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Page 60
The lewdness of the Carrier women cannot possibly be carried to a
greater excess. They are addicted to the most abominable practices;
abandoning themselves in early youth to the free indulgence of their
passions, they soon become debilitated and infirm; and there can be no
doubt that to this monstrous depravity the depopulation of the country
may, in part, be ascribed.
They never marry until satiated with indulgence; and if the woman then
should be dissatisfied with the restraint of the conjugal yoke, the
union, by mutual consent, is dissolved for a time; both then betake
themselves to their former courses. The woman, nevertheless, dare not,
according to law, take another husband during this temporary
separation. Whoever infringes this law, forfeits his life to the
aggrieved party, if he choose, or dare to take it.
Polygamy is allowed; but only one of the women is considered as the
wife. The most perfect harmony seems to subsist among them. When the
favourite happens to be supplanted by a rival, she resigns her place
without a murmur, well pleased if she can only enjoy the countenance;
of her lord in a subordinate situation. Yet a rupture does sometimes
occur, when the repudiated party not unfrequently destroys herself.
Suicides were frequent among the females in the neighbourhood of Fort
Alexandria.
The Takellies are a sedentary people, remaining shut up in their huts
during the severer part of the winter. You may then approach a camp
without perceiving any sign of its vicinity, until you come upon their
well, or one of their salmon _caches_. They are very social,
congregating at each other's huts, and passing their time talking or
sleeping. When awake, their tongues are ever in motion,--all bawling
out at the same time; and it has often surprised me how they could
possibly make themselves understood in the midst of such an uproar.
All Indians with whom I have come in contact, Christian as well as
Pagan, are addicted to falsehood; but the Takellies excel; they are
perfect adepts in the art, telling their stories with such an
appearance of truth, that even those who know them well are often
deceived. They were the greatest thieves in the world when the whites
first settled among them. The utmost vigilance failed to detect them.
Some of our people have been known to have their belts taken off them,
without perceiving it till too late; and many a poor fellow, after
passing a night in one of their encampments, has been obliged to pass
the remainder of the winter with but half a blanket--the other half
having been cut off while he slept.
Theft, however, is not quite so prevalent as formerly; and, strange to
say, no Indians can be more honest in paying their debts. It would
indeed be desirable that this credit system, long since introduced,
were abolished; but if this were done, the natives would carry the
greater part of their hunts to another quarter. Some of the natives of
the coast, having become regular traders of late years, penetrate a
considerable distance into the interior; in this manner the goods
obtained from the Company's posts along the coast, or from foreign
trading ships, pass from hand to hand in barter, until they eventually
reach the borders of New Caledonia, where the trade still affords a
very handsome profit to the native speculator.
These Indians are not given to hospitality in the proper sense of the
word. A stranger arriving among them is provided with food for a day
only; should he remain longer, he pays for it; for that day's
entertainment, however, the best fare is liberally furnished.
Strangers invited to their feasts are also provided for while they
remain.
There is much more variety and melody in the airs they sing, than I
have heard in any other part of the Indian country. They have
professed composers, who turn their talent to good account on the
occasion of a feast, when new airs are in great request, and are
purchased at a high rate. They dance in circles, men and women
promiscuously, holding each other by the hand; and keeping both feet
together, hop a little to a side all at once, giving at the same time
a singular jerk to their persons behind. The movement seems to be
difficult of execution, as it causes them to perspire profusely; they,
however, keep excellent time, and the blending of the voices of the
men and women in symphony has an agreeable effect.
The Takelly, or Carrier language is a dialect of the Chippewayan; and
it is rather a singular fact, that the two intervening dialects of the
Beaver Indians and Tsekanies, kindred nations, should differ more from
the Chippewayan than the Carrier; the two latter nations being
perfectly intelligible to each other, while the former are but very
imperfectly understood by their immediate neighbours, the
Chippewayans.
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