scan 7 MeN

7 . — 7 ; * a * 3 <4 ee = np he epee ep eee yn re aN ans Oho Pha rw ST
; a ee oe TRE atic aebecget a jt le ote a einai’ cain Sea el taeaacre ame Aa Rn

1898-99. | ON THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE DENE TRIBES. 7

states that some of the names are not tribal. He has no other fault to
find with it. Now, I am almost certain that the very first tribe he
mentions, the Ahtena, is not Déné.* Again I will ask: Where are in
that list my TsijKoh’tin and my Sékanais (or Tsé’kéhné) and the
Beavers and the Hares and the Dog-Ribs, etc.? Perhaps they are not
really distinct tribes? will venture our reviewer. Let a single circum-
stance be my answer. When I was stationed among the TsijKoh’tin I
used to preach without an interpreter. On my coming to Stuart’s Lake,:
my residence since the last fourteen years, I could not understand or
formulate a single sentence in Carrier. Moreover, who, with even a slight
tincture of Déné phorology, could recognize as Déné the foreign looking
Nagailer of Powell’s list? Lastly, Tahltan—which should read
Thahlthan +—is not the name of a tribe; itis a local name denominative
of a body of water frequented by Indians within my sphere of action.

Commenting on that list, Mr. Campbell remarks: “ The Montagnais
are the Chippewyans or typical Athapaskans and their true name is
Déné-Dindjié, . . . while the Slaves or Dogribs are the Thing-e-ha-
dtinne.”t The pre-occupation to find aboriginal names has evidently
betrayed our reviewer into error and loose writing. The true name of
the Montagnais or Chippewayans is mzot Déné-Dindjié, but simply
Déné. As I have plainly noted in a monograph much quoted by Prof.
Campbell, § the compound word is a name invented by Father Petitot
to designate the whole of the Déné family, not any single tribe
thereof. On the other hand, the Slaves or Dog-Ribs are not a single
tribe, as one would seem warranted to infer from the above quoted
sentence. They are two distinct tribes, though their territory is
contiguous. The Dog-Ribs are well known as such in ethnographica]
literature, while the Slaves are called Strong-Bow or Thick-Wood
Indians in Franklin’s journal.

On Mr. W. Dall’s classification Dr. Campbell has no criticism to offer.
Indeed the almost seems to approve of it, since he therewith compares

_mine disparagingly. In his eyes what I wrote of the former, ten years

ago, must be so much useless scribbling. To make out for his silence, I
will refer the unprejudiced reader to my remarks which I deem as
apposite to-day as they were then.|

* See “Notes . . onthe Western Dénés,” p. 15, foot-note, and p. 17, text.

_ t Tha, water (in composition), A/than, lies (is stagnant, non-running). The population of that place is
Nah’ane.

PP ...272,
§ ‘‘The Western Dénés,” Proc. Can. Inst., Vol. vii., p. 110.
|| Lbcd, thid.

_ 4 a ¢ : x Le
ray TT AE RR \ Ooh cal ee ane 3 Poe. Teo eh,
aa ies ah lt Ne crate oro a eg a Ly