but in faft they prefer fleeping to' either; and the greater part of their
time is paffed in procuring food, and rotting from the toil neceffary to
obtairfit. r
They are alfo o fa querulouk difpofition; and are continually making
complaints; which they exprels b y a conftant repetition, of the; Word
eduiy,T “ it is hard/’ .in a whining and plaintive tone-oTvoice;
a They are fuperftitious in theextreme, and almoft everyaQiian o f their
lives, however trivial, is. more or lefs influenced; by fome.whimfical notion.
TrfeW«Mervedthat they had any particular form of religions” worlhiff;
but as- they believe!in.ai.good and evil fpirit,rand a ftate of.-fulure
rewards and punifhments, they cannot be devoid of religious iropreffions.
At the feme time they manifeft a decided unwillinghefs'tQ,make"any
communications on the fubjeft.
The Chepewyans have been accufed of. abandoning! their; aggdiand
infirm people to perilh, and of not burying'their dead; .but the%*are
melancholy neceffities, which proceed from their wandering'; wayj sof
life. They are by no means univerfal,' for. it is within my knowledge,
that a man, rendered helplefs by the palfy^ wasocarFfed(aboutfor;many
year’s, with the greateft tendernefs and attention, till he died a natural
death. That theyihould not bury their dead in their own country, cannot
be imputed to them as acuftomarifingfrom a favagemnfenfibimy,
as they inhabit fuch high latitudes that the ground- neverthaws; hut
it is well known, that when they are in theVwbods,they; cover their
dead with trees. Befides, they manifeft no common Jrefpfeflktcptihe
memory
memory of their departed fiends, by a long period of moutning, cutting
off their hair, and never making ufe of the property o f the cteceafed.
Nay, they frequently 'ddttrey or facrifice their own, as a token 'of regret
and forrow.
I f there be any people who, from th e barren ftate of Vhfefr country;
might be fuppofed to 'be cannibals by nature, thefe people» from the
difficulty they, at times, experience in procuring food, might be liable
to that im p u t a t io n . M t, in all my knowledge of them, 1 never was acquainted
with one inftanCfebf that dftpofition; nor among all %he natives
which I met with in,a route of five thoufand miles, did I fefebr hear of
an example of cannibafifca, but fuch as arofe from that frW&ftible ne-
ceffity, which has been known to impel even the mod civili&d people
to eat each other.
E xam ple the Chepewyan Tongue.
Man
Woman
Young man
Young woman
My fon
My daughter
My hufoand
My wife
My brother
My father ,
My mother
My grandfathe'r
Me.or my
I
You fa
They I f iaw J
Head f l f l
Dinnie.
Chequois.
Qaelaquis. ||
‘Quelaquis cheqaoi.
Zi azay.-
Zi lengai.
Z i dinnie.
Zi zayunai;
Zi raing.
Zi tah.
Zi nah.
Zi unai.
See.
Ne.. jj
Nvin.
.Be.
Edthie,
r Hand