Déné: Material Culture.
II. Mackenzie Area. Skirting the Eskimo area is a belt of semi-Arctic lands almost cut in two by Hudson Bay. To the west are the Déné tribes, who are believed to fall into three culture groups, an eastern group, Yellow Knives, Dog Rib, Hares, Slavey, Chipewyan and Beaver; a south-western group, Nahane, Sekani, Babine and Carrier; and a north-western group, comprising the Kutchin, Loucheux, Ahtena and Khotana. The material culture of the south-western group is deduced from the writings of Father Morice[815]. All the tribes are hunters of large or small game, caribou are often driven into enclosures, small game taken in snares or traps; various kinds of fish are largely used, and a few of the tribes on the head waters of the Pacific take salmon; large use of berries is made, they are mashed and dried by a special process; edible roots and other vegetable foods are used to some extent; utensils are of wood and bark; there is no pottery; bark vessels are used for boiling with or without stones; travel in summer is largely by canoe, in winter by snowshoe; dog sleds are used to some extent, but chiefly since trade days, the toboggan form prevailing; clothing is of skins; mittens and caps are worn; there is no weaving except rabbit-skin garments, but fine network occurs on snowshoes, bags, and fish nets, materials being of bark fibre, sinew and babiche; there is also a special form of woven quill work; the typical habitation seems to be the double lean-to, though many intrusive forms occur; other material culture traits include the making of fish-hooks and spears; a limited use of copper; and poorly developed work in stone.
Physical Type.
The physical characteristics vary very much from tribe to tribe. The Sekani, according to Morice, are slender and bony, in stature rather below the average, with a narrow forehead, hollow cheeks, prominent cheekbones, small eyes deeply sunk in their orbit, the upper lip very thin and the lower somewhat protruding, the chin very small and the nose straight. The Carriers, on the contrary, are tall and stout, without as a rule being too corpulent. The men average 1.66 m. in height. Their forehead is much broader than that of the Sekani, and less receding than is usual with American aborigines. The face is full, and the nose aquiline. All the tribes are remarkably unwarlike, timid, and even cowardly. Weapons are seldom used and in personal combat, which consists in a species of wrestling, knives are previously laid aside. The fear of enemies is a marked feature, due in part, doubtless, to traditional recollection of the raids of earlier days. Their honesty is noted by all travellers. Morice records that among the Sekani a trader will sometimes go on a trapping expedition, leaving his store unlocked, without fear of any of its contents going amiss. Meantime a native may call in his absence, help himself to as much powder and shot or any other item as he may need, but he will never fail to leave there an exact equivalent in furs.
Social Life.
The eastern Déné are nomad hunters who gather berries and roots, while the western are semi-sedentary, living for most of the year in villages when they subsist largely on salmon. The former are patrilineal and the latter are grouped into matrilineal exogamic totemic clans. The headmen of the clans formed a class of privileged nobles who alone owned the hunting grounds. Morice speaks of clan, honorific and personal totems. The first two were adopted from coastal tribes, the honorific was assumed by some individuals in order to attain a rank to which they were not entitled by heredity. The "personal totem" is the guardian spirit or genius, the belief in which is common to nearly all North American peoples. Shamanism prevails throughout the area. The mythology almost always refers to a "Transformer" who visited the world when incomplete and set things in order. They have the custom of the potlatch[816]. If a man desires another man's wife he can challenge the husband to a wrestling match, the winner keeps the woman[817].
N. Pacific Coast: Material Culture.
III. North Pacific Coast Area. This culture is rather complex with tribal variations, but it can be treated under three subdivisions, a northern group, Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian; a central group, the Kwakiutl tribes and the Bellacoola; and a southern group, the Coast Salish, Nootka, Chinook, Kalapooian, Waiilatpuan, Chimakuan and some Athapascan tribes. The first of these seem to be the type and are characterised by: the great dependence upon sea food, some hunting upon the mainland, large use of berries (dried fish, clams and berries are the staple food); cooking with hot stones in boxes and baskets; large rectangular gabled houses of upright cedar planks with carved posts and totem poles; travel chiefly by water in large seagoing dug-out canoes some of which had sails; no pottery nor stone vessels, except mortars; baskets in checker, those in twine reaching a high state of excellence among the Tlingit; coil basketry not made; mats of cedar bark and soft bags in abundance; no true loom, the warp hanging from a bar and weaving with the fingers downwards; clothing rather scanty, chiefly of skin, a wide basket hat (the only one of the kind on the continent, apparently for protection against rain); feet usually bare, but skin moccasins and leggings occasionally made; for weapons the bow, club and a peculiar dagger, no lances; slat, rod and skin armour; wooden helmets, no shields; practically no chipped stone tools, but nephrite or green stone used; wood work highly developed; work in copper possibly aboriginal but, if so, weakly developed. The central group differs in a few minor points; twisted and loosely woven bark or wool takes the place of skins for clothing and baskets are all in checkerwork. Among the southern group appears a strong tendency to use stone arrowheads, and a peculiar flat club occurs, vaguely similar to the New Zealand type[818].
Physical Type.
Physically the typical North Pacific tribes are of medium stature, with long arms and short bodies. Among the northern branches the stature averages 1.675 m. (5 ft. 6 in.), the head is very large with an average index of 82.5. The face is very broad, the nose concave or straight, seldom convex, with slight elevation. Among the southern tribes, notably the Kwakiutl, the stature averages 1.645 m. (5 ft. 4¾ in.), the cephalic index is 84.5, the face very broad but also of great length, the nose very high, rather narrow and frequently convex.