Hare Indians

Hare Indians, a branch of the Athabascan family [Athabascans] thinly scattered over a large part of the former Hudson Bay Territory, Dominion of Canada. The English "Hare" answers to the Franco-Canadian Peaux-de-Lievre, which represents the true tribal name Klta-cho-Gottine, that is, "Dwellers amongst the great Rabbits." They are a hunting tribe, whose range extends from the Great Bear Lake northwards along the banks of the Mackenzie, Anderson, and MacFarlane rivers to the Eskimo territory, round the shores of the Frozen Ocean - a region about 80,000 square miles in extent, with a total population scarcely exceeding 800. At present the Hare Indians find employment chiefly in the service of the Hudson Bay Company as trappers, carriers, and assistants at the stations. They are a gentle, harmless people, but indolent and somewhat quarrelsome over trifles.

In physical appearance and speech they closely resemble the Chippewayans of Lake Athabasca. Many have been converted by the French missionaries. (E. Petitot, Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic passim.)