e of the first explorations of the north-west. There were
the _Chippewayan_ Indians[8] round about Lake Athapaska, and the
Caribou Eaters or Ethen-eldeli between Lake Athapaska and Reindeer
Lake. The "_Slaves_", or Slave Indians of the Great Slave Lake and the
upper Mackenzie River; the Beaver and Sarsi Indians (known also as the
Tsekehn), about the Peace River and the northern part of Alberta
province; and the _Yellow Knives_, or Totsan-ottine (so called from
their being found with light-coloured copper knives when first
discovered by Europeans), north-east of the Great Slave Lake and along
the Coppermine River: the _Dogribs_ between the Great Slave Lake and
Great Bear Lake, perhaps (except in Alaska) the most northern
extension of the Amerindian type towards the Arctic regions. West of
the Dogribs dwelt--and still dwell--the interesting tribe of _Hare_
Indians, or Kawcho-Tinne. They extend northwards to the Anderson
River, on the verge of the Arctic Ocean. West of the lower Mackenzie
River, and stretching thence to the Porcupine or Yukon Rivers, are the
Squinting Indians ("Loucheux", or Kuchin), who in former times were
met with much farther to the south-east than at the present day.
Finally, there are the Nahani Indians, who have penetrated through the
Rocky Mountains to the Stikine River, reaching thus quite close to the
Pacific Ocean. This penetration northwards of groups of Athapaskan
Indians into districts inhabited for the most part by Amerindian
tribes differing widely in language and customs from all those _east_
of the Rocky Mountains, explains the way in which stories of the great
western sea--the Pacific--reached, by means of trading intercourse,
those Amerindian tribes of the middle-west and upper Canada, and so
stirred up the French and English explorers of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries to make the marvellous journeys which are
recounted in this book.

[Footnote 8: These northern Indians are described by Hearne as having
very low foreheads, small eyes, high cheekbones, Roman noses, broad
cheeks, and long, broad chins. Their skins were soft, smooth and
polished, somewhat copper-coloured, and inclining towards a dingy
brown. The hair of the head was black, strong, and straight. They were
not in general above middle size, though well proportioned.]

_West_ of the Rocky Mountains, in British Columbia and Vancouver
Island (besides southern Alaska), the Amerindian tribes form the
N[-u]tka-Columbian