120 THE GREAT DENE RACE.

tells us of people of either sex belonging to the same tribe who confessed to
having been guilty of incest or even bestiality. But these disorders I would
consider due to the foreign blood flowing in their veins and the baneful
influence of the coast tribes, on their morals.

Minor Traits of their Character.

I have now barely space enough left me for mentioning a few other
features of the Dénés’ character. To say that they are credulous and incon-
stant is tantamount to repeating that they are grown up children. Hence their
apparent bad faith in deserting their employers when engaged as guides,
which travellers have so often deplored. Their well known improvidence springs
also from the same general characteristic. When abundance reigns in their
modest home, they will pass their time in cooking and eating. The family
kettle is then hardly ever idle. And yet the next chapter will tell us to what
extent they know the pangs of hunger and the straits of sheer starvation!

Of their treachery — a compound of childish weakness and cruelty —
numberless instances could be adduced. I shall content myself with one,
because it is typical. In the spring of 1850, a band of fourteen Loucheux,
accompanied by three white employers of the fur traders, having surprised a
party of ten Eskimos of the lower Mackenzie, were not without difficulty
dissuaded from attacking them with their fire-arms — the strangers carried
only bows and arrows.

It is pathetic to read of the suspicions that seem to have been hovering
in the poor Eskimos’ minds, and of their silent appeals for fair treatment
at the hands of their whilom foes. When invited to approach their chief desired
the Indians to put their guns aside. His request having been complied with,
he fired all his arrows into the ground, and held up his bow and empty
quiver to show that he had no more. The same ceremony was performed by
all his companions, and bartering was commenced on the spot, two Eskimos
(followed soon after by two more) being now dispatched to bring their large
boat with the women and more furs.

Meanwhile the Loucheux invited the remaining Eskimos to come ashore
and have a dance. The old Eskimo chief was the first to land, and as he did
so he pulled off his frock and, appearing only in breeches and mocassins,
he held up his arms and slapped his body as a sign that he carried no
weapon. His companions did the same, and a lively dance was started on
the opposite sides of a small creek. Presently one of the white men noticed
a Loucheux skulking about, trailing his gun after him, which was at full cock.
He prevailéd upon him to take it back where the others had been left, which
on examination were then found to be at full cock. To make a long story
short, four of the now unsuspecting Eskimos fell on the sand victims of the