p. 62. 'Ce jeu les rend tristes et serieux.' _La Perouse_, _Voy._, tom. ii., p. 235.

[173] Upon one tomb, 'formaba una figura grande y horrorosa que tenia entre sus garras una caxa.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. cxviii. 'The box is frequently decorated with two or three rows of small sh.e.l.ls.'

_Dixon's Voy._, p. 176. 'The dead are burned, and their ashes preserved in small wooden boxes, in buildings appropriated to that purpose.'

_Kotzebue's New Voy._, vol. ii., p. 57. 'Nos voyageurs rencontrerent aussi un morai qui leur prouva que ces Indiens etaient dans l'usage de bruler les morts et d'en conserver la tete.' _La Perouse_, _Voy._, tom.

ii., p. 205. 'On the death of a toyon, or other distinguished person, one of his slaves is deprived of life, and burned with him.'

_Lisiansky's Voy._, p. 241.

[174] Called by Gallatin, in _Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact._, vol. ii., p.

17, _Athapasca_, the name 'first given to the central part of the country they inhabit.' Sir John Richardson, _Jour._, vol. ii., p. 1, calls them 'Tinne, or 'Dtinne, Athabascans or Chepewyans.' 'They style themselves generally Dinneh men, or Indians.' _Franklin's Nar._, vol.

i., p. 241.

[175] _Richardson's Jour._, vol. ii., pp. 1-33.

[176] 'Les Indiens de la cote ou de la Nouvelle Caledonie, les Tokalis, les Chargeurs (Carriers) les Schouchouaps, les Atnas, appartiennent tous a la nation des Chipeouaans dont la langue est en usage dans le nord du Continent jusqu'a la baie d'Hudson et a la Mer Polaire.' _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 337.

[177] Are 'known under the names of _Loucheux_, _Digothi_, and _Kuts.h.i.+n_.' _Latham's Nat. Races_, p. 292. 'They are called Deguthee Dinees, or the _Quarrellers_.' _Mackenzie's Voy._, p. 51. 'On Peel's River they name themselves _Kutchin_, the final _n_ being nasal and faintly p.r.o.nounced.' _Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 378. They are also called _Tykothee-dinneh_, Loucheux or Quarrellers. _Franklin's Nar._, vol. ii., p. 83. 'The Loucheux proper is spoken by the Indians of Peel's River. All the tribes inhabiting the valley of the Youkon understand one another.' _Hardisty_, in _Smithsonian Rept._, 1866, p.

311.

[178] Gallatin, in _Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact._, vol. ii., p. 17, erroneously ruled the Loucheux out of his Athabasca nation. 'Im aussersten Nordosten hat uns Gallatin aufmerksam gemacht auf das Volk der Loucheux, Zanker-Indianer oder Digothi: an der Mundung des Mackenzie-Flusses, nach Einigen zu dessen beiden Seiten (westliche und ostliche): dessen Sprache er nach den Reisenden fur fremd den athapaskischen hielt: woruber sich die neuen Nachrichten noch widersprechen.' _Buschmann_, _Spuren der Aztek. Sprache_, p. 713.

Franklin, _Nar._, vol. ii., p. 83, allies the Loucheux to the Eskimos.