Chapter VIII
Fort Chipewyan To Fort McMurray.
Chipewyan, it may be remarked, is not a D?©n?© word. It is the name
which was given by the Crees to that branch of the race when they
first came in contact with them, owing to their wearing a peculiar
coat, or tunic, which was pointed both before and behind; now
disused by them, but still worn by the Esquimaux, and, until
recent years, by the Yukon Indians. Though somewhat similar
in sound, it has no connection, it is asserted, with the word
Chippeway, or Ojibway. For all that, the words are perhaps
closely akin. The writer for the accurate use in this narrative
of words in the Cree tongue is under obligation to experts.
When preparing his notes to his drama of "Tecumseh" he was
indebted to his friend, Mr. Thomas McKay, of Prince Albert,
Sask., a master of the Cree language, for the exact origin
and derivation of the words Chippeway and Ojibway. Both are
corruptions of O-cheepo-way, _cheepo_ meaning "tapering," and
_way_ "sound," or "voice." The name was begot of the Ojibway's
peculiar manner of lowering the voice at the end of a sentence.
As "_wyan_" means a skin, it is not improbable that the word
Chipewyan means tapering or "pointed" skin, referring, of course,
to the peculiar garb of the Athapuskow Indians when the Crees
first met with them.
The sites of old posts are to be found all over this region; but
Chipewyan in the beginning of the last century was the great supply
and trading-post of the North-West Company.
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