On the banks of the Lower Mackenzie, to the west of Great Bear Lake, in the territories drained by the Peel River and by the Upper Yukon, dwell the Loucheux, or Kutchin Indians, whose language is totally different from that of the other North American tribes, and whose customs and manners also vary considerably7 from those of all their neighbors, both Red-skins and Esquimaux.
They are an athletic8 and fine-looking people, with regular features and a complexion9 of a lighter10 copper11 color than that of the other Red Indians, so that many of their women would be reckoned handsome in any country. The females tattoo12 their chins and use a black pigment13 when they paint their faces, while the men employ both red and black on all occasions of ceremony, and always to be ready, each carries a small bag with red clay and black lead suspended to his neck. Most commonly the eyes are encircled with black, a stripe of the same runs down the middle of the nose, and a blotch14 is daubed on the upper part of each cheek. The forehead is crossed by many narrow red stripes, and the skin is streaked15 alternately with red and black.
The outer shirt of the Kutchin is made of the skins of fawn16 reindeer, dressed with the hair on after the manner of the Hare, Dog-rib, and other Chepewyan tribes, but resembles in form the analogous17 garment of the Esquimaux, being furnished with peaked skirts, though of smaller size. The men wear these skirts before and behind; the women have larger back skirts, but none in front. In winter shirts of hare-skin are worn, and the pantaloons of deer-skin have the fur next the skin.
None of the neighboring nations pay so much attention to personal cleanliness, or are so studious in adorning18 their persons. A broad band of beads20 is worn across the shoulders and breast of the shirt, and the hinder part of the dress is fringed with tassels22 wound round with dyed porcupine23 quills24 and strung with the silvery fruit of the oleaster (Elæagnus argentea); a stripe of beads, strung in alternate red and white squares, ornament25 the seams of the trowsers, and bands of beads encircle the ankles. The poorer sort, or the less fortunate hunters, who are unable to procure26 these costly27 trinkets in the same enviable abundance as the rich, strive to wear at least a string of beads, and look down with contemptuous pity upon the still more needy28 class, which is reduced to adorn19 itself with porcupine quills only.
In consequence of this passionate29 fondness for beads, these ornaments30 serve332 as a medium of exchange among the Kutchin, and Sir John Richardson remarks that no such near approach to money has been invented by the nations to the eastward31 of the Rocky Mountains. The standard bead21, and one of the most value, is a large one of white enamel32, manufactured in Italy only, and is with difficulty procured33 in sufficient quantity to satisfy the demand, as beads are more prized than English cloth and blankets.
Another article very much in request among the Kutchin is the large ribbed dentalium shell which is collected in the archipelago between Oregon and Cape34 Fairweather, and passes by trade from tribe to tribe until it finds its way at length to the Yukon. With this shell they adorn their mittens35, and even attach it to their guns, which have been lately introduced, and are in great demand. All men carry powder and ball, whether they own a gun or not, and obtain for it a share of the game.
The tribes on the Yukon tie their hair behind in a cue, or “chignon,” and daub it with grease, and the down of geese and ducks, until, by the repetition of the process continued from infancy36, it swells37 to an enormous thickness, so that the weight of the accumulated load of hair, dirt, and ornaments causes the wearer to stoop forward habitually38. The tail-feathers of the eagle and fishing-hawk are stuck into the hair on the back of the head, and are removed only when the owner retires to sleep, or when he wishes to wave them to and fro in a dance.
The principal men have two or three wives each, while the bad hunters are obliged to remain bachelors. A good wrestler39, however, even though poor, can always obtain a wife.
The women do all the drudgery40 in winter except cooking, and do not eat till the husband is satisfied. In summer they labor41 little, except in drying meat or fish for its preservation42. The men alone paddle while the women sit as passengers, and husbands even carry their wives to the shore on their arms, that they may not wet their feet—an instance of gallantry almost unparalleled in savage43 life. The Esquimaux women row their own “oomiaks,” and the Chepewyan women assist the men in paddling their canoes. On the whole, the social condition of the Kutchin women is far superior to that of the Tinné women, but scarcely equal to that of the Esquimaux dames44.
They do not carry their children in their hoods45 or boots like the Esquimaux, nor do they stuff them into a bag with moss46 like the Tinné and Crees, but they place them in a seat of birch-bark, with a back and sides like those of an armchair, and a pommel in front resembling the peak of a Spanish saddle, by which they hang it from their back. The child’s feet are bandaged to prevent them growing, small feet being thought handsome, and consequently short unshapely feet are characteristic of the people of both sexes. A more ridiculous or insane custom can hardly be imagined among a nation of hunters.
The Kutchin are a lively, cheerful people, fond of dancing and singing, in which they excel all other Indians; leaping, wrestling, and other athletic exercises are likewise favorite amusements. They are inveterate47 talkers. Every new-comer arriving at a trading-post makes a long speech, which must not be interrupted. The belief in Shamanism is still in full vigor48 among them.
333 Though a treacherous49 people, they have never yet imbrued their hands in European blood, but there are frequent feuds among their various tribes, by which one-half of the population of the banks of the Yukon has been cut off within the last twenty years. From a constant dread50 of ambuscade, they do not travel except in large parties; and thus a perpetual feeling of insecurity embitters51 their lives, which are already rendered sufficiently52 hard by the severity of an Arctic climate. The agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company have endeavored by good advice, and the distribution of large presents, to establish peace, but have only met with partial success.
Like the Tinné, the Kutchin are in a state of perpetual warfare53 with the Esquimaux; and though they always charge the latter with treachery, yet there can be no doubt that the accusation54 might, with full justice, be retorted upon themselves. One of the hostile encounters, mentioned by Sir J. Richardson, deserves notice, on account of its resemblance in some particulars to the meeting of Joab and Abner, recorded in the Second Book of Samuel. A party of each of the two nations having met on the banks of a river, the young men of both parties rose up as if for a friendly dance. The stream glides55 peacefully along, the setting sun gilds56 the pine forest and sparkles in the waters; all nature breathes peace. But the Esquimaux having, according to their custom, concealed57 their long knives in the sleeves of their deer-skin shirts, suddenly draw them in one of the evolutions of the dance and plunge58 them into their opponents. A general conflict ensues, in which the Kutchin, thanks to their guns, ultimately prove victorious59. “Another incident,” says Sir John Richardson, “which occurred on the banks of the Yukon in 1845, gives us a farther insight into the suspicious and timorous lives of these people. One night four strangers from the lower part of the river arrived at the tent of an old man who was sick, and who had with him only two sons, one of them a mere60 boy. The newcomers entered in a friendly manner, and when the hour of repose61 came, lay down; but as they did not sleep, the sons, suspecting from their conduct that they meditated62 evil, feigned63 a desire of visiting their moose-deer snares64. They intimated their purpose aloud to their father and went out, taking with them their bows and arrows. Instead, however, of continuing their way into the wood, they stole back quietly to the tent, and listening on the outside, discovered, as they fancied, from the conversation of the strangers, that their father’s life was in danger. Knowing the exact position of the inmates65, they thereupon shot their arrows through the skin covering of the tent and killed two of the strange Indians; and the other two, in endeavoring to make their escape by the door, shared the fate of their companions. This is spoken of in the tribe as an exceedingly brave action.”
During the summer the Yukon Kutchin dry, for their winter use, the white-fish (Coregonus albus), which they catch by planting stakes across the smaller rivers and narrow parts of the lakes and closing the openings with wicker-baskets. They take the moose-deer in snares, and towards spring mostly resort to the mountains to hunt reindeer and lay in a stock of dried venison. On the open pasture-grounds frequented by this animal they construct large pounds. Two rows of posts firmly planted in the ground, and united by the addition of334 strong horizontal bars into a regular fence, extend their arms for nearly the length of a mile in the form of a Roman V. The extremity66 of the avenue is closed by stakes with sharp points sloping towards the entrance, on which the reindeer, driven together and hotly pursued by the Indians, may impale67 themselves in their desperate flight. The structure is erected68 with great labor, as the timber has to be transported into the open country from a considerable distance. Some of these may be a century old, and they are the hereditary69 possession of the families or tribes by whom they were originally constructed.
But in spite of all their contrivances and the use of fire-arms, the Kutchin, whose numbers on the banks of the Yukon are estimated at about a thousand men and boys able to hunt, are frequently reduced to great distress70. Hence the old and infirm are mercilessly left to their fate when game is scarce, and famine makes itself felt. Attempts have been vainly made to better the condition of the northern Indians by inducing them to tame the reindeer. Their superstition71 is one of the obstacles against this useful innovation, for they fear that were they to make some of the reindeer their captives, the remainder would immediately leave the country. “And why,” they add, “should we follow like slaves a herd72 of tame animals, when the forest and the barren ground provide us with the elk73, the wild reindeer, and the musk-ox, and our rivers and lakes are filled with fishes that cost us nothing but the trouble of catching them?”
Each family possesses a deer-skin tent or lodge6, which in summer, when in quest of game, is rarely erected. The winter encampment is usually in a grove74 of spruce-firs; the ground being cleared of snow, the skins, which are prepared with the hair, are extended over flexible willow75 poles which take a semicircular form. This hemispherical shape of lodges is not altogether unknown among the Chepewyans and Crees, being that generally adapted for their vapor76 baths, framed of willow poles, but their dwelling-places are conical, as stiff poles are used for their construction.
When the tent is erected the snow is packed on outside to half its height, and it is lined equally high within with the young spray of the spruce-fir, that the bodies of the inmates may not rest against the cold wall. The doorway77 is filled up by a double fold of skin, and the apartment has the closeness and warmth but not the elegance78 of the Esquimaux snow hut, which it resembles in shape. Though only a very small fire is kept in the centre of the lodge, yet the warmth is as great as in a log-house. The provisions are stored on the outside under fir branches and snow, and further protected from the dogs by sledges79 being placed on top.
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1
feuds
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| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
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timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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reindeer
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| n.驯鹿 | |
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lodges
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| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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10
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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11
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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12
tattoo
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| n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于 | |
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13
pigment
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| n.天然色素，干粉颜料 | |
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14
blotch
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| n.大斑点；红斑点；v.使沾上污渍，弄脏 | |
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streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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16
fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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analogous
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| adj.相似的；类似的 | |
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adorning
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| 修饰，装饰物 | |
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adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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bead
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| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
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tassels
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| n.穗( tassel的名词复数 )；流苏状物；（植物的）穗；玉蜀黍的穗状雄花v.抽穗， （玉米）长穗须( tassel的第三人称单数 )；使抽穗， （为了使作物茁壮生长）摘去穗状雄花；用流苏装饰 | |
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porcupine
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| n.豪猪， 箭猪 | |
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quills
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| n.（刺猬或豪猪的）刺( quill的名词复数 )；羽毛管；翮；纡管 | |
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25
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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enamel
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| n.珐琅，搪瓷，瓷釉；(牙齿的)珐琅质 | |
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procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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34
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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mittens
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| 不分指手套 | |
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36
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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wrestler
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| n.摔角选手，扭 | |
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40
drudgery
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| n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作 | |
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41
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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42
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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43
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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44
dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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45
hoods
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| n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩 | |
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46
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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47
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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49
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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50
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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51
embitters
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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53
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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glides
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| n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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56
gilds
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| 把…镀金( gild的第三人称单数 )； 给…上金色； 作多余的修饰（反而破坏原已完美的东西）； 画蛇添足 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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58
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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59
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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60
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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62
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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64
snares
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| n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 )；圈套；诱人遭受失败（丢脸、损失等）的东西；诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
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inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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impale
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| v.用尖物刺某人、某物 | |
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68
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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70
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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72
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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elk
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| n.麋鹿 | |
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74
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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75
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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76
vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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77
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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sledges
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| n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载 | |
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