The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes. Hubert Howe Bancroft
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Название: The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes
Автор: Hubert Howe Bancroft
Издательство: Public Domain
Жанр: Зарубежная классика
isbn: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41070
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The shamáns possess some knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs, but the healing of the body does not constitute so important a part of their vocation as do their dealings with supernatural powers.
To sum up the character of the Thlinkeets, they may be called bold, brave, shrewd, intelligent, industrious, lovers of art and music, respectful to women and the aged; yet extremely cruel, scalping and maiming their prisoners out of pure wantonness, thievish, lying, and inveterate gamblers. In short they possess most of the virtues and vices incident to savagism.
The Tinneh, the fifth and last division of our Hyperborean group, occupy the 'Great Lone Land,' between Hudson Bay and the conterminous nations already described; a land greater than the whole of the United States, and more 'lone,' excepting absolute deserts, than any part of America. White men there are scarcely any; wild men and wild beasts there are few; few dense forests, and little vegetation, although the grassy savannahs sustain droves of deer, buffalo, and other animals. The Tinneh are, next to the Eskimos, the most northern people of the continent. They inhabit the unexplored regions of Central Alaska, and thence extend eastward, their area widening towards the south to the shores of Hudson Bay. Within their domain, from the north-west to the south-east, may be drawn a straight line measuring over four thousand miles in length.
The Tinneh,174 may be divided into four great families of nations; namely, the Chepewyans, or Athabascas, living between Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains; the Tacullies, or Carriers, of New Caledonia or North-western British America; the Kutchins, occupying both banks of the upper Yukon and its tributaries, from near its mouth to the Mackenzie River; and the Kenai, inhabiting the interior from the lower Yukon to Copper River.
The Chepewyan family is composed of the Northern Indians, so called by the fur-hunters at Fort Churchill as lying along the shores of Hudson Bay, directly to their north; the Copper Indians, on Coppermine River; the Horn Mountain and Beaver Indians, farther to the west; the Strong-bows, Dog-ribs, Hares, Red-knives, Sheep, Sarsis, Brush-wood, Nagailer, and Rocky-Mountain Indians, of the Mackenzie River and Rocky Mountains.175
The Tacully176 nation is divided into a multitude of petty tribes, to which different travelers give different names according to fancy. Among them the most important are the Talkotins and Chilkotins, Nateotetains and Sicannis, of the upper branches of Fraser River and vicinity. It is sufficient for our purpose, however, to treat them as one nation.
The Kutchins,177 a large and powerful nation, are composed of the following tribes. Commencing at the Mackenzie River, near its mouth, and extending westward across the mountains to and down the Yukon; the Loucheux or Quarrellers, of the Mackenzie River; the Vanta Kutchin, Natche Kutchin, and Yukuth Kutchin, of Porcupine River and neighborhood; the Tutchone Kutchin, Han Kutchin, Kutcha Kutchin, Gens de Bouleau, Gens de Milieu, Tenan Kutchin, Nuclukayettes, and Newicarguts, of the Yukon River. Their strip of territory is from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles in width, lying immediately south of the Eskimos, and extending westward from the Mackenzie River about eight hundred miles.178
The Kenai179 nation includes the Ingaliks, of the Lower Yukon; the Koltchanes, of the Kuskoquim River; and to the south-eastward, the Kenais, of the Kenai Peninsula, and the Atnas, of Copper River.180
Thus we see that the Tinneh are essentially an inland people, barred out from the frozen ocean by a thin strip of Eskimo land, and barely touching the Pacific at Cook Inlet. Philologists, however, find dialectic resemblances, imaginary or real, between them and the Umpquas181 and Apaches.182
The name Chepewyan signifies 'pointed coat,' and derives its origin from the parka, coat, or outer garment, so universally common throughout this region. It is made of several skins differently dressed and ornamented in different localities, but always cut with the skirt pointed before and behind. The Chepewyans believe that their ancestors migrated from the east, and therefore those of them who are born nearest their eastern boundary, are held in the greatest estimation. The Dog-ribs alone refer their origin to the west.
The Chepewyans are physically characterized by a long full face,183 tall slim figure;184 in complexion they are darker than coast tribes,185 and have small piercing black eyes,186 flowing hair,187 and tattooed cheeks and forehead.188 Altogether they are pronounced an inferior race.189 Into the composition of their garments enter beaver, moose, and deer-skin, dressed with and without the hair, sewed with sinews and ornamented with claws, horns, teeth, and feathers.190
The Northern Indian man is master of his household.191 He marries without ceremony, and divorces his wife at his pleasure.192 A man of forty buys or fights for a spouse of twelve,193 and when tired of her whips her and sends her away. Girls on arriving at the age of womanhood must retire from the village and live for a time apart.194 The Chepewyans inhabit huts of brush and portable skin tents. They derive their origin from a dog. At one time they were so strongly imbued with respect for their canine ancestry that they entirely ceased to employ dogs in drawing their sledges, greatly to the hardship of the women upon whom this laborious task fell.
Their food consists mostly of fish and reindeer, the latter being easily taken in snares. Much of their land is barren, but with sufficient vegetation to support numerous herds of reindeer, and fish abound in their lakes and streams. Their hunting grounds are held by clans, and descend by inheritance from one generation to another, which has a salutary effect upon the preservation of game. Indian law requires the successful hunter to share the spoils of the chase with all present. When game is abundant, their tent-fires never die, but are surrounded during all hours of the day and night by young and old cooking their food.195
Superabundance of food, merchandise, or anything which they wish to preserve without the trouble of carrying it about with them while on hunting or foraging expeditions, is cached, as they term it; from the French, cacher, to conceal. Canadian fur-hunters often resorted to this artifice, but the practice was common among the natives before the advent of Europeans. A sudden necessity often arises in Indian countries for the traveler to relieve himself from burdens. This is done by digging a hole in the earth and depositing the load therein, so artfully covering it as to escape detection by the wily savages. Goods may be cached in a cave, or in the branches of a tree, or in the hollow of a log. The camp-fire is frequently built over the spot where stores have been deposited, in order that the disturbance of the surface may not be detected.
Their СКАЧАТЬ
Called by Gallatin, in
'Les Indiens de la côte ou de la Nouvelle Calédonie, les Tokalis, les Chargeurs (Carriers) les Schouchouaps, les Atnas, appartiennent tous à la nation des Chipeouaïans dont la langue est en usage dans le nord du Continent jusqu'à la baie d'Hudson et à la Mer Polaire.'
Are 'known under the names of
Gallatin, in
Tnai, 'man;' Tnaina Ttynai, Thnaina, Kinai, Kenai, Kenaize.
See notes on Boundaries at the end of this chapter.
Besides the 'Umkwa,' being outlying members of the Athabaskan stock,' there are the 'Navahoe, the Jecorilla, the Panalero, along with the Apatsh of New Mexico, California, and Sonora. To these add the Hoopah of California, which is also Athabaskan.'
William W. Turner was the first to assert positively that the Apaches spoke a language which belongs to the Athabascan family.
Face 'oval.'
Generally more than medium size.
'Dingy copper.'
'Small, fine eyes and teeth.'
'Hair lank, but not always of a dingy black. Men in general extract their beard, though some of them are seen to prefer a bushy, black beard, to a smooth chin.'
Tattooing appears to be universal among the Kutchins.
Women 'destitute of real beauty.'
A Deer-Horn Mountaineer's dress 'consisted of a shirt, or jacket with a hood, wide breeches, reaching only to the knee, and tight leggins sewed to the shoes, all of deer's skins.'
As witness this speech of a noble chief: 'Women were made for labor; one of them can carry, or haul, as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night; and, in fact, there is no such thing as traveling any considerable distance, in this country without their assistance.'
An Indian desiring another one's wife, fights with her husband, principally by pulling hair. If victorious, he pays a number of skins to the husband.
'Continence in an unmarried female is scarcely considered a virtue.' 'Their dispositions are not amatory.' 'I have heard among them of two sons keeping their mother as a common wife, of another wedded to his daughter, and of several married to their sisters.
They are harsh towards their wives, except when enceinte. They are accused of abandoning the aged and sick, but only one case came to his knowledge.
Beeatee, prepared from deer only, 'is a kind of haggis, made with the blood, a good quantity of fat shred small, some of the tenderest of the flesh, together with the heart and lungs cut, or more commonly cut into small shivers; all of which is put into the stomach, and roasted.'