_The Athabaskans._--The best starting-point for the ethnology of the British dependencies in America is the water-system of the largest of the rivers which empty themselves into the Polar Sea, a system which comprises the Rivers Peel, Dahodinni, and the Rivière aux Liards, tributaries to the McKenzie, as well as the Great Bear Lake, the Great Slave Lake, and Lake Athabaska; a vast tract, and one which is _almost_ wholly occupied by a population belonging to one and the same class; a class sometimes known under the name _Chepewyan_, or _Chepeyan_, sometimes under that of _Athabaskan_. The water-system in question forms the centre of the great Athabaskan area--the centre, but not the whole. _Eastward_, there are Athabaskan tribes as far as the coasts of Hudson's Bay; westwards as far as the immediate neighbourhood of the Pacific; and southwards as far as the head-waters of the Saskatchewan. Full nineteen-twentieths of the Athabaskan population, in respect to its political relations, is British; all that is not British being either Russian or American. To this we may add, that it is the Hudson's Bay territory rather than Canada to which the British Athabaskans belong. The divisions and subdivisions of the Athabaskans are as follows:-- 1. The _Sí-ísaw-dinni_ (_See-eesaw-dinneh_), or _rising-sun-men_.--These, generally called either _Chipewyans_, or _Northern Indians_, are the most eastern members of the family, and extend from the mouth of the Churchill River to Lake Athabaska. I imagine that the _Brushwood_, _Birchrind_, and _Sheep_ Indians are particular divisions of this branch. 2. _The Beaver Indians._--From the Lake Athabaska to the Rocky Mountain, _i.e._, the valley of the Peace River. 3. The _Daho-dinni_.--On the head-waters of the Rivière aux Liards. Called also _Mauvais Monde_. 4. The _Strong-Bows_.--Mountaineers of the upper part of the Rocky Mountains. 5. The _Kancho_.--Called also _Hare_ and _Slave_ Indians. Starved and miserable occupants of the parts along the River McKenzie between the Slave and Great Bear Lakes. Accused of occasional cannibalism, justified by the pressure of famine. Due east of these come-- 6. The _Dog-ribs_, and 7. The _Yellow-knives_, on the _Copper River_; these last being also called the Copper Indians. 8, 9. The _Slaous-cud-dinni_[71] of the McKenzie River is, probably, a division of some of the other groups rather than a separate substantive class. 10. The _Takulli_.[72]--These fall into eleven minor tribes or clans. _a._ The _Taú-tin_; probably the same as the _Naote-tains_. _b._ The _Tshilko-tin_. _c._ The _Nasko-tin_. _d._ The _Thetlio-tin_. _e._ The _Tsatsno-tin_. _f._ The _Nulaáu-tin_. _g._ The _Ntsaáu-tin_. _h._ The _Natliáu-tin_. _i._ The _Nikozliáu-tin_. _j._ The _Tatshiáu-tin_. _k._ The _Babine_ Indians. 11. The _Susi_ (_Sussees_).--On the head-waters of the Saskatchewan. New Caledonia is the chief area of the _Takulli_.