DUKE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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I. 
 
 SYNOPSIS 
 
 OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 WITHIN THE 
 
 UNITED STATES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 
 
 AND 
 
 IN THE BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POSSESSIONS 
 
 NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 By the Hon. ALBERT GALLATIN. 
 
 % 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 JYew York , 29 th January , 1836. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to enclose the residue of the Synopsis of the Indian 
 Tribes of North America, classed in families according to their respec- 
 tive languages. 
 
 My first attempt was made in the year 1823, at the request of a 
 distinguished friend, Baron Alexander Humboldt. It was that essay, 
 communicated it seems to Mr. Balbi, and quoted by him with more 
 praise^ than it deserved, in the Introduction to his “ Atlas Ethnogra- 
 phique,” which drew the attention of the Antiquarian Society, and 
 induced it to ask me for a copy. I had not kept any, but had in the 
 mean while collected and obtained access to many important materials. 
 In the winter of 1825-6, the attendance at Washington of a numerous 
 delegation of southern Indians enabled me to obtain good vocabularies 
 of the Muskhogee, Uchee, Natchez, Chicasa, and Cherokee ; and I then 
 published a table of all the existing tribes in the United States, which, 
 in its arrangement, does not differ materially from that now adopted. 
 The War Department circulated at the same time, at my request, print- 
 ed forms of a vocabulary containing six hundred words, of verbal forms, 
 and of selected sentences; and also a series of grammatical queries. 
 The only communication, received in answer to those queries, is that of 
 the Rev. Mr. Worcester respecting the Cherokee, which is inserted in 
 the Appendix. The verbal forms and select sentences in that language, 
 the verbal forms of the Muskhogee, Chocta, and Caddo, and the copious 
 supplementary vocabularies in the same tongues, and in the Mohawk 
 and Seneca, were also received in answer; and that of the Chippeway, 
 by Dr. James, (Appendix to Tanner’s account,) is partly on the same 
 model. 
 
 I believe that I have, in every instance, stated to whom I was indebt- 
 ed for every communication of which any use was made, and pointed 
 out the authority where recourse was had to works already published. I 
 received most liberal assistance from every quarter where I made appli- 
 cation. The libraries of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and 
 
 VOL. II. 1 
 
o 
 
 PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 ot the Historical Societies of New York and of Massachusetts, were 
 opened to me at all times, and their books and manuscripts communi- 
 cated without reserve. The War Department, both formerly and lately, 
 communicated the materials in its possession; and I am indebted to 
 many individuals, but especially to Mr. Du Ponceau, who, in the most 
 liberal and friendly manner, put his valuable collection of manuscript 
 vocabularies at my disposal, and gave me every information which he 
 thought might be of any use to me. 
 
 The form of a comparative vocabulary was adopted as far as practica- 
 ble ; and, in preparing it, every source of information, whether in manu- 
 script or in works already published, was resorted to. The selection of 
 the words was necessarily controlled by the materials. Those and no 
 others could be admitted, but such as were found in a number of the 
 existing vocabularies, sufficient for the purpose intended. Some words 
 of inferior importance were introduced, only because they were com- 
 mon to almost all the vocabularies; and many have been omitted, be- 
 cause they were to be found only for a few dialects. This will account 
 for the absence of abstract nouns, prepositions, &c., in the Comparative 
 Vocabulary. The deficiency is partly supplied for the Southern and for 
 the Iroquois tribes, by the Supplementary Vocabulary. Although the 
 number of words in the comparative vocabulary (No. I.), which embraces 
 fifty-three tribes, was reduced to one hundred and eighty, less than one- 
 half of that number could be obtained for some of the languages. A 
 lesser vocabulary (No. II.) of fifty-three words includes sixteen tribes. 
 About the same number of words has been supplied by Umfreville, 
 for four tribes, (No. III.) The miscellaneous vocabularies (No. IV.) in- 
 clude seventeen, whose scanty vocabularies could not be arranged in 
 the same form. Of the ninety languages or dialects of which specimens 
 are thus given, I think that nine (marked (* and y) are duplicates, or 
 only varieties. 
 
 The Synopsis was originally intended to embrace all the tribes north 
 of the semi-civilized Mexican nations. The want of materials soon 
 confined the inquiry, towards the south, to the territory of the United 
 States. The loss of the vocabularies collected by Lewis and Clarke has 
 not been supplied. With the exception of the Salish, and of a few 
 words of the Shoshonee and of the Chinook, we have as yet no knowl- 
 edge of the Indian languages west of the Stony Mountains, within the 
 United States. 
 
 The only existing tribe in the United States, east of the Mississippi, 
 of which the language has not been ascertained, is that of the Aliba- 
 mons and Coosadas, consisting of five or six hundred souls, seated on 
 the waters of the river Alabama, and who make part of the Creek con- 
 
PREFATORY LETTER, 
 
 3 
 
 federacy. West of the Mississippi, and on or south of the Red river, 
 fragments remain, in Louisiana, of ten or twelve tribes, amounting to- 
 gether to about fifteen hundred souls. The vocabularies of four of these 
 have been obtained. Each speaks a distinct language ; and it is proba- 
 ble, that this is the case with some of the others. We are unacquainted 
 with the languages of three tribes, (the Kaskaias, Kiawas, and Bald 
 Heads,) estimated at three thousand souls, who wander between the 
 upper waters of the Red river of the Mississippi, and those of the river 
 Platte of the Missouri; and we have as yet but specimens of the lan- 
 guages of the Black Feet, of the Fall or Rapid Indians, and of the 
 Crows. In other respects, the Synopsis of the Indians within the United 
 States, east of the Stony Mountains, is nearly as complete as could have 
 been expected, and embraces some tribes altogether or nearly extinct. 
 
 North of the United States, all or nearly all the families of languages 
 are known; but the subdivision into languages or dialects of the same 
 family is incomplete.- The inland districts of Russian America have 
 not been explored ; and I must acknowledge some deficiency on my 
 part, in not having investigated all the existing materials, respecting the 
 various languages of the tribes which inhabit the seacoast and adjacent 
 islands, from Nootka to Prince William’s Sound. 
 
 The eighty-onetribes (excluding the nine duplicates), embraced by 
 the Synopsis, have been divided into twenty-eight families.* A single 
 glance at the annexed Map will show, that, excluding the country west 
 of the Stony Mountains and south of the fifty-second degree of north 
 latitude, almost the whole of the territory contained in the United States 
 and in British and Russian America is or was occupied by only eight 
 great families, each speaking a distinct language, subdivided, in most 
 instances, into a number of languages or dialects belonging to the same 
 stock. These are the Eskimaux, the Athapascas (or Cheppeyans), the 
 Black Feet, the Sioux, the Algonkin-Lenape, the Iroquois, the Chero- 
 kee, and the Mobilian or Chahta-Muskhog. I believe the Muskhogee, 
 which is the prevailing language of the Creek confederacy, and the 
 Chocta or Chicasa, to belong to the same family, although, in conform- 
 ity with general usage, they have been arranged under two distinct 
 heads. This would reduce the number of families to twenty-seven. Of 
 
 * The Woccons, an extinct tribe, distinguished in the vocabulary as the 
 XIXth family, have, since that was prepared for the press, been ascertained 
 to have belonged to the Catawba family, No. VTI. The eight great families 
 embrace sixty-one of the distinct languages. Excluding the extinct Woc- 
 cons, the nineteen other families have each but one ascertained language or 
 dialect. 
 
4 
 
 PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 the nineteen others, ten are west of the Stony Mountains; and seven of 
 these inhabit, south of the sixtieth degree of north latitude, the islands 
 and the narrow tract of land contained between the Pacific Ocean and 
 the continuation of the Californian chain of mountains, as far south as 
 the forty-seventh degree of north latitude. Six of the remaining nine 
 families, the probable remnants of ancient nations, are found amongst 
 the southern tribes, either annexed to the Creek confederacy, or in the 
 swamps of West Louisiana. The three others are the Catawbas, the 
 Pawnees, and the Fall or Rapid Indians. Some new families, or totally 
 distinct languages, will hereafter be found in the quarters already indi- 
 cated: West Louisiana, the wandering tribes on the upper waters of the 
 Arkansas and of the Missouri, and west of the Stony Mountains, in the 
 territory drained by the Columbia river. Many distinct languages or 
 dialects of the Eskimaux, of the Athupascas, and of some of the other 
 great families, will be added to the present enumeration. But I believe 
 that the classification now submitted will, as far as it goes, be found 
 correct. I feel some confidence, that I have not been deceived by false 
 etymologies ; and that the errors, which may be discovered by further 
 researches, will be found to consist in having considered as distinct 
 families some which belong to the same stock, and not in having 
 arranged as belonging to the same family any radically distinct lan- 
 guages forming separate families. The only exceptions, in that respect, 
 refer to the Minetare group and the Shyennes, both stated as being 
 Sioux, and to the Sussees, annexed to the Athapascas, in regard to 
 whom the evidence is not conclusive. 
 
 It must, however, be understood, that the expression “ family,” applied 
 to the Indian languages, has been taken in its most extensive sense, 
 and as embracing all those which contained a number of similar primi- 
 tive words, sufficient to show that they must, at some remote epoch, 
 have had a common origin. It is not used in that limited sense in which 
 we designate the Italian, Spanish, and French as languages of the Latin 
 stock, or the German, Scandinavian, Netherlandish, and English as 
 branches of the Teutonic ; but in the same way as we consider the 
 Slavonic, the Teutonic, the Latin and Greek, the Sanscrit, and, as I am 
 informed, the ancient Persian, as retaining in their vocabularies conclu- 
 sive proofs of their having originally sprung from the same stock. 
 
 Another important observation relates to the great difference in the 
 orthography of those who have collected vocabularies. Those which 
 proceed from the native language of the writer, may be reconciled with- 
 out much difficulty ; and it is almost sufficient, in that respect, to note 
 whether he was an Englishman, a German, a Frenchman, &c. But the 
 guttural sounds which abound in all the Indian languages, and even 
 
PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 some of their nasal vowels, have no equivalent, and cannot be expressed 
 with our characters, as used by the French or English. The perpetual 
 substitution for each other of permutable consonants, the numerous mod- 
 ifications of which vocal sounds are susceptible, and the various ways 
 in which we express them, even in our own languages, have been fruit- 
 ful sources of the diversified manner in which the same word is spelled 
 by the European hearers. It requires some practice before you learn 
 how to decipher those varieties. The habit is, however, acquired by 
 comparing together the several vocabularies of the same language, and 
 of two or more dialects previously ascertained to be only varieties of the 
 same tongue. It is proper here to add, that there are nations known by 
 a generic name, but spread over an extensive territory, without being 
 united under a common government, such as the Knistinaux and the 
 Chippeways ; of whom it may be said that they have, properly speaking, 
 no general uniform language, but, as might be naturally expected, a 
 number of patois, differing in some respects from each other, but still so 
 nearly allied, that they are mutually understood without interpreters. 
 Whenever this is the case, we consider them as the same dialect. 
 
 The number of families, of distinct languages, and of dialects, does 
 not appear to be greater in North America, than is found amongst unciv- 
 ilized nations in other quarters of the globe, or than might have been 
 expected to grow out of the necessity for nations in the hunter state to 
 separate, and gradually to form independent communities. Insulated 
 remnants of ancient languages are also found, not only in Asia, as in the 
 Caucasian mountains, but even in Europe, such as the Basque. The 
 difficulty of accounting for that diversity, is the same here as in the 
 other continent; and there is nothing that I can perceive, in the number 
 of the American languages and in the great differences between them, 
 inconsistent with the Mosaic chronology. 
 
 Amidst that great diversity of American languages, considered only 
 in reference to their vocabularies, the similarity of their structure and 
 grammatical forms has been observed and pointed out by the American 
 philologists. The substance of our knowledge in that respect will be 
 found in a condensed form in the Appendix. The result appears to 
 confirm the opinions already entertained on that subject by Mr. Du Pon- 
 ceau, Mr. Pickering, and others ; and to prove that all the languages, 
 not only of our own Indians, but of the native inhabitants of America 
 from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn,* have, as far as they have been 
 
 * The grammar of the language of Chili is the only one, foreign to the 
 immediate object of the Synopsis, with which a comparison has been intro- 
 duced in this essay. Want of space did not permit to extend the inquiry to 
 the languages of Mexico and other parts of Spanish America. 
 
6 
 
 PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 investigated, a distinct character common to all, and apparently differing 
 from any of those of the other continent, with which we are most fami- 
 liar. It is not, however, asserted that there may not be some American 
 languages, differing in their structure from those already known ; or that 
 a similarity of character may not be discovered between the grammatical 
 forms of the languages of America, and those of some of the languages 
 of the other hemisphere. The conjectures lately advanced concerning 
 the Othorni deserve and require further investigation ; for it seems to be 
 admitted, that, however different in other respects, its conjugations have 
 the same character as those of the other languages of Mexico. 
 
 Although the materials already collected appear sufficient to justify 
 the general inference of a similar character, they are as yet too scanty 
 to enable us to point out, with precision, those features which are com- 
 mon to all the American languages, and those particulars in which they 
 differ ; or even to deduce, in those best known to us, the rules of their 
 grammar from the languages, such as they are spoken. I have tried to 
 show how far those points of similarity and differences were as yet as- 
 certained, and have also, for one particular branch, attempted to deduce 
 the rules of formation ; or, in other words, to show, that, notwithstanding 
 the apparent complexness and multiplicity of the inflexions of the Indian 
 languages, they were, as in others, always regulated by analogy and 
 modified by euphony. This branch of the subject is contained in the 
 last section of the Introductory Essay, and in the Tables of Transitions 
 now transmitted. I believe, that, with more ample materials and in abler 
 hands, the inquiry might throw some light on the formation and philo- 
 sophy of languages. Though far from being a competent judge, those 
 of America seem to me to bear the impress of primitive languages, to 
 have assumed their form from natural causes, and to afford no proof of 
 their being derived from a nation in a more advanced state of civilization 
 than our Indians. Whilst the unity of structure and of grammatical 
 forms proves a common origin, it may be inferred from this, combined 
 with the great diversity and entire difference in the words of the several 
 languages of America, that this continent received its first inhabitants 
 at a very remote epoch, probably not much posterior to that of the dis- 
 persion of mankind. 
 
 We are, however, left to most uncertain conjectures, not only in that 
 respect, but in regard to every thing concerning our Indians prior to 
 their first and recent intercourse with the Europeans. They had no 
 means of preserving and transmitting the memory of past events. No 
 reliance can be placed on their vague and fabulous traditions. They 
 cannot even give an account of the ancient monuments, found in the 
 valley of the Mississippi and of its tributary streams. The want of 
 
PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 7 
 
 documents elucidating the past history of tribes still in the hunter state, 
 cannot be a matter of much regret. That of the commencement and 
 progress of civilization in Mexico, and in some portions of South Amer- 
 ica, would, if recoverable, be highly interesting. I rather incline to 
 the opinion, that that civilization grew out of natural causes, and is en- 
 tirely of American origin. 
 
 In the brief notices of our Indian tribes, contained in the first five 
 sections of the Introductory Essay, I have, for the reasons above stated, 
 confined myself to the events subsequent to the first arrival of the 
 European invaders. The authorities are always referred to. The “ Re- 
 lations de la Nouvelle France,” often quoted, are the collection of the 
 original annual reports of the Jesuits in Canada, to their superiors in 
 Europe, from the year 1633 to 1672, when they were superseded by the 
 “ Lettres Edifiantes.” They have afforded to Charlevoix the principal 
 materials for the corresponding portion of his valuable and faithful ac- 
 count of the Indians ; but he had not exhausted all the information they 
 contain. The Map annexed to the Essay shows, on a very small scale, 
 the seats of the Indians at the time when first discovered ; that is to say, 
 at the beginning of the seventeenth century for the Atlantic states, and 
 to the westward generally, at the end of the eighteenth. 
 
 It did not come within the scope of this Essay to delineate the habits 
 and characteristics which distinguish the Indian race. Ample details 
 will be found in the writings of the earliest English and French, and of 
 the latest American and English travellers. I have only adverted to 
 some peculiarities which appeared to deserve attention, and more espe- 
 cially to the means of subsistence of the Indians, to the causes of their 
 gradual extinction, and to the only means by which, as it seems to me, 
 the residue can be preserved. Notwithstanding the reckless cruelty 
 and ravages of the first Spanish conquerors, the descendants of the na- 
 tive Mexicans are at present probably as numerous as their ancestors at 
 the time of the conquest. For this no other cause seems assignable 
 than the fact, that they had then already emerged from the hunter state, 
 and had acquired the habits of agricultural and mechanic labor. 
 
 I submit the whole to the judgment of the Antiquarian Society, and 
 have the honor to be respectfully, Sir, 
 
 Your very obedient servant, 
 
 ALBERT GALLATIN. 
 
 To George Folsom, Esq., 
 
 of the Publishing Committee 
 
 of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 
 
 P. S. The deficiency in the enumeration of the Indian tribes border- 
 ing on the Pacific, between the sixtieth and forty-eighth degrees of lati- 
 
 i 
 
8 
 
 PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 tudc, has been alluded to. The vocabularies of Mr. Sturgis and of Mr. 
 Bryant were received after the others had been prepared for the press, 
 and the account of the Rev. Mr. Green had escaped my notice. In 
 order to connect these with my general table, it must be observed 
 that, of the four families enumerated by those gentlemen, Capt. Bryant’s 
 Sitka is identic with the Koulischen (xxvii. 62); that the Skiddegat, 
 which was supplied by Messrs. Sturgis and Bryant, is designated in the 
 table as Queen Charlotte’s Island (xxix. 64) ; that the guttural Nass 
 language, mentioned by Mr. Green as spoken between King George 
 III.’s and Queen Charlotte’s Islands, was unknown to me, and is omitted 
 in the table; and that the Newittee of Capt. Bryant, appears to me to 
 be a dialect of the Wakash, (xxv. 60.) or language of Nootka Sound. 
 
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 
 
 The Indian Nations, partly on account of their geographical 
 position, partly in reference to the materials which have been 
 obtained, will be arranged under the following heads, viz. 
 
 1. Those who are altogether north of the United States, 
 but not including those families which are partly in the British 
 Possessions and partly in the United States. 
 
 2. The Algonkin-Lenape and Iroquois Nations. 
 
 3. The Southern Indians east of the Mississippi, and those on 
 the western side of that river south of the Arkansas. 
 
 4. The tribes between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean. 
 But of those west of the Rocky Mountains an imperfect gen- 
 eral notice only can be given, as I have been disappointed ill 
 the expectation of obtaining vocabularies or recent correct in- 
 formation from that quarter. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 INDIAN TRIBES NORTH OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 These embrace only the two great families of the Eskimaux 
 and of the Athapascas, and some small tribes, bordering on 
 the Pacific Ocean, and situated north of the 52d degree of 
 north latitude. 
 
 Eskimaux. 
 
 The name of Eskimaux, given to the Indians of this family, is 
 derived from the Algonkin word “ Eskimantick,” “ Eaters of 
 raw fish.” They are the sole native inhabitants of the shores 
 of all the seas, bays, inlets, and islands of America, north of 
 the sixtieth degree of north latitude, from the eastern coast of 
 Greenland, in longitude 21°, to the Straits of Behring, in longi- 
 tude 167° west. 
 
 VOL, II. 
 
 2 
 
10 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 On the Atlantic, the eastern Eskimaux extend also along 
 the coast of Labrador, south of the sixtieth degree of latitude, 
 to the Straits of Belleisle and within the Gulf of Saint Law- 
 rence, almost as far south as north latitude 50°. 
 
 The western division of the nation extends without interrup- 
 tion, along the shores of the Pacific, from the Straits of 
 Behring, as far south as the extremity of the Peninsula of 
 Alaska, in north latitude 57° ; and may be thence traced east- 
 wardly, under the names of Konagen and Tshugazzi ( Tchou - 
 gatches ), till they disappear entirely in the vicinity of Behring’s 
 Bay and Mount St. Elias, in lat. 60°, and long, about 140°. 
 A tribe belonging to this division, inhabits the western shores 
 of the Straits of Behring, or that north eastern extremity of 
 Asia, which lies north of the river Anadir. It is known under 
 the name of “ sedentary Tchuktchi,” and is as yet the only 
 well ascertained instance of an Asiatic tribe, belonging to the 
 same race as any of the nations of North America. 
 
 The identity of language, along such an extent of coast, 
 contrasted with the great diversity found amongst small and 
 adjacent tribes as we proceed farther south, is a remarkable 
 phenomenon. The distance in a straight line, either from the 
 Eskimaux seen by Captain Clavering on the eastern coast of 
 Greenland, or from the Straits of Belleisle, to the Straits of 
 Behring, or to the southwestern extremity of the Peninsula of 
 Alaska, exceeds three thousand six hundred miles. But as the 
 Eskimaux communicate with each other only by water and 
 along the seashore, it will be found that the distance, between 
 those of the Straits of Belleisle, and the Konagen who inhabit 
 the island of Kadjak, or Kodiak, (north latitude 58°, west longi- 
 tude 152°,) proceeding along the seashore, is not less than five 
 thousand four hundred miles, without making any allowance for 
 the sinuosities, bays, and inlets of the coast. 
 
 But the Eskimaux, who, though they hunt during their short 
 summer, draw their principal means of subsistence from the sea, 
 are rarely found farther from its shores than about one hundred 
 miles. On Mackenzie’s River, the mouth of which is in latitude 
 69° 40', the boundary between them and the Loucheux, their 
 next inland neighbours, is in latitude 67°, 27", but no Eski- 
 maux huts are found south of 68° 15" ; and their distance 
 from the sea is still less on the Copper Mine River. They thus 
 form a narrow belt surrounding the whole northern coast of 
 America, from the 50th degree of north latitude on the Atlan- 
 tic to the GOth on the Pacific. 
 
SECT. I.] TRIBES NORTH OF THE UNITED STATES. 11 
 
 The dividing line between the eastern and western Eskimaux 
 has been ascertained with considerable precision by Captain 
 Franklin. It is found, on the Arctic Ocean, at the northern 
 termination of the Rocky or Stony Mountains, in about 140° 
 of west longitude, where the western resort annually, for the 
 purpose of bartering with the eastern Eskimaux iron tools and 
 other articles of Russian manufacture, for seal skins, oil, and 
 furs. That intercourse is of recent date, and the western 
 speak a dialect so different from that of the eastern, that at 
 first they had great difficulty in understanding each other. 
 The dialects of the several tribes of the western division, 
 though obviously belonging to the same stock, differ also more 
 from each other than those of the eastern Eskimaux. The 
 actual identity of dialect amongst these, and between very 
 distant tribes which have no communication together, is aston- 
 ishing. Augustus, a Hudson-Bay Eskimaux, of the vicinity 
 of Churchill, (latitude 59°, longitude 95°,) who was the inter- 
 preter of Captain Franklin, could converse with all the Eski- 
 xnaux met with during his two expeditions. Of those found 
 west of Mackenzie’s River in 137 -i° west longitude, Captain 
 Franklin observes, that 9 their habits were similar in every re- 
 spect to those of the tribes described by Captain Parry,” 
 (north parts of Hudson’s Bay,) “ and their dialects differed so 
 little from that used by Augustus, that he had no difficulty in 
 understanding them.” The distance, in that case was in a 
 straight line twelve hundred miles, and more than twenty-five 
 hundred around the seashore. 
 
 As now informed, we may distinguish at least three dialects or 
 languages amongst those eastern Eskimaux, viz. 1. that of the 
 inhabitants of the northern and western shores of Hudson’s Bay, 
 which dialect extends westwardly beyond Mackenzie’s River, 
 as has been just now stated ; 2. that of Greenland, respecting 
 which it must be observed, that the inhabitants of the western 
 have no intercourse with those lately discovered on the eastern 
 coast, and that these may have a different dialect ; 3. that of 
 the coast of Labrador, to which it is not improbable that the 
 language of the Eskimaux of Hudson’s Straits may be nearly 
 allied. 
 
 Captain Parry’s vocabulary, taken at Winter Island in lati- 
 tude 67, is the most recent, complete, and authentic we have 
 of the language of the Eskimaux of Hudson’s Bay, and has 
 accordingly been selected in preference to those of Dobbs and 
 of John Long. 
 
12 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Not having had access to Egede’s Grammar and Dictionary 
 of the Greenlandish Language, a specimen only could be given, 
 taken from his and from Crantz’s accounts of Greenland. There 
 is not, it is believed, any extant vocabulary of the dialect of 
 the western coast of Labrador. It differs so far from that of 
 Greenland, that the Moravian missionaries were obliged to 
 make a new translation of the Gospels for the use of the Lab- 
 rador Eskimaux, that previously made for those of Greenland 
 not being sufficiently intelligible to the other tribe. An exam- 
 ination of both has however enabled the learned authors of the 
 “ Mithridates ” to ascertain the great affinity of the two dialects, 
 in reference both to words and to grammatical forms. 
 
 Iceland was discovered and settled by the Norwegians in the 
 latter end of the ninth century. I was informed by Mr. Thor- 
 kelson, a learned native of Iceland, and Librarian of the Royal 
 Library of Copenhagen, that it appeared by ancient manu- 
 script Icelandic chronicles, that the island was found already 
 inhabited by a barbarous race, which was exterminated by the 
 invaders. Whether they were Eskimaux cannot be ascertained. 
 Had they been of Norman origin, they would have probably 
 been preserved. 
 
 Greenland was discovered by the Norwegians or Icelanders, 
 about one hundred years later than Iceland. Fur colonies 
 were planted shortly after on the eastern and western coast, 
 with which an intercourse was continued, both from Iceland 
 and Norway, till the beginning of the fifteenth century, when 
 it ceased, from causes which have been but imperfectly explain- 
 ed. Unsuccessful attempts were several times made to renew 
 it, and the eastern coast was found inaccessible from the per- 
 manent and enormous accumulation of ice on its shores. It 
 was only in 1721, that the Danish government sent a new 
 colony to West Greenland. The ruins of the ancient settle- 
 ment, but no traces of the descendants of the first colonists, 
 were found. The country was then altogether occupied by 
 Eskimaux, of whom, or any other native inhabitants, no very 
 distinct account is given in the ancient relations.* The south- 
 ern part of the eastern coast continues to be blocked up by 
 ice. But Captain Scoresby was able in 1822 to approach 
 its northern part from about 69° to 73° of north latitude ; and 
 
 * If the account, that the Europeans were for the first time assailed 
 by the nations in the year 1386, is correct, it seems to indicate, that 
 the progress of the Eskimaux, in that quarter, was from west to east, 
 
SECT. I.] TRIBES NORTH OF THE UNITED STATES. 13 
 
 Captain Clavering, the ensuing year, met with a tribe of Eski- 
 maux in about 74° of north latitude. It appears almost incred- 
 ible that they should have reached that spot, either by a land 
 journey of eight hundred miles across Greenland, or the same 
 distance along the frozen and inaccessible shores between 
 Cape Farewell and the open sea in 69° of latitude. It is 
 much more probable that, at a former period, the southern part 
 of the eastern coast was free of ice, in which case we need 
 not resort to the hypothesis, which places the old colony of 
 East Greenland west of Cape Farewell. 
 
 In the year 1001, an Icelander, driven by a storm, discovered 
 land far southwest of Cape Farewell, where a colony was 
 soon after sent from Greenland. The country was called Vin- 
 land ; and, if we can rely on the assertion, that the sun re- 
 mained eight hours visible during the shortest day of the year, 
 must have been Newfoundland. There, positive mention is 
 made of Indians, who from the description and the name of 
 Skroellings, or dwarfs, given to them by the Normans, must 
 have been Eskimaux. 
 
 No mention is made of this European colony after the year 
 1121, when a bishop is said to have sailed from Greenland to 
 Vinland. But it seems that, to a very late date, there existed 
 in Newfoundland another race of Indians, extremely intrac- 
 table, seen occasionally on the eastern seashore at the Bay 
 Des Exploits, but residing, as was supposed, in the interior 
 part of the island. These are said to be now extinct ; and it is 
 not known, whether any vocabulary of their language, which 
 might indicate their origin, has ever been obtained. 
 
 Whatever may have been the origin of the Eskimaux, it 
 would seem probable that the small tribe of the present Seden- 
 tary Tchuktchi on the eastern extremity of Asia, is a colony of 
 the Western American Eskimaux. The language does not 
 extend in Asia beyond that tribe. That of their immediate 
 neighbours, the “Reindeer” or “ Wandering Tchuktchi,” is 
 totally different, and belongs to the Kouriak family. 
 
 The vocabulary of the western American Eskimaux which 
 has been selected, is that of Kotzebue’s Sound immediately 
 north of Behring’s Straits, taken by Captain Beechy. That 
 of the Tchuktchi, extracted from Krusenstern, was taken by 
 Koscheloff ; and a specimen has been added of the language 
 of the island of Kadjak opposite to the Peninsula of Alaska, 
 extracted from Klaproth’s “ Asia Polyglotta.” 
 
14 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 There does not seem to be any solid foundation for the opin- 
 ion of those who would ascribe to the Eskimaux an origin 
 different from that of the other Indians of North America. 
 The color and features are essentially the same ; and the dif- 
 ferences which may exist, particularly that in stature, may be 
 easily accounted for by the rigor of the climate, and partly per- 
 haps by the nature of their food. The entire similarity of the 
 structure and grammatical forms of their language with those 
 of various Indian tribes, however different in their vocabularies, 
 which will hereafter be adverted to, affords an almost conclusive 
 proof of their belonging to the same family of mankind. 
 
 Kinai, Koluschen, and other Tribes on the Pacific. 
 
 Two tribes are found, on the Pacific Ocean, whose kindred 
 languages, though exhibiting some affinities both with that of 
 the Western Eskimaux and with that of the Athapascas, we 
 shall, for the present, consider as forming a distinct family. 
 They are the Kinai, in and near Cook’s Inlet or River, and the 
 Ugaljachmutzi ( Ougalachmioutsy ) of Prince William’s Sound. 
 The Tshugazzi, who inhabit the country between those two 
 tribes, are Eskimaux and speak a dialect nearly the same with 
 that of the Konagen of Kadjak Island. The vocabulary 
 of the Kinai was taken by Resanoff, and is extracted from 
 Krusenstern. 
 
 From Mount St. Elias in about 60°, to Fuca’s Straits in 
 about 48° north latitude, several tribes are found, both on the 
 main and on the numerous adjacent islands, apparently in 
 some respects superior to the more southern tribes along the 
 shores of the Pacific Ocean ; and whose languages offer some 
 remote analogies with that of the Mexican. Although similar 
 affinities have been observed even in the dialect of the Ugal- 
 jachmutzi already mentioned, these observations apply more 
 specially to the Koluschen, (the same with the Tshinkitani of 
 Captain Marchand,) who inhabit the islands and the adjacent 
 coast from the sixtieth to the fifty-fifth degree of north latitude. 
 Those best known to the Europeans, are the natives of King 
 George the Third’s Islands, called “Sitka” by the Russians. 
 The influence of their language has been said to extend as far 
 south as the southern extremity of Queen Charlotte’s Island in 
 52° north latitude. But it is the opinion of several intelligent 
 Americans, who have carried on a trade with the natives along 
 
SECT. I.] TRIBES -NORTH OF THE UNITED STATES. 15 
 
 that coast, that a greater diversity of languages is found amongst 
 them than had been presumed by earlier travellers.* 
 
 The language of the Wakash Indians, who inhabit the 
 island on which Nootka Sound is situated (49° north latitude), 
 is the one in that quarter, which, by various vocabularies, is best 
 known to us. The appended specimen is extracted from the 
 Narrative of J. R. Jewitt, who was among these Indians from 
 1803 to 1806. That of the Koluschen was taken by the 
 Russian Davidoff. We have added the few words given 
 by Mackenzie, of the language of the Friendly Village near 
 the sources of Salmon River in 53° of north latitude, some 
 of that of the inhabitants of the Straits of F uca, taken from 
 the Spanish Voyage of the “ Sutil y Mexicana,” and a short 
 vocabulary of those on Queen Charlotte’s Islands, lately sup- 
 plied by the Hon. William Sturgis, of Boston. 
 
 These languages appear to belong to distinct families. But 
 those several tribes have been introduced here, principally in 
 reference to their geographical situation.! Bounded on the 
 east by a range of mountains, which may be traced southward- 
 ly to California, and which, running parallel to the coast, no 
 where recedes far from it, those seashore tribes do not extend, 
 so far as has been ascertained, farther inland than the sources 
 of the short rivers which empty in that quarter into the sea. 
 They, like the Eskimaux, form a belt of about one hundred 
 miles in breadth, which separates the Inland Indians from the 
 seashore. We at least know with certainty, by Harmon’s 
 and Mackenzie’s accounts, that the inland Athapascas extend 
 westwardly within that distance of the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in his voyage to the Pacific, after 
 having descended the Tacoutche Tesse, or Fraser’s River, 
 which he mistook for the Columbia, as low down as 52° 30’ 
 of north latitude, ascending it again about one hundred miles, 
 and then steering his course by land westwardly, across the 
 chain of mountains last mentioned, arrived at the sources of 
 Salmon River. Descending that short stream to its mouth in 
 Fitzhugh’s Sound, he reached the ocean in latitude 52° 20k 
 He could not collect a vocabulary of the language of the in- 
 habitants of the seacoast, but represents it as differing from 
 
 * See Appendix, — Note by the Publishing Committee. 
 
 t It is also proper to observe, that though placed on that account under 
 this head, it is without any reference to the unsettled question re- 
 specting the boundary between the United States and Great Britain west 
 of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
16 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 that of the Friendly Village, situated near the source of the 
 river and about ninety miles from its mouth. All the other 
 tribes along the route of Mackenzie, from the Lake Athapasca, 
 or “ of the Hills,” to the sources of Salmon River, belong to the 
 Athapasca family. The southern point which he reached on 
 the Tacoutche Tesse, is on the boundary line between the 
 Athapascas and the Atnahs, another inland tribe which extends 
 thence southwardly. 
 
 The chain of mountains nearest to the Pacific is a natural 
 limit, which separates the inland tribes from those on the shores 
 of that ocean. But nature had erected no such barrier be- 
 tween the Eskimaux, who inhabit the seacoasts of the Arctic 
 seas, and their southern neighbours, the Athapascas. They 
 are in a perpetual state of warfare ; but neither covets the 
 territory occupied by the other. The deeply rooted and ir- 
 reconcilable habits of the two nations, derived indeed from their 
 respective geographical positions, have rendered the boundary 
 between them as permanent, as if it had been marked out by 
 nature. 
 
 Athapascas. 
 
 If from the mouth of the Churchill or Missinipi* River, 
 Which empties into Hudson’s Bay, in latitude 59° -60°, a line 
 be drawn, ascending that river to its source, where it is known 
 by the name of Beaver River (latitude about 54°), thence along 
 the ridge, which separates the north branch of the River Sas- 
 kachewan from those of the Athapasca, or Elk River, to the 
 Rocky Mountains, and thence westwardly till within about one 
 hundred miles of the Pacific Ocean in latitude 52° 30' ; all the 
 inland tribes, north of that line, and surrounded, on all the other 
 sides, from Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific, by the narrow belt 
 inhabited by the Eskimaux and the other maritime tribes last 
 
 * Missinipi, not to be confounded with the Mississipi. Both are 
 Algonkin denominations, the first derived from nipt, water; the last 
 from sipi, river. Missi never means “ father,” but, in several dialects, 
 “ all, whole.” In Algonkin and Knistinaux, missi ackki and messe aski, 
 “the whole earth, the world,” from achlci, aski, earth, (Mackenzie.) In 
 Abenaki, messixi, “all, whole;” French tout, (Rasle.) In Delaware, 
 mesitscheyen, “wholly,” (Zeisberger). I think therefore the proper 
 meaning of Missinipi and Mississipi, to be respectively, “the whole 
 water,” and “ the whole river.” Both designations are equally appro- 
 priate. Rivers united form the Mississipi. The Missinipi receives 
 and collects the waters of a multitude of ponds and lakes. 
 
SECT. I.] TRIBES NORTH OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 
 
 described, do, so far as they are known, belong, with a single 
 exception, to one family and speak kindred languages. I have 
 designated them by the arbitrary denomination of Athapascas, 
 which, derived from the original name of the lake since called 
 “ Lake of the Hills,” is also that which was first given to the 
 central part of the country they inhabit. Their southern boun- 
 dary as above described is not in all its details precisely correct, 
 and is rather that which existed eighty years ago, before en- 
 croachments had been made on their territory by the Knisti- 
 naux. 
 
 The exception alluded to is that of the “ Quarrellers,” or 
 “ Loucheux,” a small tribe near the mouth of Mackenzie’s 
 River, immediately above the Eskimaux, whose language they 
 generally understand, whilst their own appeared to Mackenzie 
 and to Captain Franklin to be different from that of the adja- 
 cent Athapasca tribes. As we have no vocabulary of it, no 
 definitive opinion can be formed of its character. 
 
 But a portion of the territory included within the boundaries 
 we have assigned to the Athapascas remains still unexplored. 
 
 The Rocky Mountains are a continuation of the Mexican 
 Andes. The Columbia is the only large western river, empty- 
 ing into the Pacific, which, as well as its numerous tributaries, 
 has its source in that chain. Between the 35th and 40th 
 degrees of north latitude, the distance from the mountains to 
 the sea may not be less than nine hundred miles. Their course 
 being west of north, they gradually approach the shores, from 
 which they are not farther titan four hundred miles in the lati- 
 tude of 57°— 5S°. The coast thence recedes westwardly, 
 whilst the chain continuing its course northwardly, terminates 
 west of Mackenzie’s River, within a very short distance of the 
 Arctic Ocean. No part of the inland country west of the 
 Rocky Mountains and north of the 59th or 60th degree of lat- 
 itude, has as yet been explored ; or at least no account of it 
 has ever been published ; arid it is only from analogy, and be- 
 cause the whole of the extensive territory above described, 
 which has been explored, is inhabited by Indians of the Atha- 
 pasca family, that it is presumed, that this will also be found 
 to be the case with the Indians of the portion not yet explored. 
 
 The most easterly Athapasca tribe, which extends to Hud- 
 son’s Bay, has received from the agents of the Company of that 
 name the appellation of Northern Indians, as contradistinguish- 
 ed from the eastern Knistinaux, who inhabit the country south 
 
 VOL. II. 3 
 
18 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 of the Missinipi or Churchill River. It was under the guid- 
 ance of those Indians, and without a single white attendant, 
 that Hearne reached in July, 1771, the Arctic Ocean, at the 
 mouth of the Coppermine River. Having no other instrument 
 but an old quadrant, and having made but few observations, he 
 placed the mouth of that river in 120° west longitude and 
 almost 72° of north latitude. It has since been found, by the 
 correct observations of Captain Franklin, to lie in 115° 37' 
 west longitude and in latitude 67° 48'. Notwithstanding this 
 enormous difference, full justice has been rendered to the cor- 
 rectness, in other respects, of his relation. All his distances 
 are indeed apparently estimated from the fatigues of the jour- 
 ney and must be reduced. He wintered on his return on the 
 Lake Athapasca, and he describes the country of the Northern 
 Indians, as bounded on the south by Churchill River, on the 
 north by the Coppermine and Dog-rib Indians, on the west by 
 the Athapasca country, and extending five hundred miles from 
 east to west. It is evident that a part of Mackenzie’s Cheppe- 
 yans is included within that description. Hearne regrets 
 (Preface) the loss of a voluminous vocabulary collected by him 
 of the language of the Northern Indians. But, from the words 
 scattered through his relation, it appears clearly to be the same 
 with that of the Cheppeyans ; and he states (June, 1771,) that 
 the Coppermine and the Northern Indians are but one people, 
 and that their language differs less than that of provinces of 
 England adjacent to each other. The Cheppeyans generally 
 trade at and are seen in the vicinity of the Lake Athapasca. 
 According to Mackenzie, they consider the country between the 
 parallels of latitude 60° and 65° and longitude 100° to 1 10° west, 
 as their lands or home. It consists almost entirely of barrens, 
 destitute of trees ; and they are obliged to winter in the adja- 
 cent woods and in the vicinity of lakes. Though the most 
 numerous tribe of that family, the highest estimate of their 
 population is eight hundred men. They call themselves, ac- 
 cording to Captain Franklin, Saw-eessaw-dmneh, u Rising-sun 
 Men ” ; and their hunting-grounds extend towards the south to 
 the Lake Athapasca and to the River Churchill. The vo- 
 cabulary of their language by Mackenzie is the only one we 
 have of any of the Indian tribes of that family east of the 
 Rocky Mountains. The geographical situation and the names 
 of the other tribes are given either by Mackenzie or by 
 Captain Franklin, or by both. But they are all expressly 
 
SECT. I.] TRIBES NORTH OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 
 
 said to speak dialects of the same language with that of the 
 Cheppeyans. 
 
 The tribes thus enumerated east of the Rocky Mountains 
 are ; north of the Cheppeyans and east of Mackenzie’s River, 
 the Coppermine Indians, who call themselves Tantsawhot 
 dinneh , “ Birch-rind Men,” living formerly on the south side of 
 the great Slave Lake, but now north of it on Knife River, one 
 hundred and ninety souls ; and west of them the Thlingeha din- 
 neh, or “Dog-rib ” Indians, sometimes also called “ Slaves,” a 
 name properly meaning “ strangers,” and which has been 
 given by the Knistinaux to several tribes which they drove 
 farther north, or west. Population two hundred hunters. 
 
 On Mackenzie’s River, below the great Slave Lake are found 
 the Strongbow, Edchawiawoot, or “Thick Wood,” hunters, sev- 
 enty ; the Mountain Indians, hunters, forty ; the Ambawtawoot, 
 or “Sheep ” Indians ; and the Kancho or “ Hare” Indians, ex- 
 tending towards the great Bear Lake, and adjacent, on the west, 
 to the Dog-rib Indians. Below the Hare Indians are found the 
 j Oeegothee, Loucheux, or Quarrellers, already mentioned as 
 speaking a different language, and being adjacent to the Eski- 
 maux. On the River Aux Liards, (Poplar River,) or south 
 branch of Mackenzie’s River, into which it empties in latitude 
 62° 30 / — 63°, the Nohannies, and the Tsillaw-awdoot or 
 “ Brushwood ” Indians, are mentioned. 
 
 On the Unjigah, Unijah, or Peace River, the Beaver and 
 Rocky Mountain Indians ; together one hundred and fifty 
 hunters. 
 
 Near the sources of one of the branches of the Saskachawan, 
 the Sussees or Sursees, stated by Sir A. Mackenzie to speak a 
 dialect of the Cheppeyan language.- This is corroborated by 
 information lately received from an intelligent gentleman of the 
 same name, who is at the head of the establishment of the 
 Missouri American Fur Company at the mouth of the Yellow 
 Stone River. The short vocabulary of Umfreville exhibits 
 however but few affinities. 
 
 The Athapasca or Elk River, flowing from the south, and the 
 Unijah or Peace River, from the west, unite their waters at the 
 western extremity of the Lake Athapasca, and thence assume 
 the name first of Slave, and, from the outlet of the Slave Lake, 
 of Mackenzie’s River. The River Athapasca has its source 
 in the Rocky Mountains ; and the territory lying on its waters, 
 though formerly inhabited by Athapasca tribes, is now in the 
 
20 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 possession of the Knistinaux, who have driven away the origi- 
 nal inhabitants. 
 
 The Unijah, which is the principal branch, has its source 
 west of the Rocky Mountains, through which it forces its pas- 
 sage. It was up that river and its southwestern branch, that 
 Sir A. Mackenzie proceeded on his expedition to the Pacific. 
 He found there, as has already been stated, several tribes 
 speaking dialects belonging to the same family as that of the 
 Cheppeyans. He designates them under several probably local 
 names, Nauscud Dennies, Slouacus Dennies, and Nagailers, 
 and has left a short vocabulary of the last. From Mr. Harmon, 
 an American, who resided several years amongst those tribes, 
 we have a recent and much more comprehensive account, as 
 well as a vocabulary of the principal tribe, the Carriers, who 
 call themselves “ Tacullies,” or “ people who go upon water.” 
 He describes the country, called New Caledonia by the North- 
 west Fur Company, as extending, west of the Stony Moun- 
 tains, three hundred and fifty miles from east to west, and from 
 the 51st to the 58th degree of north latitude. He says that it 
 is very mountainous, containing several lakes ; that about one 
 sixth part is covered with water ; and that the whole popula- 
 tion does not exceed five thousand souls. This must include 
 not only all the Athapasca tribes, as far north as latitude 58°, 
 but also part of the Atnahs. 
 
 The Tacullies appear to be seated principally on the head- 
 waters of Fraser’s River, and Mr. Harmon mentions two other 
 nations as speaking similar dialects, the Sicaunies on the upper 
 waters of the Unijah River, and the Nateotetains,* wdio live 
 west of the Tacullies, on a considerable river of the same 
 name, which, according to his map, empties into the Pacific 
 Ocean, in about latitude 53° 30'. 
 
 The similarity of language amongst all the tribes that have 
 been enumerated under this head (the Loucheux excepted) 
 is fully established. It does not appear to have any distinct 
 affinities with any other than that of the Kinai. Yet w T e may 
 observe that the word 11 men,” or “ people,” in the Eskimaux 
 language is ------ innuit, 
 
 in the Cheppeyan _____ dinnie, 
 
 in some of the Algonkin-Lenape dialects inini; 
 
 and that the Cheppeyan word for “ woman,” chequois, seems 
 allied to the Lenape squaw. 
 
 Page 379. But this is doubtful. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IR0Q.U01S NATIONS. 
 
 21 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 
 
 The Cheppeyan and other eastern Athapasca tribes are 
 bounded on the south by Indians of the great family, called 
 Algonkin by the French, and recently Lenape in America. 
 
 The Iroquois tribes are, on all sides but the south, bounded 
 by the Algonkin-Lenape ; and it is most convenient to describe, 
 in the first place, the limits of the territory which was in pos- 
 session of both together, at the time when the Europeans made 
 their first settlements in that part of North America. 
 
 Those limits may be generally stated to have been : 
 
 On the north ; the Missinipi River from its source to its mouth 
 in Hudson’s Bay, and thence, crossing that bay, a line extend- 
 ing westwardly, through Labrador, until it reaches the Eski- 
 maux. 
 
 On the east; the Labrador Eskimaux, and, from the ex- 
 treme boundary of these on the northern shores of the Gulf 
 of St. Lawrence, the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Hatteras or its 
 vicinity ; the line across the Gulf of St. Lawrence passing 
 between Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland ; although it 
 is possible that the Micmacs, an Algonkin tribe, may have 
 occupied the southwestern parts of the last mentioned island. 
 
 On the south ; an irregular line, drawn westerly from Cape 
 Hatteras to the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi or its 
 vicinity ; which divided the Tuscaroras, Iroquois, and various 
 Lenape, from some extinct tribes, and from the respective terri- 
 tories- of the Catawbas, of the Cherokees, and of the 
 Chickasaws. 
 
 On the west ; the Mississippi to its source, thence the Red Riv- 
 er of Lake Winnipek, formerly called Lake of the Assiniboins (a 
 Sioux tribe), down to that lake; whence the original line north- 
 wardly to the Missinipi cannot be correctly traced. The Al- 
 gonkin tribes are, along the whole of this line, bounded on the 
 west by the Sioux. But there are several exceptions to the 
 general designation of the Mississippi as forming the boundary. 
 This was probably formerly true, as high up as Prairie du Chien 
 in latitude 43°. But the united Sacs and Foxes, an Algonkin 
 nation, are now established on both sides of the Mississippi, 
 from the River Desmoines to Prairie du Chien; whilst, above 
 that point, the Dahcotas, the principal Sioux nation, have long 
 
22 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 been in full possession of a portion of the country on the east 
 side of the river, at least as high up as the 45th degree of lat- 
 tude. And the Winnebagoes, another distinct Sioux tribe, were, 
 when the French made their settlements in Canada, already 
 established in the vicinity of Lake Michigan. 
 
 The Iroquois nations consisted of two distinct groups, both 
 embraced within those boundaries, but which, when they were 
 first known to the Europeans, were separated from each other 
 by several intervening, but now extinct Lenape tribes. 
 
 The northern group or division was on all sides surrounded 
 by Algonkin-Lenape tribes. When Jaques Cartier entered 
 and ascended the river St. Lawrence in 1535, he found the 
 site of Montreal, then called Hochegala, occupied by an Iroquois 
 tribe, as evidently appears by his vocabulary, an extract from 
 which, taken from De Laet, is annexed. We have no further 
 account till the year 1608, when Champlain founded Quebec; 
 and the island of Montreal was then inhabited by the Algon- 
 kins. The boundaries of the Northern Iroquois appear, at that 
 time, to have been as follows : 
 
 On the north, the height of land which separates the waters 
 of the Ottawa River, from those which fall into Lakes Huron and 
 Ontario and the River St. Lawrence. But the country north 
 of the lakes was a debatable ground, on which the Iroquois had 
 no permanent establishment, and at least one Algonquin tribe, 
 called “ Mississagues,” was settled. 
 
 On the west, Lake Huron and, south of Lake Erie, a line 
 not far from the Scioto, extending to the Ohio, which was the 
 boundary between the Wyandols, or other now extinct Iro- 
 quois tribes, and the Miamis and Illinois. 
 
 On the east, Lake Champlain and, farther south, the Hud- 
 son River as low down as the Katskill Mountains, which separ- 
 ated the Mohawks from the Lenape Wappingers of Esopus. 
 
 The southern boundary cannot be accurately defined. The 
 Five Nations were then carrying on their war of subjugation and 
 extermination against all the Lenape tribes west of the River 
 Delaware. Their war parties were already seen in 1608 at 
 the mouth of the Susquehannah ; and it is impossible to distin- 
 guish between what they held in consequence of recent con- 
 quests and their original limits. These did not probably ex- 
 tend beyond the range of mountains, which form southwest- 
 wardly the continuation of the Katskill chain. West of the 
 Alleghany Mountains they are not known to have had any 
 settlement south of the Ohio ; though the Wyandots have left 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQ.UOIS NATIONS. 23 
 
 their name to a southern tributary of that river, (the Guy- 
 andot.) 
 
 The southern division of the Iroquois, the principal nation 
 of which was called, in Virginia, Monasans, in North Carolina, 
 Tuscaroras, extended above the falls of the great rivers, at 
 least as far north as James River, and southwardly at least to 
 the river Neus. They were bounded on the east by Lenape 
 tribes bordering on the Chesapeake and Atlantic, on the south 
 by the Cheraws and the Catawbas, on the north and west 
 by extinct tribes, some of the Lenape stock, others of doubt- 
 ful or unknown origin. 
 
 ALGONKIN-LENAPE NATIONS. 
 
 The numerous nations and tribes, into which that large family 
 was subdivided, may geographically, but not without some re- 
 gard to the difference of languages, be arranged under four 
 heads ; Northern, Northeastern, Eastern or Atlantic, and 
 Western. 
 
 NORTHERN. 
 
 Under this head are included the Knistinaux, the Algonkins 
 and Chippeways or Ojibways, the Ottawas and the Potowota- 
 mies and the Mississagues. 
 
 The Knistinaux, Klistinaux, Kristinaux, and, by abbreviation, 
 Crees, are the most northern tribe of the family. Bounded 
 on the north by the Athapascas, they now extend, in conse- 
 quence of recent conquests already alluded to, from Hudson’s 
 Bay to the Rocky Mountains, though they occupy the most 
 westerly part of that territory, on the north branch of the Sas- 
 kachawan in common with the Sioux Assiniboins. And they 
 have also spread themselves as far north as the Lake Athapas- 
 ca. On the south they are bounded by the Algonkins and 
 Chippeways ; the dividing line being generally that which 
 separates the rivers that fall into James’s Bay and the south- 
 western parts of Hudson’s Bay, from the waters of the St. 
 Lawrence, of the Ottawa River, of Lake Superior, and of the 
 River Winnipek. Near Hudson’s Bay they are generally 
 called Northern Men. According to Dr. Robertson, they call 
 themselves, as many other Indian tribes do, “ Men,” “ Eithin- 
 yook ,” or, “ Iniriwuk ,” prefixing occasionally the name of their 
 
24 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROB. 
 
 special tribes. Thus the true name of the Monsonies or 
 Swamp Indians, who inhabit Moose River, is Mongsoa Eithyn- 
 yook, or, “ Moosedeer men.” The same author says, that 
 the name Knistinaux was t originally applied to the tribe of 
 Lake Winnipek, called Muskegons. The name has now be- 
 come generic, and the variations in the first syllable are only 
 an instance of the frequent transmutations, amongst adjacent 
 tribes speaking the same language, of the letters l, r, and n. 
 There are, however, several varieties amongst the dialects of 
 the Knistinaux ; the natural result of an unwritten language, 
 spoken, through a territory so extensive, by tribes indepen- 
 dent of each other and not united by any regular alliance. 
 Amongst these varieties are mentioned the Muskegons and the 
 Monsonies, of whose dialects we have no vocabularies. That 
 of Harmon is most to be relied on. His wife, as he informs us, 
 was a native of the Snare nation, living near the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. Yet, allowing for differences in orthography, it does not 
 differ materially from that of Mackenzie’s, which must have 
 been taken from the Knistinaux who traded between Lakes 
 Winnipek and Athapasca. 
 
 It is difficult to ascertain whether the name of Algoumekins, 
 or Algonkins, did belong to any particular tribe, or was used as 
 a generic appellation. At the first settlement of Canada, all 
 the St. Lawrence Indians living below and some distance above 
 Quebec were designated by the name of Montagnars or Mon- 
 tagnes. This appellation was derived from a range of hills or 
 mountains, which, extending northwesterly from Cape Tour- 
 mente (five miles below Quebec), divides the rivers that fall 
 above that Cape into the St. Lawrence, the Ottowa, and Lake 
 Superior, from those, first of the Saguenay, and afterwards of 
 Hudson’s Bay. The chain, or rather height of land, intersect- 
 ed by many small lakes, may be traced according to Macken- 
 zie, as far as lake Winnipek, of which it forms the eastern 
 shore. It turns thence westwardly, and is crossed at Por- 
 tage Methye, (latitude 56° 40', longitude 109°,) between the 
 sources of the Missinipi and a branch of the River Athapasca, 
 where the elevation above the sea has been roughly estimated 
 at two thousand four hundred feet. 
 
 The great trading-place of the Montagnars was Tadoussac, 
 at the mouth of the River Saguenay, where several inland tribes 
 and others living lower down the St. Lawrence and speaking 
 the same language, met annually. In the most ancient speci- 
 men we have of the Algonkin tongue, which is found at 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 25 
 
 the end of Champlain’s Voyages, it is called Montagnar. The 
 name, from the identity of language, was soon after extended 
 to all the St. Lawrence Indians, as high up as Montreal. 
 Those living on the Ottawa River were more specially distin- 
 guished by the name of the Algonkins ; and the distinction 
 between those two dialects, the Algonkin and the Montagnar, 
 was kept up for some time, until the name of Algonkin pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 According to Charlevoix, the Nipissings were the true Al- 
 gonkins. They are called in the First Relations, Nipissirin- 
 iens, and lived on Lake Nipissing, at the head of the Portage 
 between the Ottawa River and the waters of Lake Huron. 
 This is confirmed by Mackenzie, who states, that the inhabitants 
 of that lake, about the year 1790, consisted of the remainder of 
 a numerous tribe called Nipissings of the Algonkin nation. 
 
 The difference, however, between the two dialects must have 
 been very trifling. Father Le Jeune acknowledges, that it 
 was with great difficulty that he learnt the Montagnar, and that 
 he never became perfect in it. But in one of his letters, he 
 says, “ I was consoled in finding that the Nipissiriniens, the 
 neighbours of the Hurons, understood my broken Montagnes 
 (mon baragoin Montagnes) . Whoever should know perfectly 
 the language of the Quebec Indians would, I think, be under- 
 stood by all the nations from Newfoundland to the Hurons.”* 
 And in another place he says that there is no greater difference 
 between those two dialects than between those spoken in dif- 
 ferent provinces of France. Notwithstanding the Father’s mod- 
 esty, it appears that he had discovered some of the principal 
 characteristics of the language. He observes, j - 
 
 First, that different verbs are used according to the subject 
 of the action ; for instance, that, instead of the verb nimitisson 
 which signifies “I eat,” another verb must be used if you spe- 
 cify the thing which you eat. 
 
 Secondly, that there is a difference in the verbs, according 
 as the object is animated or inanimate; though they consider 
 several things as animated which have no soul, such as tobacco, 
 apples, &c. Thus, says he, “ I see a man,” Niouapaman iriniou • 
 but if I say, “ I see a stone,” the verb is Niouabaten. More- 
 over, if the object is in the plural number, the verb must also 
 be put in the plural ; “ I see men,” Niouapamonet iriniouet.f 
 
 * Relations of New France, 1636. f Ibid. 1634. 
 
 % “ I see them men.” 
 
 VOL. II. 4 
 
26 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Thirdly, that the verbs are also altered according to the 
 person to whom they refer. Thus “ I use a cap,” Nitaouin agou- 
 niscouehon. But if I mean to say “ I use his cap,” I must in- 
 stead of nitaouin, say nitaouiouan. And all these verbs have 
 their moods, times, and persons ; and they have different conju- 
 gations, according to the difference of their terminations. 
 
 Fourthly, that the verbs again differ if the action is done by 
 land or by water. Thus “ I am going to fetch something ; ” if 
 it is by land, and the thing is inanimate, you must say ninaten ; 
 if by water ninahen; if animated, and by land, ninatan ; if 
 animated, and by water, ninahouau; &zc. 
 
 Fifthly, that the adjectives vary according to the substan- 
 tives with which they are joined ; of which he gives several 
 instances. And he further adds that all those adjectives may 
 be conjugated. Thus “ The stone is cold,” Tabiscau assini ; “it 
 was cold,” tabiscaban ; “ it will be cold,” catatabischan. 
 
 Sixthly, that they have an infinite number of words signify- 
 ing many things together, which have no apparent affinity with 
 the words which signify those several things. Thus “ The wind 
 drives the snow;” wind is routin, snow is counc) and snow 
 being, according to the Indians, a noble or animated thing, the 
 verb “ drives,” should be raTchineou. Now, in order to say 
 “The wind drives the snow,” the Indians, instead of saying 
 routin raJchineou coune, say, in a single word, piouan. Thus, 
 again, nisticatchi means “I am cold,” and nissitai means “ my 
 feet ” ; but, in order to say that my feet are cold, I must use the 
 word nitatagouasisin. 
 
 Besides the abovementioned specimens of the Montagnar, 
 and some others interspersed in the Annual Relations of New 
 France by the Jesuits, we have no other ancient vocabulary of 
 the Algonkin but that of La Hontan. The fictitious account 
 of his pretended travels beyond the Mississippi has very de- 
 servedly destroyed his reputation for veracity. Yet it would 
 seem that he ventured to impose on the public, only with re- 
 spect to countries at that time entirely unknown, and that his 
 account of the Canada Indians may generally be relied upon. 
 There cannot be any doubt, notwithstanding the observations of 
 Charlevoix, of the correctness of his vocabulary, which has 
 been transcribed verbatim by Carver and by John Long, and 
 appears to have been the only one used for a long time among 
 the Indian traders. 
 
 Among; the ALonkin inhabitants of the River Ottawa were 
 the Ottawas themselves (called by the French Outaouais ), 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 
 
 27 
 
 who were principally settled on and in the vicinity of an island 
 in the river, where they exacted a tribute from all the Indians 
 and canoes going to, or coining from, the country of the Hurons. 
 It is observed by the same Father Le Jeune, that, although the 
 Hurons were ten times as numerous, they submitted to that 
 imposition ; which seems to prove that the right of sovereignty 
 over the river, to which the Ottawas have left their name, was 
 generally recognised. After the almost total destruction, in 
 the year 1649, of the Hurons by the Firm Nations, the Algon- 
 kin nations of the Ottawa River generally abandoned their 
 abodes and sought refuge in different quarters. A part of the 
 Ottawas of that river, accompanied by a portion of those who 
 lived on the western shores of Lake Huron, amounting to 
 about one thousand souls, and by five hundred Hurons, after 
 some wanderings, joined their kindred tribes, towards the south- 
 western extremity of Lake Superior.* 
 
 They were followed there in the year 1665, by the Mission- 
 aries. Their principal missions in that quarter were at Cha- 
 gouamigong on that lake, and at or near Green Bay. on Lake 
 Michigan. They enumerate all the Indian nations in that 
 quarter, excepting only the Chippeways and the Piankeshaws ; 
 and an uncertain tribe, the Mascoutens, is added. In every 
 other respect the enumeration corresponds with the Indians 
 now known to us there. The Sauks and Outagamies on the 
 one hand, and the Miamis and Illinois on the other, are spe- 
 cially mentioned as speaking Algonkin dialects, but both very 
 different from the pure Algonkin. This last designation is 
 dropped, with respect to all the Indians south of Lake Supe- 
 rior, except in reference to language. The nation south of 
 that lake, mentioned as speaking pure Algonkin, is uniformly 
 called Outaouais ; and the Chippeways, by whom they were sur- 
 rounded at Cbagouamigong, are never once mentioned by that 
 name.f It is perfectly clear that the Missionaries considered 
 the Ottowas and the Chippeways, as one and the same people. 
 
 Of the Potowotamies they say, that they spoke Algonkin, 
 but more difficult to understand than the Ottawas. As late as 
 the year 1671, the Potowotamies were settled on the islands 
 called Noquet, near the entrance of Green Bay. But, forty 
 years later, they had removed to the southern extremity of 
 Lake Michigan, where we found them, and on the very grounds 
 (Chicago and River St. Joseph), which in 1670 were occupied 
 
 * Relations, F. Allouez, A. D. 1G66. | Ibid. A. D. 1066-1671. 
 
28 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 by the Miamis.* They are however intimately connected by 
 alliance and language, not with these, but with the Chippeways 
 and Ottawas. 
 
 About the year 1671, the Ottawas of Lake Superior re- 
 moved to the vicinity of Michillimackinac, and finally returned 
 to their original seats on the west side of Lake Huron.f It 
 is well known, that this nation occupied till very lately a great 
 portion of the Michigan Peninsula, north and west of the Po- 
 towotamies, whilst the Chippeways, who are much more numer- 
 ous, are situated around Lake Superior, extending northwest- 
 wardly to Lake Winnipek, and westvvardly to Red River, that 
 empties into that lake. They are bounded on the north by the 
 Knistinaux, on the west and southwest by the Sioux, on the 
 south and southeast by the Menoinenies and the Ottawas. We 
 have not sufficient data to ascertain the dividing line which, 
 north of Lake Superior, separates them on the east from the 
 residue of the old Algonkin tribes. Both names, Algonkin and 
 Chippeway, have become generic, and are often indiscriminately 
 used. 
 
 When the Algonkin tribes of the River Ottawa were dis- 
 persed in the middle of the seventeenth century, a portion 
 sought refuge amongst the French, and appears to have been 
 incorporated with those of their nation, who still reside in sev- 
 eral villages of Lower Canada. The Nipissings, and some 
 other tribes, fled towards Michillimackinac, the Falls of St. 
 Mary, and the northern shores of Lake Superior. It has al- 
 ready been stated that the Nipissings had returned to their old 
 seats. What became of the others is uncertain. 
 
 John Long, an Indian trader, says that he first learnt the lan- 
 guage amongst the Algonkins of the two mountains above Mon- 
 treal, and that it was mixed and corrupt. Of this he might not 
 be a proper judge ; but his statement shows, that there was a 
 difference between that dialect, and that spoken by the Indians 
 with whom he afterwards traded. These, whom he calls Chip- 
 eways, reside north and northeast of Lake Superior from Lake 
 Musquaway, north of the Grand Portage, eastwardly to the 
 sources of Saguenay and to the waters of James’s Bay. His 
 Chippeway vocabulary must be that of the dialect of those In- 
 dians, and differs but little from those, either of the Chippeways 
 
 * They sent word to the Miamis, that they were tired of living on 
 fish, and must have meat. 
 
 f Relations, A. D. 1671, and Charlevoix, A. D, 1687. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 29 
 
 proper, or of the old Algonkins. That which he calls the AI- 
 gonkin vocabulary is, with few exceptions, transcribed from La 
 Hontan’s or Carver’s. 
 
 Those who understand the language may judge, from the 
 specimens Long gives of his speeches to the Indians, whether 
 he was well acquainted with it. A good vocabulary of the 
 modern Algonkin, as spoken in the villages of that nation in 
 Lower Canada, is wanted. 
 
 We have but scanty specimens of the Ottawa and Potowot- 
 amie dialects, the last chiefly from Smith Barton, the first writ- 
 ten, in M. Duponceau’s presence, by M. Hamelin, an educated 
 half-breed Ottowa. In the appended vocabulary of the Cbip- 
 peway or Ojibway language, the words, so far as he has given 
 them, are borrowed from Mr. Schoolcraft, who has lately 
 thrown much light on its structure and character. It is hoped 
 that, enjoying so much better assistance than any other Ameri- 
 can ever did, he will pursue his labors and favor the public 
 with the result. The other words are principally taken from 
 the copious and valuable Vocabulary of Dr. E. James. The 
 residue has been supplied by the vocabularies of Dr. Keating 
 and of Sir A. Mackenzie. That of Mackenzie is designated by 
 him as being of the Algonkin language. Coming from Canada, 
 he gives that name to those Indians, from the Grand Portage to 
 Lake Winnipek, whom we call Cbippeways. 
 
 Although it must be admitted that the Algonkins, the Chip- 
 peways, the Ottawas, and the Potowotamies, speak different dia- 
 lects, these are so nearly allied, that they may be considered 
 rather as dialects of the same, than as distinct languages. The 
 same observation applies, though with less force, to the dialect 
 of the Knistinaux, between which and that of the Algonkins 
 and Chippeways, the several vocabularies, particularly those of 
 Mackenzie, exhibit a close affinity. The Northern Algonkin 
 tribes enumerated under this head, maybe said to form, in ref- 
 erence to language, but one subdivision ; the most numerous 
 and probably the original stock of all the other kindred bran- 
 ches of the same family.* 
 
 # According to an estimate of the War Department, the Chippeways, 
 Ottawas, and Potowotamies would amount to near twenty-two thou- 
 sand. It is probable that those living in Canada are partly included. 
 The Chippeways and Ottowas within the United States amount, by Mr. 
 Schoolcraft’s official report, to fourteen thousand. Adding some Ot- 
 towas not included and the Potowotamies, they may together be esti- 
 mated at about nineteen thousand. Including the Knistinaux, and the 
 
30 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Although it may be presumed, that the Mississagues did not, 
 in that respect, differ materially from the other northern Algon- 
 kins (a question which Smith Barton’s short vocabulary does 
 not enable us absolutely to decide), they appear to have, prob- 
 ably on account of their geographical position, pursued a dif- 
 ferent policy, and separated their cause from that of their kin- 
 dred tribes. They were settled south of the River Ottawa, 
 on the banks of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and must have been 
 either in alliance with the Five Nations, or permitted to remain 
 neutral. We are informed by Charlevoix, that, in the year 
 1721, they had still villages near the outlet of Lake Ontario, 
 near Niagara, and near Detroit, and another situated between 
 the two first on Lake Ontario. Twenty-five years later, their 
 deputies attended a treaty held at Albany, between the Gover- 
 nor of New York and the Six Nations. These, whether from 
 a wish to enhance their own importance, or because they be- 
 gan to feel the want of allies, announced to the British that 
 they had “ taken in the Mississagues for the Seventh Nation,” 
 of their confederacy.* * That intended or pretended adoption 
 w T as not however carried into effect. The tribe still subsists in 
 Canada ; aud some amongst them are said to have lately wan- 
 dered into the Eastern States. 
 
 Northeastern. 
 
 This division embraces the Algonkins of Labrador, the 
 Micmacs, the Etchemins, and the Abenakis. 
 
 It is probable, though not fully ascertained, that the Algon- 
 kin or Montagnar language, with some varieties in the dialects, 
 extended nearly to the mouth of the River St. Lawrence. 
 No account has been published of the tribes of that family 
 which inhabit the interior parts of Labrador. But vocabula- 
 ries have been published, in the sixth volume of the Collec- 
 tions of the Massachusetts Historical Society, of two kindred 
 
 Chippeways and Algonkins within the British possessions, I should think 
 that the whole of this northern branch of the Algonkin-Lenape fam- 
 ily vannot be less than thirty-five to forty thousand souls. All the 
 other branches of the family do not together exceed twenty-five 
 thousand. 
 
 * Golden, Five Nations, Treaty of 1746. The Tuscaroras had been 
 previously adopted as the Sixth Nation. The Mississagues appear 
 notwithstanding to have taken part against the British during the 
 seven years’ war. (1 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. x. page 121.) 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQ.UOIS NATIONS. 3£ 
 
 dialects, belonging indeed to the same stock, but quite distinct 
 from the Algonkin. They are called respectively Skoffies anc* 
 Sheshatapoosh or Mountainees. The origin of the last name 
 is not known ; but the language is not that of the Tadoussae 
 Montagnars. The vocabularies of both were taken from a na- 
 tive named Gabriel ; and extracts w'ill be found in the annexed 
 comparative vocabularies. 
 
 The tribe of the Nova Scotia Indians, near Annapolis in the 
 Bay of Fundy, with which the French first became acquaint- 
 ed, was called Souriquois ; and a vocabulary of their language 
 has been preserved by Lescarbot. They are now well known 
 by the name of Micmacs, and inhabited the peninsula of Nova 
 Scotia, Cape Breton, several other islands within the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence, and all the rivers emptying from the west into 
 that Gulf, south of Gaspe. The words in the comparative 
 vocabulary are taken principally from the manuscript of Father 
 Maynard, Missionary at Miramichi during and at the end of the 
 seven years’ war. It was obtained in Canada, by the late 
 Enoch Lincoln, Governor of Maine, who permitted me to 
 take copious extracts ; and the original has been placed in my 
 hands by his brother. The words wanted have been chiefly 
 supplied from another manuscript vocabulary in M. Dupon- 
 ceau’s collection, taken by Mr. Walter Bromley, a resident of 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 When Father Maynard made his submission to the British 
 in 1760, he stated the number of the Micmacs to be three 
 thousand souls. # 
 
 The French adopted the names given by the Souriquois to the 
 neighbouring Indian tribes. The Etchemins, or “ Canoemen,” 
 embraced the tribes of the St. John’s River, called Ouygoudy 
 by Champlain, and of Passamaquoddy Bay; and the name ex- 
 tended thence westwardly along the seashore as far at least as 
 Mount Desert Island. The Island of St. Croix, where De 
 Monts made a temporary settlement, has been recognised to be 
 that now called Boon Island, which lies near the entrance of 
 the Schoodick River above St. Andrew’s. The river itself is 
 always called River of the Etchemins by Champlain, who ac- 
 companied De Monts, and explored, in the year 1605, the sea- 
 coast from the Bay of Fundy to Martha’s Vineyard. 
 
 The Indians west of Kennebec River, beginning at Choua- 
 coet, and thence westwardly as far as Cape Cod, were called 
 
 1 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. x. p. 115. He is there called Manach . 
 
32 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. 
 
 [iNTROD. 
 
 Almouchiquois by the Souriquois. Chouacoet (probably Saco) 
 is noticed by Champlain as being the first place along the sea- 
 shore where there was any cultivation. The Indians ol the mouth 
 of the Kennebec planted nothing, and informed him, that those 
 who cultivated maize lived lar inland or up the river. These 
 inland cultivating Indians were the well-known Abenakis, con- 
 sisting of several tribes, the principal of which were the Penob- 
 scot, the Norridgewock, and the Ameriscoggins. And it is not 
 improbable that the Indians at the mouth of both rivers, though 
 confounded by Champlain with the Etchemins, belonged to 
 the same nation. 
 
 The two Etchemin tribes, viz. the Passamaquoddies in the 
 United States, and the St. John Indians in New Brunswick, 
 speaking, both the same language, are not yet extinct. The 
 vocabulary of the Passamaquoddies by Mr. Kellogg was ob- 
 tained from the War Department. 
 
 The vocabulary of the Abenakis is extracted from the valua- 
 ble manuscript of Father Rasle, (the Norridgewock Missionary,) 
 lately published, at Boston, under the care of Mr. Pickering, 
 by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The 
 Penobscot tribe, consisting of about three hundred souls, 
 still exists on the river of that name. The vocabulary 
 of their language is extracted from two manuscripts, one 
 taken by General Treat and obtained from Governor E. Lin- 
 coln, the other in M. Duponceau’s collection, taken by Mr. R. 
 Gardiner of Maine. The dialects of those three eastern na- 
 tions, the Micmacs, the Etchemins, and the Abenakis, have 
 great affinities with each other, but, though evidently belonging 
 to the same stock, differ widely from the Algonkin language. 
 
 They were all early converted by the Jesuits, remained firmly 
 attached to the French, and, till the conquest of Canada, were 
 in an almost perpetual state of hostility with the British colonists. 
 In the year 1754, all the Abenakis, with the exception of the 
 Penobscots, withdrew to Canada ; and that tribe was consider- 
 ed by the others as deserters from the common cause. They, 
 as well as the Passamaquody and St. John Indians, remained 
 neuter during the war of Independence. 
 
 The dividing line between the Abenakis and the New Eng- 
 land Indians, which is also that of language, was at some place 
 between the Kennebec and the River Piscataqua. Governor 
 Sullivan placed it at the River Saco ; and this is corroborated 
 by the mention made by the French writers of a tribe called 
 Sokokies, represented as being adjacent to New England and 
 to the Abenakis, originally in alliance with the Iroquois, but 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 33 
 
 which appears to have been converted by the Jesuits, and to 
 have ultimately withdrawn to Canada.* 
 
 Eastern or Atlantic. 
 
 Under this head will be included the New England Indians, 
 meaning thereby those between the Abenakis and Hudson 
 River ; the Long Island Indians ; the Delaware and Minsi of 
 Pennsylvania and New Jersey ; the Nanticockes of the eastern 
 shore of Maryland ; the Susquehannocks ; the Powhatans of 
 Virginia ; and the Pamlicos of North Carolina. 
 
 Gookin, who wrote in 1674, enumerates as the five principal 
 nations of New England, 1. The Pequods, who may be con- 
 sidered as making but one people with the Mohegans, and who 
 occupied the eastern part of the State of Connecticut; 2. The 
 Narragansets in the State of Rhode Island ; 3. The Pawkun- 
 nawkuts or Wampanoags, chiefly within the jurisdiction of the 
 Plymouth Colony ; 3. The Massachusetts, in the Bay of that 
 name and the adjacent parts. 5. The Pawtuckets, north and 
 northeast of the Massachusetts. Under the designation of 
 Pawtuckets he includes the Penacooks of New Hampshire, 
 and probably all the more eastern tribes as far as the Abena- 
 kis, or Tarrateens, as they seem to have been called by the 
 New England Indians. The Niptnucks are mentioned as living 
 north of the Mohegans, and west of the Massachusetts, occu- 
 pying the central parts of that Slate as far west as the Connec- 
 ticut River, and acknowledging, to a certain extent, the suprema- 
 cy of the Massachusetts, of the Narrangansets, or of the 
 Mohegans. Those several nations appear, however, to have 
 been divided into a number of tribes, each having its own Sa- 
 chem, and in a great degree independent of each other. 
 
 The great similarity if not the identity of the languages from 
 the Connecticut River eastwardly to the Piscataqua, seems to be 
 admitted by all the early writers. Gookin states that the New 
 England Indians, especially upon the seacoasts, use the same 
 sort of speech and language, only with some difference in the 
 expressions, as they differ in several counties in England, yet 
 so as they can well understand each other. Roger Williams, 
 speaking of his Key, as he calls his vocabulary, says that “ he 
 has entered into the secrets of those countries wherever 
 
 * Relations, and Charlevoix, A. D. 1646, &c. 
 5 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
34 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 English dwelt about two hundred miles between the French 
 and Dutch plantations ; and that though their dialects do ex- 
 ceedingly differ within the said two hundred miles, yet not so, 
 but within that compass a man by this help may converse with 
 thousands of natives all over the country.” Governor Hutch- 
 inson also states, that from Piscataqua to Connecticut River the 
 different tribes could converse tolerably together.* 
 
 The Pequods and Mohegans claimed some authority over the 
 Indians of the Connecticut River. But those, extending thence 
 vvestwardly to the Hudson River, appear to have been divided 
 into small and independent tribes, united, since they were 
 known to the Europeans by no common government. Those 
 within Connecticut were sometimes called “ the Seven Tribes.” 
 With respect to those along the Hudson and within the juris- 
 diction of New York, De Laet, who in Dutch affairs is an origi- 
 nal authority, places the Manhattans and the Pacbamins on the 
 eastern bank of the river and below the Highlands; the War- 
 oanekins on the eastern, and the Waranancongyns on the west- 
 ern bank, both in the vicinity of Esopus, which he mentions 
 by that name ; and above these, extending to Albany, the 
 Manhikans on the eastern bank, and opposite to them the 
 Mackwaes, their mortal enemies. “ Maquas,” was the name 
 given by the Atlantic-Lenape nations to the Mohawks. In 
 the Manhikans we recognise the Mohicans, Mohikanders, or 
 River Indians. The Waroanekins and Waranancongyns are 
 clearly the people since known to us by the name of 
 Wappings or Wappingers, who have left their name to a 
 river in Dutchess County, and who extended across the Hud- 
 son, not only to Esopus, but also some distance below the 
 Highlands, where they were bounded on the south by the Min- 
 si f But they are at a later date embraced under the generic 
 appellation of Mohikanders, J which seems to indicate a commu- 
 nity of language. And the identity of name, between the 
 M ohikans of the Hudson and the Mohegans of East Connec- 
 ticut, induces the belief that all those tribes belonged to the same 
 stock. We have however no ancient vocabularies of their re- 
 spective languages, and must recur to those of the Stockbridge 
 dialect. 
 
 * Hist, of Mass. Vol. I. p. 479. 
 
 f See treaty of Easton, of 1758, in which the Wappings of Esopus 
 are mentioned, and those south of the Highlands jointly with the 
 Minsi, execute a deed of release for lands in New Jersey, 
 f See treaty of Albany of 1746, abovementioned. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQ.UOIS NATIONS. 35 
 
 The Stockbridge Indians, were originally a part of the Hou- 
 satannuck Tribe, to whom the Legislature of Massachusetts 
 granted or secured a township in the year 1736.* Their num- 
 ber was increased by Wappingers and Mohikanders, and per- 
 haps also by Indians belonging to several other tribes, both of 
 New England and New York. Since their removal to New 
 Stockbridge and Brotherton, in the western parts of New York, 
 they have been joined by Mohegans and other Indians from 
 East Connecticut and even from Rhode Island and Long Is- 
 land ; and the residue of the Seven Tribes of Connecticut is also 
 mentioned, as being settled in the year 1791 at Brotherton. f 
 They are called Mohicans, or Mohekanoks and appear to speak 
 but one dialect. All our information respecting that language 
 is derived from Old or New Stockbridge, or from Canada, 
 where some Indians of that family have also migrated. 
 
 Jonathan Edwards, a divine and a scholar, was brought up at 
 Old Stockbridge, and, whilst a child, acquired the knowledge of 
 the language of the Indians of that place. “ It had become 
 more familiar to him than his mother tongue, and he had in a 
 great measure retained his skill,” in that respect, when he 
 published, in 1788, his valuable observations on the language of 
 the “ Muhhekanew Indians.” 
 
 He states that “ the language which is the subject of 
 his observations is that of the Muhhekanew or Stockbridge 
 Indians. They, as well as the tribe in New London (the an- 
 cient Pequods or Mohegans), are by the Anglo-Americans 
 called Mohegans, which is a corruption of Muhhekanew. 
 
 “ This language is spoken by all the Indians throughout New 
 England. Every tribe, as that of Stockbridge, that of Far- 
 mington, that of New London, has a different dialect ; but 
 the language is radically the same. Mr. Eliot’s translation of 
 the Bible is in a particular dialect of this language. The dia- 
 lect followed in these observations is that of Stockbridge.” 
 
 Mr. Edwards’s vocabulary is unfortunately very short. The 
 defect is partly supplied -by two others ; one obtained in 1804, 
 by the Rev. William Jenks, from John Konkaput, a New 
 Stockbridge Indian ; the other in M. Duponceau’s collection 
 taken by Mr. Heckewelder in Canada from a Mohican chief. 
 The appended vocabulary of that language has been extracted 
 
 * Holmes’s Annals. 
 
 t 1 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vd. IX. p. 90, and Vol. V. pp. 12-32. 
 
36 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 from those three sources, with the addition of some words 
 supplied by the mutilated remnant of a comparative vocabula- 
 ry compiled by Mr. Jefferson, in the library of the Philosophi- 
 cal Society of Philadelphia. The vocabulary of the Massa- 
 chusetts Indians is taken from Eliot’s Grammar, (including the 
 words extracted by M. Du ponceau from Elliot’s translation of 
 the Bible,) and from Josiah Cotton’s valuable vocabulary. A 
 specimen from Wood’s “Prospect of New England” has been 
 added. The words not found in Roger Williams’s Key of the 
 Narraganset Language, have been supplied from a recent vo- 
 cabulary, taken by General Treat, and communicated by the 
 late Enoch Lincoln. There is no doubt respecting the great 
 similarity of those three dialects ; and that the Indians from 
 Saco River to the Hudson, spoke, though with many varieties, 
 what may be considered as the same language, and one of the 
 most extensively spoken amongst those of the Algonkin- 
 Lenape Family. 
 
 There may have been some exaggeration in the accounts of 
 the Indian population of New England. In proportion as they 
 are separated from us by time or distance, the Indians are uni- 
 formly represented as more numerous than they appear when 
 better known. Gookin, who wrote in 1674, states that the 
 Pequods were said to have been able in former times to raise four 
 thousand warriors, reduced in his time to three hundred men. 
 These had indeed been conquered and partly destroyed or dis- 
 persed in the war of 1637. But, according to the accounts of that 
 war, the number of their warriors could not at that time have 
 amounted to one thousand.* The Narragansets, who were 
 reckoned in former times, as ancient Indians said, to amount to 
 five thousand warriors, did not in his time amount to one 
 thousand. As the only wars in which they had been engaged 
 before the year 1674, from the first European settlement in 
 New England, were the usual ones with other Indians, such a 
 great diminution within that period appears highly improbable. 
 With respect to the other three great nations, to wit, the Wam- 
 panoags, the Massachusetts, and the Pawtuckets, Gookin esti- 
 mates their former number to have been in the aggregate nine 
 thousand warriors. He states the population of the two last 
 in his own time, at five hundred and fifty men, besides women 
 
 * Seven hundred, on the arrival of the British. Holmes’s Memoir, 
 1 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. IX. pp. 75-99. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 37 
 
 and children. This great diminution, he and all the other 
 ancient writers ascribed to a most fatal epidemical sickness, 
 which, a few years before the first arrival of the English, had 
 made dreadful ravages amongst those two nations and the 
 Wampanoags. 
 
 But, after making every reasonable allowance for exaggera- 
 tions derived from Indian reports, there can be no doubt, from 
 the concurrent accounts of contemporary writers, that the Indian 
 population, principally along the seacoast between the Old 
 Plymouth Colony and the Hudson River, was much greater in 
 proportion to the extent of territory than was found anywhere 
 else on the shores of the Atlantic, or, with the exception per- 
 haps of the Hurons, in the interior parts of the United States. 
 This opinion is corroborated by the enumerations subsequent to 
 Philip’s War, after the greater part of the hostile Indians had 
 removed to Canada or its vicinity. In an account laid before 
 the Assembly of Connecticut in 1680, the warriors of the sev- 
 eral tribes in the State are reckoned at five hundred.* In 1698, 
 the converted Indians in Massachusetts were computed to 
 amount to nearly three thousand souls.f In 1774, by an actual 
 census there were still thirteen hundred and sixty-three Indians 
 in Connecticut, and fourteen hundred and eighty-two in Rhode 
 Island. £ Those several numbers greatly exceed those found 
 elsewhere, under similar circumstances, so long after the date 
 of the first European settlements. I think that the Indian 
 population, within the present boundaries of the States of New 
 Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, 
 must have been from thirty to forty thousand souls, before the 
 epidemic disease which preceded the landing of the Pilgrims. 
 
 For this greater accumulated population, two causes may be 
 assigned. A greater and more uniform supply of food is af- 
 forded by fisheries than by hunting ; and we find accordingly, 
 that the Narragansets of Rhode Island were, in proportion to 
 their territory, the most populous tribe of New England. It 
 appears also probable, that the Indians along the seacoast had 
 been driven away from the interior and compelled to concen- 
 trate themselves, in order to be able to resist the attacks of the 
 more warlike Indians of the Five Nations. Even near the 
 seashore, from the Piscataqua to the vicinity of the Hudson, 
 
 * Holmes’s Report. f 1 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. X. p. 129. 
 
 t Ibid. Vol. X. pp. 117-119. 
 
38 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 the New England Indians were perpetually harassed by the at- 
 tacks of the Maquas. They were, Gookin says, in time of 
 war, so great a terror to all the Indians before named, that the 
 appearance of four or five Maquas in the woods would frighten 
 them from their habitations and induce many of them to get 
 together in forts. Wood and other contemporary writers con- 
 firm this account ; and the Mohawks were wont, in Con- 
 necticut, to pursue the native Indians and kill them even in the 
 houses of the English settlers.* 
 
 We find accordingly the population to have been chiefly con- 
 centrated along the seashore and the banks of the Connecti- 
 cut River below its falls. That of the Nipmuck and generally 
 of the inland country, north of the State of Connecticut, was 
 much less in proportion to the territory ; and there do not ap- 
 pear to have' been any tribes of any consequence in the nor- 
 thern parts of New Hampshire, or in the State of Vermont. 
 
 The Indians east of the Connecticut River never were, how- 
 ever, actually subjugated by the Five Nations. In the year 
 1669, the Indians of Massachusetts carried on even offensive op- 
 erations against the Maquas, marched with about six hundred 
 men into the Mohawk country, and attacked one of their forts. 
 They were repulsed with considerable loss ; but, in 1671, peace 
 was made between them, through the interference of the Eng- 
 lish and Dutch at Albany ; and the subsequent alliance be- 
 tween the Five Nations and the British, after they had become 
 permanently possessed of New York, appears to have pre- 
 served the New England Indians from further attacks. 
 
 The first emigrants to New England were kindly received 
 by the Indians ; and their progress was facilitated by the ca- 
 lamitous disease which had recently swept off great numbers of 
 the natives, in the quarter where the first settlements were 
 made. The peace was disturbed by the colonization of Con- 
 necticut River. The native chiefs had been driven away by 
 Sassacus, Sachem of the Pequods. From them the Massachu- 
 setts emigrants purchased the lands, and commenced the settle- 
 ment in the year 1635. Sassacus immediately committed hos- 
 tilities. The Pequod war, as it is called, terminated (1637) in 
 the total subjugation of the Pequods, and was followed by for- 
 ty years of comparative peace. The principal event during 
 that period was a war between Uncas, Sachem of the Mohe- 
 
 8 Trumbull, passim. 
 
SECT. II.] ALG0NK1N-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 39 
 
 gans and of the conquered Pequods, who appears to have been 
 a constant though subordinate ally of the British, and Mian- 
 tonimo, Sachem of the Narragansets, who had indeed assisted 
 them against the Pequods, but seems to have afterwards enter- 
 tained hostile designs against them. He brought nine hundred 
 tvarriors into the field against Uncas, who could oppose him 
 with only five hundred. Miantonimo was nevertheless defeated, 
 made prisoner and delivered by Uncas to the English. After 
 due deliberation, the Commissioners of the United Colonies 
 oi New England determined, that he might be justly, and ought 
 to be, put to death, but that this should be done out of the 
 English jurisdiction, and without any act of cruelty. He was 
 accordingly delivered again to Uncas and killed. The act at 
 this day appears unjustifiable. The English had not taken an 
 active part in the contest. They might have refused to receive 
 him from Uncas. But, this having been done, he was under 
 their protection, and, however dangerous to them, ought to 
 have been either released altogether, or kept a prisoner. 
 
 The Narragansets from that time kept the colonies in a state 
 of perpetual uneasiness. Yet the war which broke out in 1675, 
 commonly called King Philip’s war, can hardly be ascribed to 
 this or to any other particular circumstance, and appears to 
 have been the unavoidable result of the relative situation in 
 which the Indians and the whites were placed. Collisions had 
 during the preceding period often occurred ; but no actual hos- 
 tilities of any importance had taken place; and Massachusetts 
 particularly, though exposed to obloquy on that account, always 
 interposed to prevent a war. If the Indians were not always 
 kindly, at least it cannot be said that they were in general un- 
 justly, treated. With the exception of the conquered Pequods, 
 no lands were ever forcibly taken from them. They were all 
 gradually purchased from those Sachems respectively in whose 
 possession they were. But there, as everywhere else, the In- 
 dians, after a certain length of time, found that, in selling their 
 lands they had lost their usual means of subsistence, that they 
 were daily diminishing, that the gradual progress of the whites 
 was irresistible ; and, as a last effort, though too late, they at- 
 tempted to get rid of the intruders. The history of the Indians 
 in the other British colonies is everywhere substantially the 
 same. The massacre of the whites in Virginia, in the years 
 1622 and 1644, the Tuscarora war of North Carolina in 1712, 
 that with the Yemassees of South Carolina in 1715, were 
 
40 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 natural results flowing from the same cause. And in the year 
 1755, after a peace of seventy years, notwithstanding all the 
 efforts made to avert it, the storm burst even in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Metacom, or King Philip, as he is generally called, was Sa- 
 chem of the Wampanoags, and son of Massassoit, the first and 
 faithful friend of the first settlers of the New Plymouth Colony. 
 His most powerful and active ally was Conanchet, son of Mian- 
 tonimo, and principal Sachem of the Narragansets. A portion 
 of the Indians of that nation, under another chief, named 
 Ninigret, the Mobegans and the Pequods, fought on the Eng- 
 lish side. The other tribes of Connecticut, with the exception 
 of some in the northern parts of the colony, appear to have 
 remained neutral. The converted Indians of Massachusetts 
 were friendly. All the other New England Indians, assisted 
 by the Abenaki tribes, joined in the war. Its events are well 
 known, and that, after a most bloody contest of two years, 
 during which the two colonies of Massachusetts and Plymouth 
 experienced great losses, it terminated in the complete de- 
 struction or dispersion of the hostile Indians. Philip, after the 
 most desperate efforts, was killed in the field of battle. Canon- 
 chet shared the fate of his father, having been, like him, taken 
 prisoner in an engagement, and afterwards shot. A small number 
 only of the Indians who had taken arms, accepted terms of sub- 
 mission. The greater part of the survivors joined the eastern 
 tribes or those of Canada. Some took refuge amongst the Mo- 
 hicans of Hudson River. Amongst those, who did not at that time 
 join the Indians in the French interest, were those afterwards 
 known by the name of Shotacooks, from the place of their new 
 residence on the Hudson, some distance above Albany. They, 
 however, at a subsequent epoch, became hostile, and removed 
 to Canada at the commencement of the seven years’ war. 
 
 From the termination of Philip’s war, till the conquest of 
 Canada, the eastern and northern frontiers of New England 
 continued exposed to the predatory and desolating attacks of the 
 Eastern and Canada Indians. But they had no longer any in- 
 ternal enemies to combat. It appears, from the statements 
 already made, that from eight to ten thousand must, about the year 
 1680, have remained within the settled parts of those colonies. 
 Thev have ever since been perfectly peaceable, have had lands 
 reserved for them, and have been treated kindly and protected by 
 the Colonial and State Governments. They are said to amount 
 now to only a few hundred in all the four States. The language, 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 41 
 
 with the exception of the Narraganset, is nearly extinct. 
 Many had, it is true, removed from time to time to the west- 
 ward. But the great diminution and approaching extinction 
 are due to the same causes, which have operated everywhere 
 else, and to which we may hereafter advert. 
 
 It is probable that the Manhattans and the other tribes, 
 which may have been seated below the Highlands, on the east- 
 tern bank of the Hudson, within the jurisdiction of New York, 
 were of the same stock with their eastern neighbours on the 
 main along the Long Island Sound, and may also be included 
 under the general appellation of Mohicans. Of this, however, 
 we have no direct proof, as no vestige of their language remains. 
 The Dutch purchased from them the Manhattan Island, where 
 they erected a fort about the year 1620, and laid the founda- 
 tion of New Amsterdam, now New York.* But they appear 
 to have been in a state of perpetual hostility with those 
 Indians. 
 
 De Laet, who wrote in 1624, and mentions the purchase, says 
 that the eastern bank of the river was, from its mouth, inhabited 
 by “ the Manathanes, a cruel nation at war with us.” He also 
 mentions the Delawares or Minsi, living on the opposite shore, 
 under the names of Sanhikans and Mahkentiwomi, as a more 
 humane and friendly nation. It was there accordingly that 
 they made their first settlement in that quarter, about the year 
 16l0.f 
 
 About the year 1643, the Dutch appear to have been re- 
 duced to great distress by the Manhattans and the Long Island 
 Indians. They applied in vain for assistance to the Colony of 
 New Haven ; but they engaged in their service Captain Un- 
 derhill, a celebrated partisan officer, with whose assistance and, 
 it is said, that of the Mohawks, they carried on the war for 
 several years. Underhill had a mixed corps of English and 
 Dutch, with whom he is said to have killed four hundred In- 
 dians on Long Island. And in the year 1646, a severe battle 
 took place at ITorseneck on the main, where the Indians were 
 finally defeated. J 
 
 * Smith’s History of New York, p. 38, where is given Governor 
 Stuyvesant’s statement of the Dutch claim in 1644. 
 
 f The Delaware tradition (Heckewelder’s Account, chap, ii.) that 
 they first received the Dutch, is correct. 
 
 t Trumbull’s History of Connecticut, passim. 
 
 VOL. II. 6 
 
42 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 It appears, from the researches of the Hon. Silas Wood, 
 that there were not less than thirteen distinct tribes on Long 
 Island, over which the Montauks, who inhabited the eastern- 
 most part of the island, exercised some kind of authority, 
 though they had been themselves tributaries of the Pequods 
 before the subjugation of these by the English. The two ex- 
 tremities of the island were settled about the same time, the 
 eastern by the English, and the western by the Dutch. 
 
 The original records of the towns examined by Mr. Wood 
 show, that the lands were in both districts always purchased 
 from the Indians in possession. It was only in 1665, after the 
 British had taken possession of New York and the whole of 
 the island had been annexed to that government, that it was 
 ordained, that no purchase from the Indians without the Gover- 
 nor’s license, executed in his presence, should be valid.* The 
 Indians appear to have been at times, or at least with a single 
 exception, on friendly terms with the English ; and although 
 there is some discrepancy in the accounts, it is probable that 
 the hostilities, which had previously existed between those In- 
 dians and the Dutch, had ceased prior to the year 1655.f 
 
 The several tribes of Long Island spoke kindred dialects, of 
 which we have two specimens ; Mr. Wood’s short vocabulary 
 of the Montauks, from a manuscript in the possession of the 
 late John Lyon Gardner ; and that of a tribe called Unchagogs 
 (by Mr. Wood), taken in 1792, by Mr. Jefferson, and in the 
 possession of the American Philosophical Society. Mr. Jef- 
 ferson states that the dialect differs a little from those of the 
 Shinicooks of South Hampton, or of the Montauks ; and that 
 these three tribes barely understood each other. The language 
 appears to me to differ farther in its vocabulary from those of 
 New England, than any of these from each other. Although 
 a reservation of land was made for those Indians, there remain 
 only some Montauks ; and the language is said to be extinct. 
 
 In the absence of the Dutch records, during the fifty years 
 of their dominion, (1610-1664,) we have been obliged to 
 resort to the transient notices of the English or American wri- 
 ters. A certain fact asserted by all of them, confirmed by eye- 
 witnesses, and acknowledged by the Indians, is that the Mohicans 
 or River Indians including the Wappings, had been subjugated 
 
 * Smith’s History of New York, p. 54. 
 f Wood’s Account of the Settlement of Long Island, 
 
SECT. XI.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 43 
 
 by the Five Nations, and paid to them some kind of tribute. 
 According to Governor Trumbull, the Indians as far east as the 
 Connecticut River had shared the same fate.* It may be 
 doubted whether this could properly be asserted of all of them. 
 But it is certain that the Long Island Indians did also generally 
 pay tribute ; and we have the irrefragable evidence of an eye- 
 witness, the late Samuel Jones, that, as late as the middle of 
 the seventeenth century, it was collected by Mohawk deputies 
 in Queen’s County. 
 
 Judge Smith, in his “ History of New York,” published in 
 1756, says, that, “ when the Dutch began the settlement of this 
 country, all the Indians on Long Island and the northern shore of 
 the Sound, on the banks of Connecticut, Hudson’s, Delaware, 
 and Susquehanna Rivers, were in subjection to the Five Na- 
 tions, and, within the memory of persons now living, acknowl- 
 edged it by the payment of an annual tribute.”! He gi yes no 
 authority for the early date he assigns to that event. The 
 subsequent protracted wars of the Dutch with the Manhattans 
 and the Long Island Indians, and the continued warfare of the 
 Mohawks against the Connecticut Indians, are inconsistent with 
 that account, which is clearly incorrect with respect to the 
 Mohikander River Indians, or Manhicans. These are men- 
 tioned by De Laet as the mortal enemies of the Maquas. It was 
 undoubtedly the interest of the Dutch to promote any arrange- 
 ment, which, by compelling the Mohicans to remain at peace, 
 would secure their own and increase their trade. If they suc- 
 ceeded at any time, the peace was but temporary. We learn 
 from the Relations of the French Missionaries, that war exist- 
 ed in 1656, between the Mahingans and the Mohawks, and 
 that these experienced a severe check in 1663, in an attack 
 upon a Mahingan fortified village. And Golden states that the 
 contest was not at an end till 1673. “ The trade of New 
 
 York,” he says, “was hindered by the war which the Five 
 Nations had at that time with the River Indians ; ” and he adds 
 that the Governor of New York “ obtained a peace between 
 the Five Nations and the Mahikanders or River Indians.” % 
 
 It is also certain that those Mohikander or River Indians, 
 were not reduced to the same state in which the Delawares 
 
 * Yol. I. p. 56. 
 
 f Page 216. He quotes the instance of a small tribe in Orange County 
 which still made a yearly payment of about £ 20 to the Mohawks, 
 1 Colden, chap. ii. p. 35. 
 
44 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 were placed. It is proved by the concurring accounts of the 
 French and English writers, that, subsequently to the peace 
 of 1674, they were repeatedly, indeed uniformly, employed 
 as auxiliaries in the wars of the Five Nations and the British 
 against the French. At the treaty of Albany of 1746, which 
 has already been quoted, they were positively invited and 
 requested to join heartily with both for that purpose ; and they 
 acted accordingly. It may be that the Dutch or English had 
 obtained from the Five Nations a general release of any claim 
 they might have on the lands of the subdued tribes. But if 
 the right was reserved, it is proved by the records of Long 
 Island, that it was not rigidly enforced ; and there is reason to 
 believe that the same observation applies equally to the ancient 
 settlements in other parts of the State. The whole western 
 district has of course been purchased from the Five, or as 
 since called, the Six Nations, 
 
 The Delawares call themselves Lenno-Lenape, which means 
 “Original, or Unmixed Men”; perhaps originally “manly 
 men,” if Lenape is derived from Lenno, “ man, homo” and 
 nape, “ male.” They say that they at first consisted of three 
 tribes, the Unarni, or “ Turtle ” tribe, which claimed precedence 
 over the others, the Minsi, or “Wolf” tribe, who, though still 
 intimately connected, separated themselves from the Delawares 
 proper, and speak a different dialect, and the Unalachtgo, or 
 “ Turkey ” tribe, who remain mixed with the Unami. They were 
 called Loups (wolves) by the French. But it was because 
 they confounded them with the Mohicans and New England 
 Indians, whom they designated by the general appellation of 
 Mahingan, which means “Wolf” in the Algonkin and Chip- 
 peway dialects. 
 
 DELAWARE AND MINSI. 
 
 The Delaware and Minsi occupied the country bounded 
 eastwardly and southwardly by Hudson River and the Atlantic. 
 On the west they appear to have been divided from the Nanti- 
 cokes and the Susquehannocks, by the height of land which 
 separates the waters falling into the Delaware from those that 
 empty into the Susquehanna and Chesapeake. They proba- 
 bly extended southwardly along the Delaware as far as Sandy 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQ.UOIS NATIONS. 45 
 
 Hook, which seems to have belonged to another tribe.* On 
 the north they were in possession of the country watered by 
 the Schuylkill, to its sources. The line thence to the Hudson 
 is more uncertain. They may originally have extended to the 
 sources of the Delaware ; and it was perhaps owing to the 
 conquests of a comparatively recent date, that, at the treaty of 
 Easton, of 1758, the Delaware chief, Tedyuscung, who had 
 at first asserted the claim of his nation to that extent, restricted 
 it to one of the intervening ranges of hills, and acknowledged 
 that the lands higher up the river belonged to his uncles of the 
 Five Nations. East of the Delaware, the Lenape tribes were 
 separated by the Catskill Mountains from the Mohawks. But 
 it has already been stated that the Wappings intervened and 
 extended even below the Highlands. The division line be- 
 tween those Wappings and the Minsi, is not known with cer- 
 tainty. 
 
 That between the Delawares proper, and the Minsi in New 
 Jersey, is ascertained by an authentic document. Almost all 
 the lands in that colony had been gradually purchased from 
 those Indians respectively who had actual possession. Some 
 tracts remained, which both tribes stated not to have been in- 
 cluded within those sales. And at the same treaty of Easton 
 they both made distinct releases of all their claims to that resi- 
 due ; the Delawares, for the lands lying south, and the Minsi 
 for those lying north of a line drawn from Sandy Hook up the 
 Raritan to its forks, then up its north fork to the falls of Alama- 
 tung, and thence in a straight line to the Pasequalin Mountain 
 on the River Delaware. The line in Pennsylvania between the 
 tribes is not so clearly ascertained. It is however known that 
 the tract, on which Nazareth stands, was purchased by the 
 Moravians from the Minsi. 
 
 Various tribes are mentioned by the Swedes and by De Laet, 
 on both shores of the Delaware, from its mouth to Trenton Falls; 
 and the same observation applies to the western shore of the 
 Hudson below the Highlands. But these are clearly local des- 
 ignations; and they are all included under the name of Rena- 
 pi by the Swedish writers. The Delawares proper call them- 
 selves Lenno-Lenape ; and the permutations of the letters r, l, 
 and n, are common everywhere amongst Indian tribes speaking 
 the same language. 
 
 o o 
 
 * Qiimre, whether the Conois ? See Alrick’s Commission. 
 
40 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 We have two ancient vocabularies of the Delaware, one in 
 the description of New Sweden by Thomas Campanius, 
 lately translated by M. Duponceau, and the other of the Sank- 
 hicans, so called, by De Laet. They are almost identical and 
 both are clearly Delaware. The settlements of the Swedes, on 
 the river of that name, do not appear to have extended far above 
 the present site of Philadelphia. The Sankhicans are placed 
 by Campanius at the Falls of the Delaware. They are men- 
 tioned by De Laet as occupying the western side of the Hud- 
 son, as living along the bays and in the interior of the country, 
 and, finally, as the upper nation on the Delaware known to the 
 Dutch, and living eighteen leagues from the mouth of that river. 
 The Delawares were subdivided into numerous small tribes, 
 distinguished by local names ; and it is clear that one of those 
 tribes named Sankhican by the Swedes and Dutch writers, 
 lived up the Delaware where both place it ; and that when 
 De Laet speaks of them in the first passage, as inhabiting the 
 western side of the Hudson, he extends the appellation of 
 Sankhican to the Delawares generally.* 
 
 At the same time when William Penn landed in Pennsyl- 
 vania, the Delawares had been subjugated and made women by 
 the Five Nations. It is well known, that, according to that 
 Indian mode of expression, the Delawares were henceforth pro- 
 hibited from making war, and placed under the sovereignty of the 
 conquerors, who did not even allow sales of land, in the actual 
 possession of the Delawares, to be valid without their approba- 
 tion. William Penn, his descendants, and the State of Penn- 
 sylvania accordingly always purchased the right of possession 
 from the Delawares, and that of sovereignty from the Five 
 Nations. The tale suggested by the vanity of the Delawares, 
 and in which the venerable Heckewelder placed implicit faith, 
 that this treaty was a voluntary act on the part of the Dela- 
 wares, is too incredible to require a serious discussion. It cannot 
 be admitted that they were guilty of such an egregious act of 
 
 * We learn however, from Mr. Heckewelder, that the Delawares 
 called the Mohawks by that very name “ Sankhicani.” It is therefore 
 probable that the Maquas, in the course of the war, had a fort or a settle- 
 ment near the Falls of Trenton, as they afterwards had one twelve 
 miles from Fort Christina, and that, the place being accordingly called 
 by the Delawares Sankhican, the Dutch and Swedes mistook it for the 
 name of a Delaware tribe. De Laet’s Sankhican vocabulary is at all 
 events Delaware. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQ.UOIS NATIONS. 47 
 
 folly as to assent voluntarily to an agreement, which left their 
 deadly enemies at liberty to destroy their own kindred, friends, 
 and allies, with no other remedy but the empty title of Media- 
 tors, a character in which they never once appeared. And it 
 is really absurd to suppose, that any Indian tribe, victorious 
 too as the Delawares are stated to have been at that time, 
 should have voluntarily submitted to that which, according to 
 their universal and most deeply rooted habits and opinions, is 
 the utmost degradation and ignominy. But it is difficult to as- 
 certain when that event took place ; and it seems probable, as 
 asserted by the Indians, that it was subsequent to the arrival of 
 the Europeans. 
 
 De Laet, in 1624, writes that the Sankhicans were mortal 
 enemies of the Manhattans ; which proves that the Sankhicans, 
 or Delawares, were not yet prohibited from going to war. We 
 find also in Campanius, that the Minquas had a fort on a 
 high hill about twelve miles from Christina ; and he says 
 that as late as 1646, the Indians (viz. the Delawares) had 
 taken and burnt alive one of those Minquas. He adds, indeed, 
 “ that the Minquas forced the other Indians, who were not so 
 warlike as themselves, to be afraid of them, and made them 
 subject and tributary to them, so that they dare not stir, much 
 less go to war against them.” Still, taking all these remarks 
 together, it would appear that the war between the two na- 
 tions had not yet terminated in complete subjugation. This 
 is corroborated by what Evans says in the analysis of his Map ; 
 to wit, that the Iroquois had conquered the Lenno-Lenape ; 
 but that these had previously sold the lands, from the Falls of 
 Trenton down to the sea, to Peter Menevit, commander under 
 Christina, Queen of Sweden. 
 
 The first settlement of the Swedes was commenced in the 
 year 1631.* Peter Menevit, or Minuit, was commander or 
 governor, in 1638.f Their principal establishment was in the 
 vicinity of Fort Christina, near the mouth of the river of 
 that name. In the year 1651, the Dutch built Fort Casimir, 
 now called Newcastle, a few miles below.]: The Swedes 
 
 soon after took possession of it. But they were expelled in 
 1655, by the Dutch, from all their possessions on the Delaware. 
 The country was then governed by a director appointed by the 
 
 # Holmes’s Annals. 
 % Ibid. p. 24. 
 
 f Smith’s History of New York, p. 21. 
 
48 A SYNOPSIS OP THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Dutch commander of New York, till the year 1664, when, 
 together with New York, it was taken by the British. Smith 
 has preserved, in his “History of New York,” an extract from 
 the Commission of Alrick, one of the first Dutch Directors, 
 dated April, 1657. He was appointed “ Director General of 
 the Colony of the South River of the Netherlands, and the 
 fortress of Casimir, now called Niewer Amstel, with all the 
 lands depending thereon, according to the first purchase and 
 deed of release of the natives, dated July 19th, 1651, begin- 
 ning at the west side of the Minquaa or Christina Kill, in the 
 Indian language named Suspeungh, to the mouth of the bay 
 or river called Bompt Hook, in the Indian language Cannaresse, 
 and so far inland as the bounds and limits of the Minquaas , 
 land , with all the streams, and appurtenances, and dependen- 
 cies.”* 
 
 This appears to be the first purchase made from the Minquas ; 
 and it may be inferred from all that precedes, that the final 
 subjugation of the Delawares took place about the year 1750. 
 The Europeans were then too weak to have had much, if any, 
 agency in that event. 
 
 At a preparatory conference held at Burlington, in August, 
 1758, prior to the ensuing treaty of Easton, John Hudson, 
 the Cayuga chief, who attended in behalf of the Six Nations, 
 in his speech to the Governor of New Jersey, said, “ the Mun- 
 seys are women and cannot hold treaties for themselves ; but 
 the invitation you gave them is agreeable to us, and we will 
 attend, but not here ; the council-fire must be held, as hereto- 
 fore, in Pennsylvania.” f The treaty was accordingly held at 
 Easton in October following, and was most numerously attended 
 by deputies from the Six Nations, the Chihokies or Dela- 
 wares, the Minsis, Wappings, Mohicans, Nanticokes, &c. The 
 result has already been stated. The deeds of release to New 
 Jersey by the Delawares and the Minsis were approved by the 
 Six Nations, through three of their chiefs, who signed them. 
 But, in the course of the conferences, they declared, through 
 their speaker, Thomas King, that they had no claim to the 
 lands of the Minsis or of their other nephews (the Delawares) 
 on the east side of Delaware River. Nor is there any 
 
 * Smith’s History of New York, p. 25. Chalmers (p.632) mentions 
 the purchase, and that it was effected by Hudde, a Dutch officer, 
 f Smith’s History of New Jersey. 
 
SECT. IX.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 49 
 
 evidence in Smith’s “History of New Jersey,” that the proprie- 
 taries of that province had ever before obtained deeds of 
 confirmation from the Six Nations, for the lands purchased from 
 the Delaware and Minsi tribes, which were in the actual posses- 
 sion of. the same. It would seem, then, that the right to the 
 Lenape lands was not more rigidly enforced by the Five 
 Nations in New Jersey than in New York. The same course 
 might perhaps have taken place in Pennsylvania, had not Mr. 
 Penn applied to them for cessions which they never hesitated 
 to make. It may be also that, as he introduced the laudable 
 custom ol public purchases made by solemn treaties, the Five 
 Nations would not permit such national councils to be held 
 by the Delawares without their approbation. 
 
 The use of arms, though from very different causes, was 
 equally prohibited to the Delawares and to the Quakers. Thus 
 the colonization of Pennsylvania and of West New Jersey 
 by the British, commenced under the most favorable auspices. 
 Peace and the utmost harmony prevailed for more than sixty 
 years between the whites and the Indians ; for these were for 
 the first time treated, not only justly, but kindly by the colon- 
 ists. But, however gradually and peaceably their lands might 
 have been purchased, the Delawares found themselves at last 
 in the same situation as all the other Indians, without lands of 
 their own, and therefore without means of subsistence. They 
 were compelled to seek refuge on the waters of the Susque- 
 hanna, as tenants at will, on lands belonging to their hated 
 conquerors, the Five Nations. Even there and on the Juniat- 
 ta, they were encroached upon by white settlers less scrupulous 
 than the Quakers had been. Nor can it be denied that the agents 
 of the Proprietaries were occasionally too urgent in asking for 
 further concessions of land, and in obtaining extensive and 
 alarming grants from the Five Nations. Under those circum- 
 stances, many of the Delawares determined to remove west of 
 the Alleghany Mountains, and, about the year 1740-50, ob- 
 tained, from their ancient allies and uncles the Wyandots, the 
 grant of a derelict tract of land lying principally on the Mus- 
 kingum. The great body of the nation was still attached to 
 Pennsylvania. But the grounds of complaint increased. The 
 Delatvares were encouraged by the western tribes, and by the 
 French, to shake oft’ the yoke of the Six Nations, and to join 
 in the war against their allies the British. The frontier settle- 
 ments of Pennsylvania were accordingly attacked both by the 
 
 VOL. II. 7 
 
50 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Delawares and the Sbawnoes. And, although peace was made 
 with them at Easton in 1758, and the conquest of Canada put 
 an end to the general war, both the Shawnoes and Delawares 
 removed altogether in 1768, beyond the Alleghany Mountains. 
 This resolution had not been taken without much reluctance. 
 At a preparatory conference held at Easton, in 1757, the 
 Delaware Chief Tedyuscung said, “We intend to settle at 
 Wyoming ; we want to have certain boundaries fixed between 
 you and us, and a certain tract of land fixed, which it shall not 
 be lawful for us or our children to sell, nor for you or any of 
 your children ever to buy ; that we may be not pushed on 
 every side, but have a certain country fixed for our own use and 
 that of our children for ever.” And, at the treaty of Easton 
 in 1758, he accordingly applied to the Six Nations for a per- 
 manent grant of land at Shamokin and Wyoming on the Sus- 
 quehanna. The Maqua chiefs answered that they were not 
 authorized to sell any lands ; that they would refer the demand to 
 their great council at Onondago, which alone had a right to make 
 sales. “ In the mean while,” they added, “ you may make 
 use of those lands in conjunction with our own people and all 
 the rest of our relations, the Indians of the different nations 
 in our alliance.” It is proper to add that the Delawares 
 did not lay any claim to the lands on the Susquehanna, which 
 they acknowledged to belong altogether to the Six Nations. 
 
 The removal of the Delawares, Minsi, and Shawnoes to the 
 Ohio, at once extricated them from the yoke of the Six Nations, 
 and cut off the intercourse between these and the Miamis and 
 other western Indians who had been inclined to enter into their 
 alliance. The years 1765-1795 are the true period of the 
 power and importance of the Delawares. United with the 
 Sbawnoes, who were settled on the Scioto, they sustained 
 during the seven years’ war the declining power of France, and 
 arrested for some years the progress of the British and Ameri- 
 can arms. Although a portion of the nation adhered to the 
 Americans during the war of Independence, the main body 
 together with all the western nations made common cause 
 with the British. And, after the short truce which followed 
 the treaty of 1783, they were again at the head of the western 
 confederacy in their last struggle for independence. Placed 
 by their geographical situation in the front of battle, they were 
 during those three wars, the aggressors, and, to the last moment, 
 
SECT. II.] ALG0NK1N-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 51 
 
 the most active and formidable enemies of America.* The 
 decisive victory of General Wayne (1794) dissolved the con- 
 federacy ; and the Delawares were the greatest sufferers by the 
 treaty of Greenville of 1795. 
 
 The greater part of the lands allotted them by the Wyan- 
 dots was ceded by that treaty, and they then obtained from the 
 Miamis a tract of land on the White River of Wabash, which, 
 by the treaty of Vincennes of 1804, was guarantied to them 
 by the United States. But the Miamis having contended the 
 ensuing year, at the treaty of Grouseland, that they had only 
 permitted them to occupy the territory, but had not conveyed the 
 soil to them, the Delawares released the United States from 
 that guarantee. They did not take part with the British in the 
 last war, and, together with some Mohicans and Nanticokes, 
 remained on White River till the year 1819, when they finally 
 ceded their claim to the United States. Those residing there 
 were then reduced to about eight hundred souls. A number, 
 including the Moravian converted Indians, had previously 
 removed to Canada ; and it is difficult to ascertain the situation 
 or numbers of the residue at this time. Those who have 
 lately removed west of the Mississippi are, in an estimate of 
 the War Department, computed at four hundred souls. Former 
 emigrations to that quarter had however taken place, and sev- 
 eral small dispersed bands are, it is believed, united with the 
 Senecas and some other tribes. 
 
 The appended vocabularies of the Delaware and Minsi are 
 extracted from those in manuscript received from Mr. Hecke- 
 welder, and which make part of Mr. Duponceau’s valuable 
 collection. 
 
 Captain Smith, the founder of the first permanent British 
 Colony in Virginia, has given us the names of six tribes on 
 the eastern shore of Virginia and Maryland. The two most 
 southern, the Acomack and Acohanoek, spoke the Powhat- 
 tan language. Thence to the mouth of the Susquehanna, 
 
 * We have, in the tenth Volume of the Colleotions of the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society (1st series), two accounts of the Indians engaged in 
 the battle on the Miami, where they were defeated by General Wayne. 
 According to one, there were five hundred Delawares out of fifteen 
 hundred Indians who were in the action ; according to the other, three 
 out of seven hundred. 
 
52 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 he designates the Wighcomocos, the Kuskara\vaock,the Ozimies, 
 and the Tockwoghs, amounting together to four hundred and sixty 
 warriors. He makes no mention of the Nanticokes, but, on his 
 map, a village of that name is placed on the Choctanck River ; 
 and we are informed by Mr. Heckewelder that the Nanticokes 
 were called by the Delawares Tawachguano, in which name that 
 of Tockwoghs is easily recognised. In more recent times, all the 
 Indians of the eastern shore of Maryland have been embraced 
 under the general designation of Nanticokes. We learn from 
 Charles Thompson,* that they were forced by the Five Na- 
 tions to enter into an alliance with them ; a fact easily account- 
 ed for, by the erection of the Maqua fort twelve miles from 
 Newcastle, by their geographical situation, and by their weak- 
 ness. During the first part of the eighteenth century they 
 began to migrate up the Susquehanna, where they had lands 
 allotted to them by the Six Nations, and were after a while 
 admitted as a seventh nation into that confederacy. At the 
 treaty of 1758, Tokaaio, a Cayuga chief, spoke in behalf of 
 the five younger nations, to wit, the Cayugas, the Oneidas, the 
 Tuscaroras, the Nanticokes and Conoys, and the Tuteloes. 
 The Conoys were either a tribe of the Nanticokes or intimate- 
 ly connected with them. - Charles Thompson calls the nation 
 Nanticokes or Conoys, but confounds them with the Tuteloes. 
 Mr. Heckewelder thinks the Conoys to be the same people 
 with the Kanhawas. This last name is identical with that of 
 the western river Kanhawa, and it might have been supposed 
 that the Kanhawas were a tribe living on that river, and that 
 called by the Five Nations Coclmowas, which at the confer- 
 ences of Lancaster (1744) they said they had destroyed. But 
 it seems certain that the Indians on the heads of the Potomac 
 were called Ganawese and Canhawaas.f 
 
 The Nanticokes and Conoys, being the allies of the Six 
 Nations, remained on the Susquehanna till the commence- 
 ment of the war of the revolution, when they removed to the 
 west and joined the British standard. They do not appear to 
 exist any longer as a nation, but are still found, mixed with 
 other tribes, both in the United States and in Canada. 
 
 The vocabulary of their language is extracted from two 
 manuscripts in Mr. Duponceau’s collection, one taken by Mr. 
 
 * Appendix to Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia, 
 f See hereafter under the head of Susquehannocks. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 53 
 
 Heckevvelder in 1785, from a Nanticoke chief living in Cana- 
 da ; the other taken in 1792, by the late William Vans Murray, 
 and sent by him to Mr. Jefferson. It was taken from an old 
 woman called Mrs. Muberry, the widow of their last chief, who 
 lived at Locust Necktown, Goose Creek, Choctank River, 
 Dorset County, Maryland. The village consisted of five 
 wigwams and two board houses. The few surviving Indians 
 spoke exclusively their own language among themselves. 
 That particular tribe called itself Wiwash. Winikako, the 
 last great Sachem, died about 1720. The tribe consisted then 
 of more than five hundred souls.* 
 
 Captain Smith, in the year 1608, sailed from James River 
 to the head of Chesapeake Bay. He found the western 
 shore deserted from the Patapsco upwards. The Tockwoghs 
 or Nanticokes were fortified east of the Susquehanna to de- 
 fend themselves against the Massawomeks, the name given 
 by the Chesapeake Indians to the Five Nations. And he met, 
 at the head of the bay, eight canoes full of those Massawom- 
 eks, on their return from an expedition against the Tockwoghs. 
 Two days higher up the river lived the Susquehannocks, 
 amounting to near six hundred warriors, and who were also 
 “ pallisadoed in their towns to defend themselves from the 
 Massawomeks, their mortal enemies.” 
 
 In the years 1730-1740, the Five Nations complained, that 
 the inhabitants of Maryland encroached on their lands. The 
 treaty of Lancaster, in the year 1744, was held principally for 
 the purpose of settling those differences, and also the claim set 
 up by the same Indians to the western parts of Virginia. The 
 Maryland commissioners there stated, that the Susquehanna 
 Indians, by a treaty above ninety years since (1654), had 
 yielded to the English the greatest part of the lands possessed 
 by Maryland from Patuxent River on the western, as well as 
 from Chocktank River on the eastern side of the great Bay of 
 Chesapeake. It would seem from that declaration, that the Nanti- 
 cokes were, in those early times, included by the government 
 of Maryland in the general designation of Susquehanna Indians. 
 
 To this Canassatego, the Onondago chief, replied, that they 
 acknowledged the validity of the deed, “and that the Cones- 
 togoe or Susquehanna Indians had a right to sell those lands 
 to Maryland, for they were then theirs ; but since that time, 
 
 * Mr. Vans Murray’s Letter to Mr. Jefferson. 
 
54 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 we have conquered them and their country now belongs to us ; 
 and the lands we demanded satisfaction for, are no part of the 
 lands comprised in those deeds ; they are the Cohongorontas 
 (Potomac) lands ; those you have not possessed one hundred 
 years, no, nor above ten years, and we made our demands so 
 soon as we knew your people were settled in these parts. 
 These have never been sold, but still remain to be disposed of.” 
 The Five Nations agreed in the sequel to sell their claim to 
 the lands in dispute on the Potomac as high up as two miles 
 above the junction of the North and South Branch. It ap- 
 pears therefore that the Susquehannocks, whose territory ex- 
 tended east of the Susquehanna north of the Nanticokes, 
 possessed the country west and southwest of the said river as 
 far as the Potomac. In the course of the conferences at the 
 same treaty, Gachradodow, another Indian chief, in answer to 
 some observations from the Virginia commissioners, said, 
 “ Though great things are well remembered among us, yet we 
 don’t remember that we were ever conquered by the Great 
 King, or that we have been employed by that Great King to 
 conquer others; if it was so, it is beyond our memory. We 
 do remember, we were employed by Maryland to conquer the 
 Conestogoes, and that the second time we were at war with 
 them, we carried them all off.”* 
 
 Evans corroborates these facts in the Analysis of his Map. 
 He says that the Iroquois gave the finishing stroke to the 
 Susquehannocks ; but that Bell, in the service of Mary- 
 
 land, had previously given them a blow, from which they 
 never recovered, by the defeat of many hundred at the fort 
 on the east side of the Susquehanna, three miles below 
 Wright’s Ferry (now Columbia). Wherefore, he says, the 
 Iroquois claimed only northwest of a line drawn from Cone- 
 wago Falls to the North Mountain where it crosses the Potomac, 
 and thence along the said mountains to James River. Evans 
 adds, that the Susquehannocks had abandoned the western 
 shore of Maryland before being conquered, and that the Eng- 
 lish found it mostly a derelict. 
 
 * Chalmers, in his Annals, p. 249, says that, in 1660, the Susquehanna 
 Indians assisted Maryland against the Sanadoa (Oneidas), and he 
 quotes Bacon’s Laws, 1661. The British had no intercourse with the 
 Five Nations till after 1664, when they took possession of New York. 
 
SECT* II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 55 
 
 The author of the Preface to the Treaty of Lancaster of 
 1744 further informs us, that the residue of the Conestogoes 
 (or Susquehannocks), who were carried away by the ' Five 
 Nations, were adopted by the Oneidas, and, when they had 
 forgotten their language, were sent back to Conestogo, where 
 they were then living and speaking Oneida. We find accord- 
 ingly, in the list of Indians who attended the treaty of Lancas- 
 ter in 1742, four of them designated as Conestogo Indians that 
 speak the Oneida language, and with genuine Iroquois names. 
 Four others are designated as Canoyias or Nanticokes of Con- 
 estogo, where a part had in fact at first removed, and remained 
 some time before they proceeded to the western branch of the 
 Susquehanna. 
 
 This destruction of the Susquehannocks must have taken 
 place subsequent to the year 1664, since it was effected jointly 
 by Maryland and the Five Nations, and probably before the 
 arrival of William Penn in Pennsylvania (1680). But the 
 records of Maryland are wanted to elucidate their history. 
 
 It appears, however, that a remnant w r as left besides those 
 carried away by the Oneidas. A portion probably fled toward 
 the River Delaware, where they are mentioned by some of the 
 early writers, and may subsequently have returned to their 
 abodes. William Penn at an early period, anxious to strength- 
 en his claim against the pretensions of Lord Baltimore, obtained a 
 cession of land on the Susquehanna from the Indians, whoever 
 they may have been, who resided there. And this was confirmed 
 in the year 1701, by a treaty made with the Susquehanna and 
 Potomac Indians, but in presence and under the sanction of an 
 Onondago Chief. At that treaty Connoodaghtoh is styled 
 King of the Susquehanna, Minquaes, or Conestogo Indians ; 
 and those inhabiting the head of the Potomac are called 
 Ganawese. 
 
 Mr. Heckewelder, speaking of the Conoys, says, that they 
 are the people we call Canais, Conoys, Canaways, Kanhawas, 
 Canwese ;* and, in another place, f that the Canai settled at a 
 distance, on the shores of the Susquehanna and of the Potomac. 
 Colden mentions, under the year 1677, Canagesse Indians,]! 
 and in 1684, the Cahnawaas,^ meaning certainly the same 
 people, as Indians friends of Virginia, against whom the Five 
 
 * Historical Account, p. 26. f Ibid. p. 74. 
 
 t Colden, Hist. Five Nations, Part I. Chap. iii. p. 38. 
 
 § Ibid. p. 57. 
 
56 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Nations had committed hostilities. Indians living on the Poto- 
 mac, rather than on the Kanhawa, must at that time have been 
 under the protection of Virginia. And it is probable that the 
 Nanticokes, the Susquehannocks, and the Conoys, Canawese, or 
 Cahnawaas, were but one nation, extending from the eastern 
 shore of Maryland, across the bay, and North of the Patuxent 
 to the upper waters of the Potomac. 
 
 The final cession by the Five Nations of the lands on both 
 sides of the Susquehanna lying in Pennsylvania southwest of 
 the North Mountain, was effected by the treaties of 1736 and 
 1742. We have no remnant whatever of the language of the 
 Susquehannocks. 
 
 Captain Smith has given a detailed account of the various 
 tribes found in Virginia, at the time of its first permanent set- 
 tlement in the years 1707 and 1709. Exclusively of the 
 Massawomacs (Five Nations), who are invaders, of the Sus- 
 quehannocks who lay to the north of the colony, and of the 
 Nanticokes and Tockvvoghs on the eastern shore and already 
 alluded to, he mentions four nations or confederacies speaking 
 distinct languages. 
 
 Those which formed the Powhatan confederacy embraced, 
 on the southern extremity of the eastern shore, the Acomack 
 and the Acohanock. On the western shore of the Chesapeake, 
 they extended from the most southern rivers that empty into 
 James River’ to the Patuxent, consisting of thirty-four tribes, 
 each having a distinct name, but speaking the same language, 
 and amounting together (including the Acomacks and Aco- 
 hanocks) to two thousand nine hundred warriors, or more than 
 ten thousand souls. Their settlements extended westwardly to 
 the great falls of the rivers ; but it would seem, though the 
 accounts are indistinct, that their hunting-grounds extended 
 farther west towards the first ridge of hills. 
 
 South of the Powhatans, on the waters of the Nottoway 
 and Meherrin Rivers which empty into Albemarle Sound, 
 he places the Chawonock and Mangoags ; two Iroquois tribes, 
 known to us under the name of Nottoways and Tuteloes. 
 
 West of the more southerly Powhatans, and extending 
 from James River towards the Roanoke, were the Monacans, 
 having several tribes (Massinacack, Monasickapanoughs, &c.) 
 for tributaries. These Monacans are considered as the same 
 Iroquois nation which called themselves Tuscaroras. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 57 
 
 And west of the more northern Powhatans, and principally 
 on the upper waters of the Rappahannock, were the Man- 
 nahoks, who consisted of various tribes, differing in language, 
 and in alliance with the Monacans. 
 
 This account taken literally, so far as it relates to the 
 Monacans and the Mannahoks, is attended with several dif- 
 ficulties. The Mannahoks were almost interspersed with the 
 Powhatans, since they were met by Smith on the tide-waters 
 of the Rappahannock. And the lower town of the Monacans 
 on James River appears to have been immediately above 
 the falls. Lawson says that the well-known coal mine above 
 Richmond was near the Monacan town. It may be that the 
 Tuscaroras had extended their dominion as far north as James 
 River. But it is not improbable that the tribes, seated above 
 the falls of James River, embraced under the general desig- 
 nation of Monacans, were tributaries of the Tuscaroras ; and 
 that they, as well as the Mannahoks were, in fact, Lenape 
 tribes, speaking a different language from the Powhatans, 
 and, as usual, generally at war with them. We find indeed 
 that the Susquehannocks themselves, hard pressed as they 
 were by the Five Nations, were, about the year 1637, carrying 
 on a constant predatory war against the Powhatan tribe 
 settled near the mouth of the Potomac.* 
 
 The Tuscaroras and other Iroquois tribes, inhabiting the 
 country south of the Powhatans, will be hereafter noticed. 
 No specimen has been preserved of the languages of any 
 of the tribes, either Monacans or Mannahoks, living w r est of 
 the Powhatans. Of the language of these, w'e have only the 
 scanty vocabulary left by Smith, with a few scattered additional 
 words found in Beverly’s “ History of Virginia” ; but these are 
 sufficient to establish beyond a doubt, that they were a Lenape 
 tribe. 
 
 The first Virginia settlers maintained an intercourse, often 
 interrupted by hostilities, with the Powhatans during the life 
 of the great chief, father of Pocahontas. Soon after his 
 death, the Indians made an attempt to destroy the infant 
 colony. Near three hundred and fifty English settlers were 
 massacred, and more than three fourths of the plantations 
 abandoned. The English soon recovered, and the contest 
 terminated in a total defeat and partial subjugation of the 
 
 * Bozman’s History of Maryland, 
 
 8 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
58 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [lNTROD. 
 
 Indians. In the year 1644, they made another effort, attended 
 with a similar massacre and terminating in the same manner. 
 According to Mr. Jefferson, the number of warriors of the 
 different Powhatan tribes was then reduced to five hundred. 
 In 1676, Bacon, during the insurrection which bears his name, 
 appears to have completed their total subjugation. From that 
 time they had lands reserved to them, for which they paid a 
 nominal tribute; and they were henceforth considered as under 
 the protection of the British Government. They gradually 
 dwindled away, intermarried with the blacks, and have now 
 entirely disappeared. At least it is not believed that a single 
 individual remains that speaks the language. 
 
 As soon as the British had taken possession of New York, 
 the governors of Virginia found it convenient, if not necessary, 
 to secure peace with those Massawomeks, or Five Nations, 
 whose incursions have been so long formidable to the Indians 
 living in the vicinity of the heads of the great rivers, particular- 
 ly of the Potomac. These Indians were now under the pro- 
 tection of Virginia, as appears by the conferences of 1677, 
 1684, and 1685, already mentioned, and at which Colonel 
 Kendall, Lord Howard, Colonel Bird, &c., successively attended 
 on the part of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson states that the whole 
 of the upper country was obtained by fair purchases, which 
 must have been from the native Indians taken under the 
 protection of the colonial government. These, from their 
 geographical position, could be no other than those mentioned 
 by Captain Smith, under the name of Mannahoks. The loss 
 of the colonial records of Virginia compels us to resort to 
 conjectures, and to the notices preserved in the several con- 
 ferences or treaties of Albany and Lancaster. 
 
 About the year 1722 a treaty was concluded between the 
 Six Nations and Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, by which it 
 was agreed, that the high ridge of mountains, extending along 
 the frontiers of Virginia, to the westward of the present 
 settlements of that colony, should be for ever the established 
 boundaries between the Indians subject to the dominion of 
 Virginia, and the Indians belonging to and depending on the 
 Five Nations. Whether the mountain intended was the Blue 
 Ridge or the North Mountain does not clearly appear. But, 
 by the treaty of Lancaster of 1774, the Five Nations 
 recognised for a trifling consideration the British right to all 
 the colony of Virginia. In the course of the conferences, 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 59 
 
 and while that matter was in debate, a speech was delivered 
 by the Indian Chief Tachanoontia ; a portion of which we 
 will quote, as it proves by his own declaration, that the more 
 western Indians of Virginia were Lenape tribes. It must be 
 premised that the termination roonaw, borrowed from the Al- 
 gonkin Ireni (men), was used by the Iroquois, to designate 
 Indians of the Algonkin language. 
 
 o o o 
 
 “ All the world knows we conquered the several nations 
 living on Sasquahannah, Cohongoronta (Potomac), and on the 
 back of the great mountains in Virginia ; the Conoyuch- such- 
 roonaw, the Cohnowas- ronow, # the Tohoairough-roonaw, and 
 the Konnutsl-cinough-xoo'n&w feel the effects of our conquests, 
 being noyv a part of our nations, and their lands at our disposal. 
 We know very well, it hath often been said by the Virginians, 
 that the Great King of England, and the people of that 
 Colony, conquered the Indians who lived there ; but it is not 
 true. We will allow they have conquered the Sachdagugh- 
 roonawf (Powhatans), and drove back the Tuscaroraws, and 
 that they have on that account a right to some part of Virginia ; 
 but as to what lies beyond the mountains, we conquered the 
 nations residing there, and that land, if the Virginians ever get 
 a good right to it, it must be by us.” 
 
 The first attempt by the British to colonize North America 
 was made in the year 1585, on the coast of North Carolina, 
 at the small island ol Roanoke. From tire few words collect- 
 ed by Ralph Lane and Heriot, in Albemarle and Pamlico 
 Sounds, and from Lawson’s vocabulary of the Pamhcos, it 
 is evident that the shores of those Sounds, from the Virginia 
 line to the vicinity ol Neuse River and Cape Hatteras, were 
 inhabited by Lenape tribes. The Pamlicos were reduced by 
 a great mortality in 1695 ; J and, according to Lawson, that 
 particular tribe was reduced to fifteen warriors in the year 1708. 
 
 * Here are two names nearly similar, given to two distinct tribes, 
 perhaps the Conoys of Potomac, and the Kanhawas of the River 
 Kanhawa. 
 
 f Sachdagughs are the same as the Powhatans. (Evans s Analysis.) 
 t Archdale. 
 
60 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 It is probable however that the Hatteras, the Paspatauks, and 
 some other small tribes, mentioned by him, spoke dialects of 
 the same language. They were bounded on the west by the 
 Chowan and Tuscarora Iroquois tribes ; on the south by extinct 
 tribes of uncertain origin. 
 
 Western Lenape. 
 
 Under this head we include the Menomonies, the Miami and 
 Illinois tribes, the Sauks, Foxes, and Kickapoos, and, finally, the 
 Shawnoes. 
 
 The Menomonies or Malominies,* called by the French, “Fol- 
 les Avoines,” “Wild Oats,” are seated on the northerly part of 
 Green Bay, which is their boundary on the east. They are 
 bounded on the north by those Chippeways, who inhabit the 
 southern shores of Lake Superior ; on the south by the Win- 
 nebagoes. Towards the west they join the Sauks and perhaps 
 the Sioux Dahcota. Their name is derived from the wild rice 
 (zizania [clavulosa ?] ), which grows abundantly in their country. 
 The French have occasionally given to the neighbouring Chip- 
 peways the same name (Folles Avoines) ; and they have also 
 extended to both the designation of “ Sauteurs,” from the Saut 
 or Falls of St. Mary, on account of their visiting it in fishing- 
 time. They are first mentioned by the Jesuits, in the year 
 1669, when they inhabited the same country as at this time. 
 Their language, though of the Algonkin stock, is less similiar 
 to that of the Chippeways, their immediate neighbours, than 
 almost any other dialect of the same stock. As no other tribe 
 speaks it, and they generally speak Chippeway, it is almost im- 
 possible to find good interpreters. It is probably owing to that 
 circumstance, that they were for a long while supposed to have 
 a distinct language, belonging to another stock than the Algon- 
 kin. The appended vocabulary was addressed by Mr. James 
 D. Doty to Governor Cass ; and some words have been sup- 
 plied from Tanner’s Narrative, edited by Dr. James. By the 
 estimate of the War Department, they amount to four thousand 
 two hundred souls. 
 
 The $auks or Saukies (White Clay), and the Foxes or 
 
 * Prom Monomonick, “Wild rice” ; Monomoniking, “ In the place of 
 wild rice.” (Schoolcraft.) 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQ.UOIS NATIONS. 61 
 
 Outagamies, so called by the Europeans and Algonkins respec- 
 tively, but whose true name is Musquakkiuk (Red Clay), are in 
 fact but one nation. The French Missionaries on coming first 
 in contact with them, in the year 1665, at once found that they 
 spoke the same language, and that it differed from the Algon- 
 kin, though belonging to the same stock ; and also that this 
 language was common to the Kickapoos and to those Indians 
 they called Maskontens.* This last nation, if it ever had an 
 existence as a distinct tribe, has entirely disappeared. But we 
 are informed by Charlevoix, and Mr. Schoolcraft corroborates 
 the fact, that the word Mascontenck means “ a country without 
 woods, a prairie.” The name “ Mascontens ” was therefore 
 used to designate “ prairie Indians.” And it appears that they 
 consisted principally of Sauks and Kickapoos, with an occasion- 
 al mixture of Potowotamies and Miamis, who probably came 
 there to hunt the buffalo. The country, assigned to those 
 Mascontens, lay south of the Fox River of Lake Michigan, and 
 west of Illinois River. 
 
 The identity of the language has been more recently ascer- 
 tained by the answers of Masco , a Saukie, and of Wahballo, a 
 Fox chief, recorded in the report of the Rev. Jedidiah Morse.f 
 The last-mentioned chief says, “the Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo 
 nations are related by language ; ” and again, “ There are only 
 three nations with whom we can converse, the Sauk, Fox, and 
 Kickapoo nations.” 
 
 We have no other vocabulary of the language of those 
 nations, but that of the Sauks taken by Dr. Keating from the 
 Sauk chief Wennebea, inserted in his narrative of Major 
 Long’s Second Expedition. 
 
 When first discovered, the Sauks and Foxes had their seats 
 toward the southern extremity of Green Bay, on Fox River, 
 and generally farther east than the country which they lately 
 occupied. The Foxes became particularly hostile to the 
 French and their Indian allies. In the year 1712, they, to- 
 gether with the Kickapoos and Mascontens or Sakies, attacked 
 Fort Detroit defended then by only twenty Frenchmen. But 
 it was relieved by the Ottawas, Hurons, Potowotamies, and 
 other friendly Indians, who, after a long resistance, destroyed 
 
 * Father Allouez, Relations of New France, 1666. 
 t Appendix, p. 122. 
 
62 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 or captured the greater part of the besieging force. The 
 Foxes and Sauks, sustained by some of the Sioux tribes, and by 
 the Chickasaws, turned their arms against the Illinois, and for 
 a while intercepted the communication between Canada and 
 Louisiana. They, together with the Kickapoos, compelled the 
 Illinois to abandon their settlements on the river of that name; 
 and the residue of this nation sought refuge, in the year 1722, 
 in the vicinity of the French settlement at Kaskaskia on the 
 Mississip pi.* 
 
 The largest portion of the territory of the Sauks and Foxes, 
 even before their late cession, lay on the west side of the 
 Mississippi. At what time they settled beyond that river is 
 not known. They partly subjugated, and finally admitted into 
 their alliance, the lowas, a Sioux tribe, which is stated by Charle- 
 voix to have been formerly seated on the eastern bank of the 
 M ississippi. By the treaty of 1804, the Sauks and Foxes 
 ceded to the United States all their lands east of that river, 
 bounded, according to their claim, westwardly by the Mississip- 
 pi from the mouth of the River Illinois to that of the Wiscon- 
 sin ; eastwardly by Illinois River and the Fox River of the 
 Illinois, up to the small lake called Sakaegan; and northward- 
 ly by a line drawn thence to the Wisconsin, and down that 
 river to its mouth. 
 
 The Kickapoos by various treaties, 1809 to 1819, have also 
 ceded all their lands to the United Stales. They claimed all 
 the country between Illinois River and the Wabash, north of 
 the parallel of latitude passing by the mouth of the Illinois, and 
 south of the Kankakee River, the most eastern branch of the 
 Illinois ; the southern part of it by right of conquest from the 
 111 inois and fifty years’ possession. But, with the exception of 
 a tract on Vermilion River, the whole country watered by the 
 Wabash appears indubitably to have belonged to the Miami 
 tribes. 
 
 The events of the last war with the Sauks are generally 
 known. According to the estimate, they amount to five thou- 
 sand three hundred souls, the Foxes to thirteen hundred, and 
 the Kickapoos to five hundred. They all now reside west of 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 There is no doubt, says Charlevoix, that the Miamis and the 
 Illinois were not long ago (1721) the same people, from the 
 
 Charlevoix, passim. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 
 
 63 
 
 great affinity between their languages. The same affinity was 
 observed by Father Allouez, who says that their language, 
 though of the Algonkin stock, differed much from that of all 
 the other tribes of that family, and that it was the most difficult 
 for the Missionaries to understand, The appended vocabulary 
 of the Miamis is extracted from those of Volney and Dr. 
 Thornton, both taken from the Interpreter, the late Mr. Wells, 
 and with the assistance of the celebrated chief “ Little Turtle.” 
 That of the Illinois, from a manuscript in Mr. Du ponceau’s col- 
 lection, is less authentic ; the name of the author, who appears 
 to have been a French priest, being omitted. He calls it a 
 “ Pi-lllinois-Mi” (Piankishaw, Illinois, Miami,) vocabulary, 
 and considers the three languages as being but one. 
 
 The territory claimed by the Miamis and Piankishaws may 
 be generally stated as having been bounded eastwardly by the 
 Maumee River of Lake Erie, and to have included all the 
 country drained by the Wabash. The Piankishaws occupied 
 the portion bordering on the Ohio. They granted, in 1768, 
 their lands east of the Wabash to the Delawares. On the west 
 they bordered on the Illinois , the boundary line being the 
 dividing ridge, which separates the waters emptying into the 
 Saline Creek and the Kaskaskias River, from those which fall 
 into the Wabash. 
 
 The Piankishaws are the only tribe in that quarter not men- 
 tioned by the French Missionaries, who probably considered 
 them as part of the Miamis. That they were closely con- 
 nected is certain. For at a conference, held at Carlisle, Penn- 
 sylvania, in 1753, with the Ohio Indians and the Six Nations, 
 the Miamis or Twightees recommended to the other Indian 
 nations, and to the English, the infant son of the late chief of 
 the Piankishaws, whom they call “ one of their tribes.” 
 
 The name of Twightees is that given by the Six Nations to the 
 Miamis, who, independent of the Piankishaws, are subdivided 
 into three kindred and allied tribes, viz. Miamis Proper, Eel 
 River, and Ouitanons or Weas. Though already diminished 
 by wars, they were still a numerous nation, when first visited 
 by the French missionaries in 1669 : and they continued a long 
 while in alliance with the French and at war with the Six Na- 
 tions. But they appear to have, at least for a while, formed a 
 connexion with the last-mentioned nation. They sent depu- 
 ties to the treaty of Lancaster of 1748, who were presented 
 by the Six Nations, in order that they might be admitted into 
 
64 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 the British alliance as they had been into theirs. This connex- 
 ion appears to have been dissolved in consequence of the 
 removal of the Delawares and Shawnoes to the Ohio. The 
 M iamis have taken an active part in all the wars against the 
 United States. They have now ceded the greater part of 
 their lands, and are said including the Piankishaws to amount 
 to less than two thousand souls. 
 
 The Illinois consisted of five tribes, to wit, the Kaskaskias, 
 Cahokias, Tamaronas, Peorias, and Mitchigamias. This last 
 was a foreign tribe admitted into their confederacy, and which 
 originally came from the west side of the Mississippi, where 
 they lived on a small river that bore their name.* They were 
 formerly the most numerous of the western tribes, amounting, 
 in 1670, to ten or twelve thousand souls.f But, attacked on 
 all sides by the Five Nations, by the Chickasaws, and princi- 
 pally by the Sauks, Foxes, and Kickapoos, they were ultimate- 
 ly almost entirely exterminated. 
 
 Originally they occupied the whole country between the 
 Mississippi and the Ohio, including both sides of Illinois 
 River, and bounded eastwardly by the Piankishaw T s and Mia- 
 mis. By the treaties of 1803 and 1818, reduced to about 
 three hundred souls, they ceded all their lands or claims to the 
 United States. They had then abandoned every pretension 
 to the territory west of Illinois River which had been con- 
 quered by the Sauks and Foxes. But they included in their 
 cession all that lay east of that river, as high up as the junction 
 of the Kankakee and Maple Rivers. The northern part of 
 that country was, as has been seen, claimed by the Kickapoos 
 by right of conquest. Their claim to the territory lying south 
 of the parallel of latitude, passing by the mouth of Illinois 
 River, was not disputed by any other Indian tribe. 
 
 The French had at an early date established themselves at 
 Vincennes, and at Kaskaskias, and some neighbouring villages on 
 the Mississippi. But the grants of land obtained by them from 
 the Indians were of very moderate extent ; and the western 
 tribes, heretofore mentioned under this head, had not before 
 the present century been disturbed in their possessions. The 
 diminution in their numbers was owing to their intestine wars, 
 and to those of the Iroquois, the Sioux, and the Chickasaws 
 against them. 
 
 * Charlevoix. 
 
 f Relations of New France, 1671. 
 
SECT. II.] ALG0NK1N-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 65 
 
 Although the Shaivnoes have been well known to us since 
 
 O 
 
 the year 1680, their previous history is very uncertain, and the 
 various notices we have of them difficult to be reconciled. 
 The first mention we have of them is by De Laet in 1632. 
 After having enumerated the various tribes on both sides of 
 Delaware River, he says, “some persons add to them the 
 Shavvanoes, Capitanasses &c.” They are mentioned by the 
 French under the name of Cbaouanons, in the year 1672, as 
 being neighbours and allies of the Andastes, an extinct Iroquois 
 tribe, lying southwest of the Senecas, by whom they were de- 
 stroyed or incorporated in that year.* Their original seats are 
 uniformly placed, in all the ancient French maps, on the south 
 side of the Ohio and extending southerly to the Cumberland 
 River, which, in all the French and English maps, as late as 
 that of Hutchins, bears also their name. That name which 
 means “ Southern,” accords with that position. The Sauks 
 and Foxes say, that they were originally of the same stock with 
 themselves, and had migrated to the south.f The account 
 given by the Five Nations corroborates the fact of their having 
 been in alliance with the enemies of the Senecas, and that they 
 were but late comers north of the Ohio. In the year 1684, in 
 answer to the complaint of the French, that they had attacked 
 the Twightees or Miamis, the Five Nations assigned as one of 
 the causes of war, that the Twightees had invited into their 
 country the Satanas, in order to make war against them.]; It 
 is also well known that, when the Sbawnoes of Pennsylvania 
 began, in the year 1740, to migrate to the Ohio, they were ob- 
 liged to obtain a grant or permission to that effect from the 
 Wyandots. And, in a memorandum annexed to the treaty of 
 Fort Harrnar with the Wyandots, of January, 1789, they de- 
 clare that the country north of the Ohio, then occupied by the 
 Shawnoes, is theirs (the Wyandots’) of right, and that the 
 Sbawnoes are only living upon it by their permission. 
 
 Lawson, in his account of Carolina, (1708,) speaking of the 
 erratic habits of the Indian nations, says, that the Savanoes 
 formerly lived on the banks of the Mississippi, that they re- 
 moved to the head of one of the rivers of South Carolina, 
 since which most of them had gone to the Iroquois country 
 
 * Charlevoix. f Morse’s Report. 
 
 X Satanas is the name given by the Five Nations to the Shawnoes. — 
 Golden, chap. Y. pp. 69, 70. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 9 
 
66 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 on the beads of rivers emptying into the Chesapeake. Mr. 
 Miller, President of the Ebenezer Academy in South Carolina, 
 has given me the following information. My father was one 
 of the first settlers in the Wanhaw settlement. I have heard 
 him frequently speak of cruel and bloody scenes between the 
 Calawbas and Shavvnees. From what 1 have heard him 
 say, the Cherokees, probably at an early period of the settle- 
 ment of the Carolinas, occupied a section of country now 
 partly in York County, South Carolina, and partly in Meck- 
 lenberg, North Carolina, known in the colonial histories as 
 Craven County. The Cherokees were driven by the Shaw- 
 nees, and the Shavvnees were driven in their turn by the 
 Catawbas.” It is clear that this Sh'awnoe settlement is the 
 same which was mentioned by Lawson, and that it was situated 
 on the head waters of the Catawba or Santee, and probably 
 of the Yadkin or Pedee. 
 
 Lawson expressly distinguishes those Savanoes or Shawnoes 
 settled on the head of one of the rivers of South Carolina, 
 from the Savannahs, “a famous warlike friendly nation, living to 
 the south end of Ashley River.” These Savannahs are men- 
 tioned by the earliest Carolina writers and by Hewatt under 
 the name of Serannas. That tribe was probably called at 
 first Savannahs by the European settlers on account of their 
 vicinity to the river of that name; and they appear to me to 
 be the same which was afterwards designated by its true 
 Indian name of Yamassees. 
 
 M’Call, in his “ History of Georgia,” mentions that, in the 
 year 1750, a Quaker settlement had been formed west of Au- 
 gusta, on a body of land, which had formerly been owned by a 
 tribe, called the Savannahs, who had been compelled to abandon 
 it, in consequence of a war with the Uchees, who claimed the 
 land adjoining them to the southward. Whether they were 
 a residue of the Savannahs formerly living south of Ashley 
 River, or of our Shawnoes, cannot be ascertained. It has been 
 stated to me, on verbal but respectable authority, that some 
 Shawnoes were for a while settled on the Savannah above 
 Augusta ; and it is certain, that they were at war with the 
 Cherokees and received on friendly terms by the Creeks. 
 
 .Adair, who alludes to those wars between the Shawnoes and 
 the Cherokees, met, about the year 1740, in the wilderness 
 a large encampment of Shawnoes, who, after having wandered 
 
SECT. If.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 6? 
 
 several years in the woods, were then returning to the Creek 
 country. 
 
 We know from Mr. Johnston, the Indian Agent, that a body 
 of them, who had originally lived north of the Ohio, had, at 
 some anterior time and from causes not explained, migrated 
 as far south as the Suvvanee river, which empties into the 
 Gulf of Mexico and is supposed to derive its name from them ; 
 and that they returned thence, about the year 1755, to the 
 vicinity of Sandusky, under the conduct of a chief called 
 Black Hoof. It has been reported, that Tecumseh and his 
 brother, the Prophet, were sons of a Creek woman married 
 during that migration to a Shawnoe. 
 
 At the time when William Penn landed in Pennsylvania, 
 they were found in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and have left 
 the name of one of their tribes (Piqua) to a small river in 
 Lancaster county. And their name is found in the year 
 1701, to an agreement with William Penn, ratifying a sale 
 to him of lands on the Susquehanna by the Conestogo 
 Indians. It is, however, evident that, at that time, they were 
 tenants at will under the Six Nations; and they soon after 
 are found living on a similar tenure on the western branches 
 of the Susquehanna. Evans, in the Analysis of his Map, 
 says that their original seals extended from Kentucky river 
 southwest to the Mississippi, that they were afterwards scattered 
 into all parts, and that, in the year 1755, they again collected 
 on the Ohio. 
 
 From these scattered notices, it may be conjectured that, 
 as stated by the Sauks and Foxes, the Sbawnoes separated at 
 an early date from the other Lenape tribes, and established 
 themselves south of the Ohio in what is now the State of 
 Kentucky*; that, having been driven away from that territory, 
 probably by the Chickasaws and Cberokees, some portion of 
 them found their way, during the first half of the seventeenth 
 century, as far east as the country of the Susquehannocks, a 
 kindred Lenape tribe ; that the main body of the nation, 
 invited by the Miamis and the Andastes, crossed the Ohio, 
 occupied the country on and adjacent to the Scioto, and joined 
 in the war against the Five Nations ; and that, after their final 
 defeat and that of their allies in the year 1672, the dispersion 
 
 * The name of the river Kentucky is Shawnoese, and means, “ At the 
 head of a river.” See Johnston’s Account, 1 Trans. Am. Antiq. Soci- 
 ety, p. 299. 
 
68 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 alluded to by Evans, took place. A considerable portion 
 made about that time a forcible settlement on the head waters 
 of the rivers of Carolina; and these, after having been driven 
 away by the Catavvbas, found, as others had already done, 
 an asylum in different parts of the Creek country. Another 
 portion joined- their brethren in Pennsylvania; and some may 
 have remained in the vicinity of the Scioto and Sandusky. 
 
 Those in Pennsylvania, who seem to have been the most 
 considerable part of the nation, were not entirely subjuga- 
 ted and reduced to the humiliating state of women by the 
 Six Nations. But they held their lands on the Susque- 
 hanna only as tenants at will, and were always obliged to 
 acknowledge a kind of sovereignty or superiority in then- 
 landlords. They appear to have been more early and more 
 unanimous than the Delawares, in their determination to return 
 to the country north of the Ohio. This they effected under 
 the auspices of the Wyandots, and on the invitation of the 
 French, during the years 1740 — 1755. They occupied there 
 the Scioto country, extending to Sandusky, and westwardly 
 towards the Great Miami, and they have also left there the 
 names of two of their tribes, to wit, Chillicothe and Piqua. 
 Those who were settled amongst the Creeks joined them ; and 
 the nation was once more reunited. 
 
 During the forty following years, they were in an almost 
 perpetual state of war with America, either as British Colonies, 
 or as independent States. They were among the most active 
 allies of the French during the seven years’ war, and, after 
 the conquest of Canada, continued, in concert with the Del- 
 awares, hostilities which were only terminated after the suc- 
 cessful campaign of General Bouquet. The first permanent 
 settlements of the Americans beyond the Alleghany mountains, 
 in the vicinity of the Ohio, were commenced in the year 1769, 
 and were almost immedately attended with a new war with 
 the Shawnoes, which ended in 1774, after they had been 
 repulsed in a severe engagement at the mouth of the Kanhawa, 
 and the Virginians had penetrated into their country. They 
 took a most active part against America, both during the war 
 of Independence, and in the Indian war which followed, and 
 which was terminated in 1795, by the treaty of Greenville. 
 They lost, by that treaty, nearly the whole territory which 
 they held from the Wyandots; and a part of them, under 
 the guidance of Tecumseh, again joined the British standard 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 69 
 
 during the last war. They are now much dispersed ; the 
 greater part have removed west of the Mississippi, and the 
 number of these is estimated at about one thousand five hun- 
 dred souls. 
 
 We have not so copious a vocabulary of their language as 
 might have been expected. That which is appended has 
 been chiefly extracted from that taken by Mr. Johnston, the 
 Indian Agent. The other words have been supplied from 
 Mr. Jefferson’s mutilated manuscript vocabulary, from the 
 Mithridates, General Parsons, Smith Barton, &c. 
 
 IROQUOIS TRIBES. 
 
 The northern Iroquois tribes consisted of two distinct 
 divisions ; the eastern, forming the confederation, known by 
 the name of Five Nations, whose original territory did not 
 extend westwardly farther than the western boundary of 
 Pennsylvania ; and the western, consisting, as far as can be 
 ascertained, of four nations : the Wyandots, or Hurons, and 
 the Attiouandarons, or Neutral Nation, north; the Erigas and 
 the Andastes or Guandastogues (Guyandots), south of Lake 
 Erie. 
 
 When Champlain arrived in Canada, the Five Nations were 
 engaged in a deadly war with all the Algonkin tribes within 
 their reach. It is remarkable, that the Wyandots, another 
 Iroquois nation, were the head and principal support of the 
 Algonkin confederacy. The extent of their influence and 
 of the consideration in which they were held, may be found 
 in the fact, that even the Delawares, who claimed to be the 
 elder branch of the Lenape Nation and called themselves the 
 grandfathers of their kindred tribes, recoguised the superiority 
 of the Wyandots, whom to this day they call their uncles. 
 And though reduced to a very small number, the right of the 
 Wyandots, derived either from ancient sovereignty, or from 
 the incorporation of the remnants of the three extinct tribes, 
 to the country between Lake Erie and the Ohio, from the 
 Alleghany river to the great Miami, has never been disputed 
 by any other than the Five Nations. 
 
 Their real name, Yendots, was well known to the French, 
 who gave them the nickname of Hurons. They were called 
 
70 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Quatoghee by the Five Nations ; and one of their tribes, 
 Dionondadies or Tuinontatek. They were visited in 1615 
 by Champlain, and, in 1624, by Father Sagard. And the 
 Jesuits, who subsequently established missions among them, 
 have given, in the “ Relations of New France,” some account 
 of their language, and ample information of their means of sub- 
 sistence, manners, and religious creed or superstitions. They 
 had, probably on account of their wars with the Five Nations, 
 concentrated their settlements in thirty-one villages, not extend- 
 ing more altogether than twenty leagues either way, and sit- 
 uated along or in the vicinity of Lake Huron, about one hun- 
 dred miles southwardly of the mouth of French River. They 
 consisted of five confederated tribes, viz. the Ataronch- ronons, 
 four villages ; the AttiquenongnaKai, three villages ; the Attig- 
 naouentan, or “Nation de l’Ours,” twelve villages ; the Ahren- 
 dah- ronons, the most northeastern tribe and that with which 
 Champlain resided, three villages; and the Tionontate, or 
 “ Nation of the Petun,” the most southwesterly, which former- 
 ly had been at war with the other tribes, and had entered the 
 confederation recently, nine villages.* 
 
 The smallpox carried off about twelve hundred souls in the 
 year 1639. The Missionaries, principally with a view of bap- 
 tizing dying children, visited at that time every village, and, with 
 few exceptions, every cabin ; and embraced the opportunity of 
 making a complete enumeration of the whole nation. They 
 give the general result in round numbers, seven hundred cabins 
 and two thousand families, which they estimate at twelve, but 
 which could not have exceeded ten thousand souls. f They were 
 not only more warlike, but, in every respect, more advanced in 
 civilization than the Northern Algonkins, particularly in agri- 
 culture, to which they appear, probably from their concentrated 
 situation, to have been obliged to attend more extensively than 
 any other northern Indian nation. The Missionaries had at 
 first great hardships to encounter, and found them less tractable 
 than the Algonkins. But, whether owing to the superior talents 
 of Father Brebeuf, and his associates, or to the national 
 character, they made ultimately more progress in converting 
 the Hurons, and have left a more permanent impression of 
 their labors in the remnant of that tribe, than appears to have 
 been done by them, in any other nation without the boundaries 
 of the French settlements. 
 
 * Father Lallemand, 1640. Relations, &c. 
 
 f Ibid. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQ.UOIS NATIONS. 71 
 
 The only communication of the Hurons, with the infant 
 colony of Canada, was by the river Ottawa, of a difficult navi- 
 gation interrupted by numerous portages. The Five Nations 
 directed their attacks to that quarter, cut off the several trading 
 parties, which were in the habit of descending and ascending 
 the river once a year, and intercepted the communication so 
 effectually, that, about the year 1646, the Missionaries on Lake 
 Huron were three years without receiving any supplies from 
 Quebec. The Hurons who had lost several hundred warriors 
 in those engagements became dispirited and careless. They 
 indeed abandoned the smaller villages and fortified the larger. 
 This only accelerated their ruin. In the year 1649, the Five 
 Nations invaded the country with all their forces, attacked and 
 carried one after the other the most considerable of those 
 places of refuge, and massacred all the inhabitants.* The 
 destruction was completed in the course of the ensuing year. 
 A part of the Hurons fled down the Ottawa River and sought 
 an asylum in Canada, where they were pursued by their im- 
 placable enemies even under the walls of Quebec. The greater 
 part of the Ahrendas,f and several detached bands, surrender- 
 ed and were incorporated into the Five Nations. The remnant 
 of the Tionontates took refuge amongst the Chippeways of 
 Lake Superior. Others were dispersed towards Michilirnackin- 
 ac, or in some more remote quarters. This event was immedi- 
 ately followed, as has already been stated, by the dispersion of 
 the Algonkin Nations of the Ottawa River. 
 
 In 1671 the Tionontates, after an unsuccessful war with the 
 Sioux, left Lake Superior for Michilimackinac, where they 
 rallied around them the dispersed remnants of the other tribes 
 of their nation, and probably of the Andastes and other kin- 
 dred tribes, which had been likewise nearly exterminated by 
 the Five Nations. Some years later they removed to Detroit, 
 in the vicinity of their ancient seats. And, though reduced to 
 two villages, they resumed their ascendency over the Algonkin 
 tribes and acted a conspicuous part with great sagacity in the 
 ensuing conflicts between the French and the Five Nations. 
 
 * The two Missionaries, Brebeuf and Lallemand, Jr., were made 
 prisoners and burnt alive by the Iroquois. Eight or ten Jesuits were 
 killed in Canada, at different times, whilst on their missionary duties. 
 
 f Charlevoix says the villages of St. John and St. Michel. These were 
 names imposed by the Missionaries, and, as appears by the Relations, 
 both places were inhabited by that tribe. 
 
72 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. 
 
 [iNTROD. 
 
 Charlevoix, in 1721, writes, that they were still the soul of the 
 councils of all the Western Indians. Still assuming the right 
 of sovereignty over the country between the Lakes and the 
 Ohio, as far west as the Miami, they encouraged the Sbawnoes 
 and the Delawares to remove to the Ohio, by granting to them 
 the possession, though not the right to the soil, ol the territory 
 west of Alleghany River, bordering principally on Lake Erie, 
 the Muskingum, and the Scioto. This last river is particularly 
 mentioned by Mr. Jobnston, the Indian Agent, as having re- 
 ceived its name from them and belonging to them. 
 
 It has been seen, that Pennsylvania thought it necessary to 
 obtain a deed of cession from the Wyandots for the north- 
 western part of the State. The treaty of Greenville was 
 signed by all the nations which had taken part in the war. 
 But it was from the Wyandots, that the United States obtained 
 the cession of the territory, west of the Connecticut Reserve, 
 lying between the northern boundary line of that ceded by that 
 treaty and Lake Erie.* Those remaining in the United States, 
 and till lately at Sandusky, on the Scioto, and near Detroit, are 
 said not to amount to one thousand souls. A still less consid- 
 erable part of the nation, which took part with the British 
 during the last war, resides in Canada. 
 
 The vocabulary is principally extracted from that supplied 
 by Mr. Johnston, with some additions from Smith Barton, and 
 from a collection of sentences in the War Department. A 
 specimen is also given of the ancient Huron from the vocabu- 
 lary of Sagard, which would have been farther extended if full 
 confidence could have been placed in his knowledge of the 
 language. - ) - 
 
 Father Brebeuf was sent in the year 1641, on a mission to 
 the Attiouandas, who were seated south of the Wyandots on 
 the northern shores of Lake Erie. But we know nothing of 
 their language, except that it was a dialect of the Huron. 
 That tribe was, on account of the strict neutrality it preserved 
 during the wars between the Five Nations and the Hurons, 
 
 * Treaty of 29th of September, 1817, Article V. The Miami of 
 Lake Erie, and its branch, the St. Mary’s, are there specified as their 
 western boundary. The St. Mary’s was to its mouth the line 
 between them and the Miamis. 
 
 f Since this paper was completed, I have been informed that there 
 is a vocabulary and grammar of the Wyandot language in the li- 
 brary of Yale College. Mr. Johnston’s Vocabulary is contained in 
 1 Trans. Am. Antiq. Society, p. 292. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 73 
 
 generally known by the name of “ the Neutral Nation.” Their 
 policy did not preserve them from destruction, which soon fol- 
 lowed that of their kindred tribe. The only further notice we 
 have of them is, that, in the year 1669, Father Fremin, whilst 
 on an unsuccessful mission amongst the Five Nations, came to 
 a village named Gandougarac, inhabited by a remnant of that 
 nation and by some Hurons, who were living there under the 
 control of the Senecas. 
 
 The Eries, Erigas, or Cat Nation, were seated on the south- 
 ern shores of the lake which still bears their name. The 
 French never had any mission amongst them. We only know 
 that they were an Iroquois tribe, and that they were destroyed, 
 in 1655, by the Five Nations. Charlevoix gives the date, and 
 Evans mentions the fact. 
 
 The Andastes or Guandastogues were a more formidable 
 nation ; and the war of the Five Nations against them appears 
 to have lasted more than twenty years. Although the French 
 Missionaries never penetrated amongst them, those who resided 
 amongst the Five Nations repeatedly allude to the alternate 
 successes of the war. They saw and conversed with many of 
 the prisoners, who were always put to death, and ascertained 
 that their language was an Iroquois dialect. As far as can be 
 collected from their notices, the Andastes were seated on the 
 Alleghany River, extending thence westwardly along the Ohio. 
 
 Father Lallemand, in the Relation of the year 1663, states 
 that, in the month of April, eight hundred warriors of the 
 Five Nations had proceeded from the western extremity of 
 Lake Ontario to a fine river, nearly equal ( semblable ) to the St. 
 Lawrence, the navigation of which is free of falls, and which 
 they descended one hundred leagues to the Andastogue vil- 
 lage. He must have meant the principal village, and it could 
 not have been far from the site of Pittsburgh. The village 
 was well fortified and the aggressors were repulsed. But, 
 though assisted by the Shawnoes and the Miamis, the Andas- 
 tes were finally destroyed in the year 1672.* It seems 
 probable that they were a kindred tribe of the Wyandots, and 
 that which left the name of Guyandot to one of the southern 
 tributaries of the Ohio. < 
 
 * Charlevoix. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. 
 
 [iNTROD. 
 
 The confederacy known generally by the name of “ Five 
 Nations,” called by the French “ Iroquois,” by the Lenape 
 tribes JMcujuas or JS'lcnque (Mingos), in V irginia Massowomeks , 
 in various places by the names more or less corrupted of 
 their respective tribes, consisted, as the name imports', of five 
 nations, seated south of the River St. Lawrence and of Lake 
 Ontario, and extending from the Hudson to ihe upper branch- 
 es of the river Alleghany and to Lake Erie. It has been 
 doubted whether Hocheiaga now Montreal, which Cartier 
 found, in 1535, inhabited by Indians speaking a dialect of the 
 Iroquois language, was occupied by the Hurons, or by the 
 Five Nations. Independent of the much greater proximity 
 of these, the question seems to be definitively settled by the 
 declarations of the St. Lawrence Algonkins, who cultivated 
 nothing, to Father Le Jeune. In the course ol his excursions 
 between Quebec and the site of Montreal, they pointed out to 
 him several old fields, and informed him that they had formerly 
 been planted in maize by the Iroquois.* It is therefore certain, 
 that, within less than seventy years before the arrival of Cham- 
 plain in Canada, the Five Nations either were driven from 
 settlements they previously had on the St. Lawrence, or vol- 
 untarily abandoned them in order to concentrate their forces 
 and to be less exposed to the attacks of their enemies. 
 
 Their five tribes were, from east to west, the Mohawks, 
 the Oneidas, the Qnondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas. 
 The lime when the confederacy was formed is not known, but 
 was presumed to be of a recent date, and the Oneidas and 
 Cayugas are said to have been compelled to join it. Although 
 the fact has been questioned, it is proved by the speeches of 
 the several orators at the treaty of Easton of 1758, that those 
 two tribes were the younger, and the three others the elder 
 members of the confederacy. The residue of the Tuscaro- 
 ras of North Carolina were, after their decisive defeat in 
 1712-13, admitted as a sixth nation. And at the treaty of 
 Easton it was announced to the British, that the confedera- 
 tion now consisted of eight nations, the three elder as already 
 stated, and the five younger viz. the Cayugas, the Oneidas, the 
 
 * Relations of New France, 1636. The word “ Iroquois ” is used 
 in this essay as a generic term, embracing all the nations speaking 
 dialects of the same language, and applicable to all those dialects. 
 It is confined by the French to the Five Nations. 
 
SECT. XI.] ALGONKIN-LENATE ANII XROXXUOIS NATIONS. 75 
 
 Tuscaroi'as, the Nanticokes and Conoys, making but one nation, 
 and the Tuteloes.* But the Nanticokes and Conoys removed 
 to the west not long after, and the Tuteloes do not afterwards 
 appear as a distinct nation. 
 
 The Five Nations had already acquired a decided superiority 
 over the other Indians, before the arrival of the Europeans. 
 They were at that epoch at war with all the surrounding tribes, 
 with perhaps the single exception of the Andastes on the west. 
 That in which they were engaged towards the north, with the 
 Hurons and Algonkins, was still attended with alternate success 
 on each side. But southwardly they had already carried their 
 arms as far as the mouth of the Susquehanna and the vicinity 
 of Newcastle on the Delaware, and had become an object of 
 terror to all the Indians, from the sources of the Potomac and 
 even farther south, to the Merrijnac and the Piscataway. 
 
 For this ascendency several causes may be assigned. Their 
 geographical position was fortunate, and they had the wisdom, 
 instead of extending and spreading themselves, to remain con- 
 centrated even at the time of their greatest successes in their 
 primitive seats. They were there protected against any sud- 
 den or dangerous attack, on the south by wide ranges of 
 mountains, on the north by Lake Ontario. What was of still 
 greater importance, particularly in savage warfare, they were 
 without doubt more brave and more ferocious than any of the 
 other nations. They were also further advanced in agriculture, 
 in the fabrication of their weapons, and in the few arts ol the 
 Indians, than those of the Algonkin-Lenape stock. On all 
 occasions they discovered a greater degree ol cultivated intelli- 
 gence, in no instances more than in the formation and long 
 continuance of their confederacy, and in attacking by turns the 
 unconnected and disunited petty tribes by which they were 
 surrounded. 
 
 The superiority of the Iroquois tribes generally over the 
 Algonkins appears indeed incontestable, and to have been part- 
 ly due to the great subdivision oi these into sinail independent 
 communities. They were far more numerous, and yet, every- 
 where, we find a prevailing Iroquois tribe, more powerful and 
 populous than any of its neighbours ol another stock , in 
 North Carolina, the Tuscaroras \ in Canada, the Hurons , above 
 all, the Five Nations. The disproportion between the population 
 
 * Takaio’s speech, at that treaty. 
 
76 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. 
 
 [iNTROD. 
 
 of these, and that of their enemies taken in the aggregate, is 
 often adverted to by the contemporary writers. And we are 
 astonished to find that, at no time, the numbers of their war- 
 riors could have amounted to five, and that about the year 
 1670, they were less than four thousand.* 
 
 The intercourse with the Europeans, in its beginning, in- 
 creased the relative superiority of the Five Nations and gave 
 them a decided advantage over their enemies. The western 
 Indians were, for a long while after, altogether destitute of fire- 
 arms. The lower Algonkins were indeed partially supplied 
 by the French ; but in New England every precaution was 
 taken to prevent the Indians in their vicinity from being armed ; 
 and the Delawares could not have been supplied before the 
 arrival of the Svvedes.f In the mean while, the Dutch, princi- 
 pally intent on trade, and who had a post at Albany as early 
 as the year 1614, furnished the Mohawks and gradually the 
 other Five Nations with ample supplies of firearms and am- 
 munition. 
 
 The Five Nations, without discontinuing their warfare with 
 the Mohicans and Delawares, soon turned their principal efforts 
 against those nations of their own stock which were their most 
 formidable enemies. 
 
 The destruction of the greater part of the Hurons (Wyan- 
 dots) took place in 1649; the dispersion of the residue and of 
 the Algonkins of the Ottawa River, in the ensuing year. It is 
 probable, that the general terror inspired by those events was 
 the immediate cause of the final submission of the Delawares, 
 already hard pressed ; and that, being no longer in need of the 
 fort near Christina, for the purpose of keeping them in check, 
 the Five Nations evacuated it in 1651, and sold the adjacent 
 land to the Dutch. The capture of the principal village of 
 the neutral nation, the incorporation of a portion of that tribe, 
 and the dispersion of the rest, are stated as having also hap- 
 
 Relations, passim. That of the year 1660 estimates them at only 
 two thousand two hundred; but the letters of the Missionaries for that 
 year are not given, rhe Relation was written in France, and there 
 was a motive for underrating them. The Mohawks are uniformly 
 stated as having seven hundred warriors. And in 1654 - 5, the three 
 western nations had eighteen hundred engaged against the Eries 
 alone. 
 
 f Mr. Heckewelder informs us, that the name of Sankhicans was 
 given by the Delawares to the Mohawks, because they were armed 
 with muskets. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQ.UOIS NATIONS. 77 
 
 pened in 1651. The war against the Eries appears to have 
 beo-uri in 1653, and to have ended in their destruction in 1655. 
 That with the Andastes is first mentioned under the date of 
 1656, and was not terminated by their final ruin before 1672. 
 During the same period the Five Nations were, with but short 
 intervals of doubtful peace, at war not only with the northern 
 Algonkins and the French, but also with the Mahingans. 
 And they had carried their arms against the Miamis and the 
 Ottawas of Michigan as early as the year 1657.* 
 
 The acquisition of New York by the British in a short time 
 gave peace to the Lenape tribes of that province, and generally 
 to those who were under the immediate protection of any 
 of the British Colonies. But the destruction of the Susque- 
 hannocks, and probably that of the more remote western tribes of 
 Virginia, alluded to at the conferences of Lancaster in 1744, took 
 place before the end of the seventeenth century. It appears from 
 Lawson r that, in 1701, the excursions of the Senecas extended 
 southwardly to the upper waters of Cape Fear River. And from 
 that time they had continual wars with the Cherokees and the 
 Catawbas. Their hatred against this last nation was most 
 inveterate and mutual. The only condition in the arrangement 
 of Lancaster with Virginia, in the year 1744, on which the 
 Five Nations absolutely insisted, was the continued privilege of 
 a war path through the ceded territory to the Catawba coun- 
 try. The most insulting messages of defiance passed between 
 those two nations, at the conferences of Carlisle of 1753; and 
 to that war the ultimate annihilation of the Catawbas may be 
 principally ascribed. 
 
 The Five Nations continued their warfare, during the same 
 period, against the Illinois, the Miamis, and the other western 
 nations in alliance with the French. But they followed there 
 the same policy which they had pursued in other quarters; 
 and, in the same manner as they had formed alliances with the 
 Sokokies,the Mississagues, and the Nanticokes, they seized the 
 opportunities, offered by collisions between the French and the 
 Twigbtees or Miamis, occasionally to detach these from their 
 connexion. The occupation of the intervening territory by the 
 Shawnoes and the Delawares, which defeated those plans, was 
 
 * With the exception of the subjugation of the Andastes, in 1672, 
 ■which is given by Charlevoix, all the other dates in this paragraph 
 are taken from the Relations of New France. 
 
78 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 equally dangerous to the British interest and to that of the Six 
 ISations. They showed in that instance more foresight than 
 the colonial governments. As early as the year 1742, at the 
 same treaty in which they harshly reproved the Delawares for 
 claiming lands in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, formerly 
 sold by them, they remonstrated against the encroachments 
 made north of the boundary line on the Juniatta and on the 
 Susquehanna, which were injurious to their cousins the Dela- 
 wares. Those remonstrances were several times repeated, and 
 particularly at the conferences of Philadelphia of the year 
 1749; and they may be summed up in the speech delivered by 
 the Mohawk orator at the Conferences of Harris’s Ferry and 
 Lancaster of 1757. 
 
 “ In former times our forefathers conquered the Delawares, 
 and put petticoats on them. A long time after that, they lived 
 among you, and. upon some differences between them and you, 
 we thought proper to remove them, giving them lands to plant and 
 hunt on at Wyoming and Juniatta. But you, covetous of land, 
 made plantations there and spoiled their hunting. They com- 
 plained to us, and we found their complaints true. You drove 
 them into the arms of the French. It is our advice that you 
 send for the Senecas and them, treat them kindly, and give them 
 back some part of their lands, rather than differ with them. It 
 is in your power to settle the difference with them if you 
 please.” The Mohawk chief then informed the government 
 of Pennsylvania of a growing intimacy of the Senecas with 
 the Shawnoes and Delawares.* 
 
 The conspicuous part which the Six Nations had acted 
 during the eighty preceding years, in the contest between the 
 two great European powers of North America, is well known ; 
 and that they almost alone were a counterpoise to the general 
 influence of France over the other Indian nations. They gave 
 in the course of it repeated proofs of their sagacity. But it 
 may be doubted, whether the Senecas, on that occasion, had 
 really anticipated the consequences that must follow the com- 
 plete success of the British arms. That there was some 
 division among the Six Nations is certain ; and, notwithstanding 
 the practice of incorporating the residue of conquered tribes, 
 their perpetual wars had by this time considerably reduced 
 
 '* Probably that portion known in the west by the name of Mingos. 
 
SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 79 
 
 their numbers. It is still astonishing, that they could, in 1756, 
 have been reduced to twelve hundred warriors, as they are 
 estimated in Smith’s “ History of New York.” Whatever may 
 have been the fact in that respect, with the expulsion of the 
 French from Canada their importance ceased ; it became the 
 interest of Great Britain to preserve peace with the other 
 Indian nations, and the thirst for war of the Six Nations had 
 no longer any aliment. 
 
 With the exception of the Oneidas, they took arms against 
 America during the war of Independence. But the Mohawks 
 were obliged (1780) to abandon their seats and to take refuge 
 in Canada. Those who remained in the United States have 
 been perfectly peaceable since the treaty of peace of 1783. 
 They were estimated in 1796 at three thousand three hundred 
 souls ; * and those in Canada, at about seven hundred. But 
 according to the late estimate of the War Department, those 
 in the State of New York amount to four thousand seven 
 hundred and sixteen, at Green Bay to seven hundred and 
 twenty-five, beyond the Mississippi to four hundred and sixty- 
 five, in all about five thousand nine hundred ; which, deducting 
 the Nanticokes, Mohicans, and Shawnoes mixed with them, 
 would leave five thousand. If to these we add the Wyandots 
 and those in Canada, the remnant of all the Iroquois tribes 
 cannot much exceed seven thousand souls- They amounted 
 in the beginning of the seventeenth century to forty thousand. 
 Their destruction has been almost exclusively the result of wars 
 among themselves, or against other Indian nations. With the 
 single exception of the Mohawks, no encroachment had been 
 made on the native possessions of the Five Nations before the 
 year 1783 ; and their number has not been diminished since 
 that time. 
 
 The history of the Five Nations is calculated to give a 
 favorable opinion of the intelligence of the Red Man. But 
 they may be ranked amongst the worst of conquerors. They 
 conquered only in order to destroy, and, it would seem, solely 
 for the purpose of gratifying their thirst for blood. Towards the 
 south and the west, they made a perfect desert of the whole 
 country within five hundred miles of their seats. A much 
 greater number of those Indians, who, since the commencement 
 
 * Report of Commissioners of the Missionary Society, 1 Mass. Hist 
 Coll. Vol. V. 
 
80 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 of the seventeenth century have perished by the sword in 
 Canada and the United States, have been destroyed by that 
 single nation, than in all their wars with the Europeans. 
 
 But, instead of exerting their influence in assuaging the 
 passions of the Indians and in promoting peace amongst them, 
 the European governments, intent only on the acquisition of 
 territory and power, encouraged their natural propensities. 
 Both France and England courted a disgraceful alliance with 
 savages; and both, under the usual pleas of self-defence and 
 retaliation, armed them against the defenceless inhabitants of 
 the other party. The sack of Schenectady, the desolation of 
 the island of Montreal, the murdering expeditions on the 
 frontiers of New England, are related by the respective histo- 
 rians with indifference, if not with exultation. No scruple was 
 felt in inducing all the Indian tribes to carry on against America 
 their usual warfare, and to desolate, without discrimination of 
 age or sex, the whole extent of a frontier of twelve hundred 
 miles during the seven years of the war of Independence. 
 
 The United States are at least free from that reproach. If 
 their population has pressed too fast on the natives, if oc- 
 casionally they have too forcibly urged purchases of land, their 
 government, ever since they were an independent nation, has 
 not only used every endeavour to be at peace with the Indians, 
 but has succeeded in preventing war amongst them to a de- 
 gree heretofore unknown in America. And, at Ghent, they 
 proposed an article in the treaty of peace, by which both 
 nations should engage, if unfortunately they were again at war, 
 never to employ the savages as auxiliaries. We trust that 
 under any contingency, the two nations will act as if the arti- 
 cle had been made a condition of the treaty. 
 
 The vocabulary of the Onondagas was extracted by Mr. 
 Duponceau from Zeisberger’s Manuscript Dictionary. That 
 of the Mohawks was taken by Mr. S. E. Dwight, of New 
 H aven, assisted by Mr. J. Parish. That of the Senecas was 
 received through the War Department. Mr. Jefferson’s mutila- 
 ted vocabulary has supplied part of the words in the vocabula- 
 ry of the Oneidas. The others, and all those in the Cayuga 
 dialect, were taken from Smith Barton. 
 
 The southern Iroquois tribes occupied Chowan River and its 
 tributary streams. They were bounded, on the east, by the 
 
SECT. II. j ALGONKIN-LENAPE AND IROQUOIS NATIONS. 81 
 
 most .southerly Lenape tribes, who were in possession qf the 
 low country along the seashores, anil those of Albemarle and 
 Pamlico Sounds. Towards the south and t lie west they ex- 
 tended beyond the river Neuse. They appear to have been 
 known in- Virginia, in early times, under the name of Monacans, 
 as far north as James River. 
 
 A powerful chief of the Chowans is mentioned in the ac- 
 counts of the first attempts to establish a colony on Roanoke 
 Island and its vicinity. Lawson, in his account of the North 
 Carolina Indians, enumerates the Chowans, the Meherrins, and 
 the Nottoways, as having together ninety-five warriors in the 
 year 1708. Rut the Meherrins or Tuteloes and the Notto- 
 ways inhabited respectively the two rivers of that name, and 
 were principally seated in Virginia. We have but indistinct 
 notices of the Tuteloes. It has been seen that they had mi- 
 grated to the north and joined the Six Nations, who brought 
 them forward, in 1758, as one of the younger members of the 
 confederacy. Evans, in the Analysis of his Map, says that the 
 Six Nations had allotted lands on the Susquehanna to several 
 tribes, amongst which he enumerates the Tuteloes from Me- 
 berrin River in Virginia; and he further states, that they (the 
 Six Nations) laid no claim to the country of the Tuscaroras 
 who had been driven away, but were not so well satisfied as to 
 the lands of the Tuteloes and Meherrins, whom they had re- 
 ceived under their protection. We have no vocabulary of 
 that tribe, and no knowledge that they still exist under that 
 name. 
 
 It appears by Beverly, that the Nottoways had preserved their 
 independence and their numbers later than the Powbatans, and 
 that, at the end of the seventeenth century, they had still one 
 hundred and thirty warriors. They do not appear to have 
 migrated from their original seats in a body. In the year 1820, 
 they are said to have been reduced to twenty-seven souls, and 
 were still in possession of seven thousand acres in Southamp- 
 ton county, Virginia, which had been, at an early date, reserved 
 to them. J. Wood obtained in thaLyear a vocabulary of their 
 language from Edie Turner, who was called their Queen. It 
 was- transmitted by Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Duponceau, who 
 immediately recognised it as an Iroquois dialect. They had 
 till then been supposed to be one of the Powhatan tribes of 
 the Lenape stock. Another vocabulary has been obtained by 
 the Hon. James Tresevant, which corresponds with that of 
 
 VOL. IT. 11 
 
82 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Wood, and from which we learn that the true name of that 
 tribe is Cherohakah. 
 
 The Tuscaroras were by far the most powerful nation in 
 North Carolina, and occupied all the residue of the territory 
 in that colony, which has been described as inhabited by Iro- 
 quois tribes. Their principal seats in 1708, were on the 
 Neuse and the Taw or Tar rivers, and, according to Lawson, 
 they had twelve hundred warriors in fifteen towns. The 
 Albemarle district in North Carolina had at that time been 
 settled more than fifty years; and, although some collisions 
 had occurred, no serious conflict had till then taken place 
 between the white emigrants and the weaker Indian tribes, 
 bordering on the sounds and seated near the mouths ol the 
 rivers. The settlements did not extend far inland towards the 
 Tuscaroras ; and an accession of German emigrants seems to 
 have been the immediate cause of what that nation considered 
 as an encroachment. Lawson, who was Surveyor General of 
 the Colony, was the first victim of their resentment. Having 
 taken and murdered him, they thought they had proceeded too far 
 to retreat, and, falling unexpectedly on the inhabitants, mas- 
 sacred one hundred and thirty in one day. (September, 1711.) 
 They were joined by several small adjacent tribes, which 
 appear to have inhabited the low country between the Neuse 
 and Cape Fear rivers, the principal of which is called Corees 
 or Coramines. The colony was still very weak and was thrown 
 into great alarm. The government of South Carolina sent to 
 their assistance Colonel Barnwell with six hundred militia and 
 about six hundred friendly Indians.* He killed or took near 
 three hundred hostile Indians, principally of the smaller tribes, 
 surrounded six hundred Tuscaroras, and made with them a 
 peace which they soon broke. In the autumn of 1712, all the 
 inhabitants south and southwest of Chowan River were obliged 
 to live in forts; and the Tuscaroras expected assistance from 
 the Five Nations.f This could not have been given, without 
 involving the confederacy in a war with Great Britain ; and 
 the Tuscaroras were left to their own resources. A force, 
 
 * Two hundred and eighteen Cherokees, seventy-nine Creeks, forty- 
 one Catawbas, twenty-eight Yainassees. Hewatt’s Account of South 
 Carolina. The Indians sent the following year, under Colonel Moore, 
 are called Ashley Indians by Dr. Williamson. 
 
 f Letter of Governor Pollock to the Proprietors, of September, 1712. 
 Williamson’s History of North Carolina. 
 
SECT- III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 83 
 
 consisting chiefly of southern Indians under the command of 
 ColoneJ Moore, was again sent by the government of South 
 Carolina to assist the northern colony. He besieged and took 
 a fort of the Tuscaroras, called Narahuke, near the Cotechney, 
 between the Taw and Neuse rivers, (March, 1713.) Of eight 
 hundred prisoners, six hundred were given up to the Southern 
 Indians, who carried them to South Carolina to sell them as 
 slaves. The eastern Tuscaroras, whose principal town was on 
 the Taw, twenty miles above Washington, immediately made 
 peace, and a portion was settled a few years after north of the 
 Roanoke, near Windsor, where they continued till the year 
 1803. But the great body of the nation removed in 1714—15, 
 to the Five Nations, was received as the sixth, and has since 
 shared their fate.* 
 
 The Tuscarora vocabulary prepared by Nich. and Jas. 
 Cassick, native Indians, was received through the War Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 The nations still found east of the Mississippi, and south 
 of the territory formerly occupied by the Lenape and Iroquois 
 tribes, are the remnant of the Catawbas, the Cherokees, the 
 Creek confederacy and the Seminoles, the Choctaws and the 
 Chickasas. Of the other numerous tribes, which appear to 
 have formerly inhabited the lower country of Carolina, the 
 eastern part of Georgia, and West Florida, we have but partial 
 and very imperfect accounts. 
 
 In the year 1670, when English emigrants first settled in 
 South Carolina, four tribes are mentioned near the seashore 
 between the rivers Ashley and Savannah : — the Stonoes, Edis- 
 toes, Westoes, and Savannahs. As the Westoes are said to 
 have occupied the country between the Ashley and the Edisto 
 rivers,f R seems probable that the first three tribes were but 
 one nation. They are represented as cruel and hostile, and a 
 war between them and the white settlers began in or before the 
 
 * The account of this war is derived from Hewatt and Williamson 
 compared. f Ramsay and Hewatt, 
 
84 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 year 1680.* * * § They were at the same time at war with the 
 Savannahs, by whom they were shortly after totally defeated 
 and driven away.f The Savannahs remained in the province, 
 and, according to Archdale’s testimony, were, in 1695, “ good 
 friends and useful neighbours of the English.” They are also 
 mentioned by Lawson, who was in Charleston in 1700, as “a 
 famous, warlike, friendly nation, living to the south of Ashley 
 River.” The name of Savannahs, most probably derived from 
 that of the river on which they lived, and which is of Spanish 
 origin, is there dropped. Instead of them we find only the 
 Yamassees, occupying the same seats, mentioned uniformly as 
 having been, from the first settlement, friendly to the English 
 and hostile to the Spaniards of Florida; and, as no mention 
 whatever is made of a war with the Savannahs, or that they 
 had been expelled from the province, it may be inferred that 
 they and the Yamassees were the same people, and the last 
 their true Indian name. That of their principal town was 
 Poketalico, which belongs also to a tributary stream of the 
 Great Kanhawa. We have no specimen of their language ; 
 but the name of Coosa Hatchie,J or Coosa River, is certainly 
 Muskhogee, and renders it probable that they were a tribe of 
 that nation. 
 
 The Yamassees had assisted the English in tw T o expeditions, 
 carried on by Governor Moore against the Spaniards of St. 
 Augustine and the Indians living between the rivers Altamaha 
 and Savannah, and again, as late as 1712-1713, against the 
 Tuscaroras. <§> In 1715, they suddenly attacked the colony, 
 massacred a number of inhabitants unaware of any danger, and 
 involved South Carolina in a calamitous and dangerous war. 
 They are said to have been excited by the Spaniards, to whom 
 they had previously been remarkably hostile. Subsequent 
 circumstances render the suggestion probable. But other 
 causes, of which the principal was beyond doubt the progress 
 and extension of the settlements, must have cooperated in 
 forming the general combination, not only of the Yamassees 
 and of the Creeks and Appalachians from beyond the Savan- 
 nah, but also of the Cherokees, the Catawbas, the Congarees, 
 and of all the tribes as far as Cape Fear River. These 
 
 * Chalmers, f Archdale. 
 
 J Hatchie means River , in the Muskhogee language, and Coosa is the 
 
 name of a well-known river in their country. 
 
 § He watt. 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 85 
 
 advanced within fifty miles of Charleston, but were finally re- 
 pulsed ; and Governor Craven, with almost all the militia, 
 marched against the Yamassees and their southern confederates, 
 defeated them in a bloody engagement, and drove them across 
 the Savannah out of the province. They were well received 
 by the Spaniards, and still committed hostilities on the frontiers. 
 The warfare continued several years in that quarter. Peace 
 was restored by Governor Nicholson ; and that which lie made 
 with the adjacent small tribes northeast of Charleston, of which 
 no subsequent notice is taken, dees not appear to have been 
 ever after disturbed.* It may be that the small tribe called 
 Yamacraw , which the first settlers of Georgia found near the 
 site of Savannah, was a remnant of the Yamassees. 
 
 Of the small tribes northeast of Charleston, both in South 
 and North Carolina, we know hardly any tiling but their names. 
 Lawson, who, in 1700-1, travelled from Charleston to the set- 
 tlement at the mouth of Taw River on Pamlico sound, left the 
 seashore at the mouth of the Santee, and proceeded north- 
 wardly to the hilly country, and thence eastwardly to Pamlico 
 or Pamlicough. He mentions the Sewees, Santees, Wyniaws, 
 Congarees, Waterees, and Waxsaws, as very small tribes, resid- 
 ing principally on the waters of the Santee. He left on his 
 right the Cheraws and Cape Fear Indians, whom he does not 
 mention. In his progress northwardly he came to an Esaw 
 town, which appears to have been situated on the Pedee. 
 The Esaws w T ere the only powerful nation till he came to the 
 Tuscaroras. They amounted to several thousands, and within 
 twenty miles of their town Lawson found that of the Kada- 
 paivs, in which we recognise the name of Catawbas. As no 
 further mention is made of the Esaws, and no other populous 
 nation is ever after alluded to in that quarter but the Catawbas, 
 there cannot, it seems, be any doubt of their identify with the 
 Esaws of Lawson, who probably mistook a local for the gen- 
 eric name of the nation. Between them and the Tusca- 
 roras of the river Neuse, he places the Saponas on a branch 
 of Cape Fear River ,f and in their vicinity the Toteros and 
 
 * Nicholson became Governor in 1721. He is said by He watt to have 
 treated with the Creeks and Cherokees. The permanent peace with 
 the small tribes is inferred from the silence of Hewatt and Ramsay. 
 
 f Or rather of the Great Pedee, which he does not mention, and 
 some branches of which he evidently mistook for tributary streams of 
 Cape Fear River. 
 
86 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 the Keyauwees, three small tribes amounting together to seven 
 hundred and fifty souls, which had hut lately been driven away 
 from the west into that quarter. He was shown, near the 
 Sapona town, the graves of seven Indians “ lately killed by the 
 Sinnegars or Jennitos,” ( Senecas or Oneidas,) and the three 
 tribes had determined to unite in one town for their better se- 
 curity.* East of them and west of the Tusearoras, he mentions 
 the Sissipahaus on the waters of Cape Fear River, and the Enoes 
 on a branch of the Neuse. With the exception of the Ca- 
 tawbas, we have not the least knowledge of the language of 
 any of those tribes. 
 
 Lawson has also given an enumeration of the tribes inhabit- 
 ing the eastern part of North Carolina, extending westwardly 
 but a short distance beyond Neuse River. He estimates the 
 warriors of the Iroquois tribes at one thousand three hundred, 
 of the Lenape at less than one hundred, of the Woccons at 
 one hundred and twenty, of all the other tribes, including the 
 Machapunga (or Maramiskeetf), the Bear River, Connamox, 
 and Neuse, at only one hundred and twenty. This last num- 
 ber appears to be underrated ; and neither the Enoes nor the 
 Coramines are included. But it shows the insignificance of 
 the small tribes which have disappeared. 
 
 The records of North Carolina would probably throw some 
 light on that subject. We learn from Williamson that the 
 Saponas and the Chowans, about the year 1720, obtained leave 
 to join the Tusearoras. The Wyanokes, whom he mentions as 
 having lived on the river Nottoway and formerly emigrated from 
 the Susquehanna, were probably a tribe connected with the 
 Nottoways and Chowans. To the names already mentioned 
 may be added the upper and lower Sawara towns, laid down, 
 south of the Dan River, in all the early maps of North Caroli- 
 na. In Jeffrey’s map, a tribe called Saluda, is also laid down, 
 south of that river, near the present site of Columbia in South 
 Carolina, with a note, that it had removed to Conestogo in 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Some detached observations of Lawson may deserve notice. 
 Buffaloes (bisons) were found in his time on the hilly country 
 on the head waters of Cape Fear River ; and it is not known 
 that they were ever seen north of that place, east of the Alle- 
 
 * Lawson’s New Voyage to Carolina, pp. 44 - 47. 
 f Williamson. 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 81 
 
 ghany Mountains. He asserts positively, that the wolf of the 
 woods is the Indian dog, that the Indians have no other dogs 
 than domesticated wolves.* But his most remarkable assertion 
 is, that the Indian women never plant corn amongst us, as 
 they do amongst the Iroquois, who are always at war and hunt- 
 ing.” The reason he alleges for the Iroquois usage was 
 equally applicable to all the other Indians, without excepting 
 those of North Carolina. 
 
 The difference between the languages of those several tribes 
 struck Lawson forcibly. He observes that he could find but 
 one word common to the Tuscaroras and the Woccons, who 
 lived but two leagues apart. In the absence of vocabularies, 
 it is now impossible to ascertain, whether most of those several 
 communities spoke languages radically different from each oth- 
 er, or dialects of the same. But we are indebted to Lawson for 
 those of the Tuscaroras, of the Pamlicos, and of the Woccons; 
 and they certainly belong to three distinct languages. He did 
 not suspect that of the Tuscaroras to be an Iroquois dialect, and 
 that his short specimen of that of the Pamlicos wmuld enable 
 us to ascertain how far the Lenape tribes extended towards 
 the south. On comparing the vocabularies of the W r occons and 
 the Catawbas, out of fifty-one words found in both, sixteen 
 appear to have more or less remote affinities ; and the Woccons 
 have accordingly been designated as belonging to the same 
 
 o_ j o o O' 
 
 family of languages-! 
 
 The Catawbas, according to Adair and Ramsay, could mus- 
 ter one thousand five hundred warriors at the first settlement 
 of South Carolina. Lawson estimates them, under the name 
 of Esaws, at several thousand souls. Mr.- Miller says, that 
 they were originally called Flatheads, and were a terror to the 
 surrounding tribes. They were able, at no very remote time, 
 to drive away the Shawnoes from their temporary settlement, 
 
 ^ It is mentioned irr Captain Franklin Vfirst Expedition, that some.Cop- 
 permine River Indians, having caught a litter of young wolves,, kept 
 several in order to improve the. breed of their dogs. 
 
 f The following are the most remarkable. 
 
 Woccon. 
 one , tonne, 
 
 Catawba. 
 
 dupunna, 
 
 brother, 
 
 Woccos. 
 
 yenrauhe, 
 
 Catawba. 
 
 murrundeh,. 
 
 two, numperre, 
 
 three, nammee, 
 
 naperra, 
 
 maize., 
 
 cose, 
 
 koos, 
 
 namunda, 
 
 bread, 
 
 ikettan, 
 
 koostau. 
 
 four , punnum-punne,purre purra, 
 
 house, 
 
 ouke, 
 
 sook, 
 
 water, ejau, 
 Indians, y auh-he , 
 
 eeyau, 
 
 snake, 
 
 yau-hauk, 
 
 y-ah, 
 
 yayeh, 
 
 goose, 
 
 auhaun, 
 
 ah- hah, 
 
 wife, yecauau, 
 
 yakezuh, 
 
 fish, 
 
 yacunne, 
 
 y-ee. 
 
88 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 on the head waters probably of the Santee and Pedee, and, 
 according to Adair, could still muster four hundred warriors in 
 1743. Yet they are mentioned by the historians of South 
 Carolina, only in 1713, as auxiliaries against the Tuscaroras ; 
 in 1715, as having joined the other northern tribes in the con- 
 federacy against the colony ; in 1756, as requesting that a fort 
 might be built upon their lands ; for the last time in 1760, as 
 auxiliaries against the Cherokees. It must thence be inferred 
 that, excepting the short war of 1715, they were always at 
 peace with Carolina. Their perpetual wars with the Shaw- 
 noes, with the Cherokees, and, finally, with the Six Nations, 
 may have kept them sufficiently occupied, and compelled them 
 to remain on friendly terms with the only people, by whom 
 they could be supp'ied with arms and ammunition. Another 
 cause for their peaceable disposition towards the English, may 
 be found in the slow progress of the settlements in that quar- 
 ter. “In 1736, settlements had extended partially about eighty 
 or ninety miles from the seacoast. Between 1750 and 1760, 
 settlements were commenced two hundred miles from Charles- 
 ton by emigrants from Pennsylvania and Virginia. Between 
 the seacoast settlements and those to the westward, a consider- 
 able tract of country was for several years left in the undisturbed 
 possession of the aborigines.” * 
 
 The boundaries and extent of the territory occupied by the 
 Catawbas, cannot be ascertained, and may not always have 
 been the, same. It is probable that the Cherokees were origi- 
 nally in possession of the country on the upper waters of the 
 Savannah, the Santee and the Pedee. If, as has been sug- 
 gested, the Woccons, who bordered on the Tuscaroras, spoke 
 a dialect of the Catawba language, it must have had a consid- 
 erable-extent, and may have been that of the Congarees, of 
 the Cheraws, and of some other of the small tribes.f It is 
 altogether distinct from the Cherokee, but has some affinities 
 
 * Ramsay’s History of South Carolina, Yol. I. Chap. vi. 
 t The. Cheraws are said to have joined the Catawbas, and to have 
 been living amongst them in 1768. (Rev. E Potter’s letter to Dr. 
 Stiles in the tenth volume of 1 Mass. Hist. Coll.) Adair mentions the 
 Cheraws, Waterees, Congarees, Enoes, &c., as having joined the Cataw- 
 bas ; but I believe him mistaken when he says that they spoke different 
 dialects. The words collected forty years ago by B. Smith Barton are, 
 all but one, identical with those of Mr. Miller’s vocabulary taken this 
 year. (1835.) Barton’s New Views, &c. (Philad. 1797.) 
 
SECT. 111.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 89 
 
 with the Muskhogee and even the Choctaw. These did not 
 however appear sufficient to make it considered as belonging 
 to the same family. 
 
 The Catawbas, enfeebled by their disastrous wars and princi- 
 pally by that with the Six Nations, greatly diminished by the 
 smallpox and the use of ardent spirits, and surrounded by the 
 progressive settlements of the white inhabitants, have ultimate- 
 ly ceded all their lands, reserving only a tract of fifteen miles 
 square, on each side of the Santee or Catawba River, on the 
 borders of North Carolina, which, now reduced to ninety-eight 
 souls, they still occupy. Their vocabulary has been obtained, 
 within this year, through the care of Mr. John L. Miller, 
 President of the Ebenezer Academy. 
 
 De Soto appears to have passed, in 1540, through part of 
 the Cherokee country. But the Europeans since that time 
 had not come in contact with the Cherokees, before the set- 
 tlement of South Carolina ; and they are for the first time men- 
 tioned in 1693, when they complained that the Savannahs, 
 Esaws, and Congarees took prisoners from them, and sold 
 them as slaves in Charleston.* It appears that the Yamassees 
 used to make incursions into Florida for the same purpose. 
 Governor Archdale, who acted towards the Indians with equal 
 good sense and humanity, put an end to that practice in 1695.f 
 The Cherokees sent more than two hundred warriors, in 1712, 
 to assist the English in the war against the Tuscaroras. Al- 
 though their name is mentioned, in 1715, amongst the Northern 
 Indians of the confederacy against Carolina, as the whole 
 number of those who took arms in that quarter were estimated 
 at only six hundred, it is not probable that they took a very 
 active part in that conflict. Governor Nicholson established 
 friendly relations with them, which were confirmed by the 
 solemn treaty of 1730, negotiated by Alexander Cummings, 
 and which secured peace for thirty years.]; 
 
 In the beginning of the seven years’ war, they acted as 
 auxiliaries to the British, and assisted at the capture of Fort 
 Duquesne. On their return home, they committed some dep- 
 redations in Virginia, which vyere not tamely submitted to ; and 
 
 * Hewatt. f Ibid. f Hewatt and Ramsay. 
 
 VOL. II. 12 
 
90 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 several of their warriors were killed. The proper steps 
 to pacify them were not taken ; and a war ensued equally 
 calamitous to both parties. It became necessary to bring 
 British troops from the north ; two expeditions were made into 
 their country, and peace was restored in 1761. They took 
 arms on the British side during the war of Independence, and, 
 although some prior treaties intervened, partial hostilities con- 
 tinued several years after 1783 ; and peace was not secured 
 till the treaty of Holston in 1791. By this treaty a territory on 
 which white settlers had encroached, was restored to them. 
 Fi om that time they have ever been at peace with the United 
 States ; and, during the last war with Great Britain, they as- 
 sisted America, as auxiliaries, against the Creeks. 
 
 The territory of the Cherokees, Chelakees, or more proper- 
 ly Tsalakies, extended north and south of the southwesterly 
 continuation of the Appalachian mountains, embracing on the 
 north the country on Tennessee or Cherokee River and its 
 tributary streams, from their sources down to the vicinity of the 
 Muscle Shoals, where they were bounded on the west by the 
 Chicasas. The Cumberland mountain may be considered as 
 having been their boundary on the north ; but since the country 
 has been known to us, no other Indian nation but some small 
 bands of Shawnoes, had any settlement between that mountain 
 and the Ohio. On the west side of the Savannah they were 
 bounded on the south by the Creeks, the division line being 
 Broad River and generally along the thirty-fourth parallel of 
 north latitude. On the east of the Savannah, their original 
 seats embraced the upper waters of that river, of the Santee 
 and probably of the Yadkin, but could not have extended 
 as far south as the thirty-fourth degree of north latitude. They 
 were bounded on the south, in that quarter, probably by Musk- 
 hogee tribes in the vicinity of the Savannah, and farther east 
 by the Catawbas. 
 
 The Cherokees, like other Indian nations, were almost always 
 at war with some of the adjacent tribes. They had probably 
 contributed to the expulsion of the Shawnoes from the country 
 south of the Ohio, and appear to have been perpetually at war 
 with some branch or other of that erratic nation.* They 
 
 # The last settlement of the Shawnoes south of the Ohio was at 
 Bull’s Town on the Little Kenhawa. They were obliged to abandon 
 it about the year 1770, on account of the repeated attacks of small 
 Cherokee parties. 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN JNDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 91 
 
 had also long-continued hostilities with the Six Nations, which 
 do not seem to have been conducted with much vigor on either 
 side, and were terminated about the years 1 744-1750, through 
 the interference of the British government. It appears by an 
 answer sent by them at the conferences of Carlisle of 1753, 
 to a previous message of the Delawares, that they had at a 
 former period entertained amicable relations with that tribe. 
 They express in it friendly dispositions, say that they had not 
 heard from the Delawares for a long time, and call them 
 nephews.* 
 
 The country of the Cherokees was strong ; they formed 
 but one nation, and they do not appear to have been materially 
 injured by their Indian wars. It would seem, that since they 
 came in contact with the Europeans, and notwithstanding suc- 
 cessive cessions of part of their territory, their number, at least 
 during the last forty years, has been increased. Their war- 
 riors were estimated at two thousand three hundred in the year 
 1762, by Adair, who adds, that he was informed that forty 
 years before they had six thousand. According to a late 
 estimate of the Indian Department, they now amount to 
 fifteen thousand souls, including those who have already re- 
 moved beyond the Mississippi, and exclusively of about 
 twelve hundred negroes in their possession. The progress of 
 civilization amongst them will be hereafter adverted to. We 
 abstain from any observation on recent transactions connected 
 with the intended removal of the whole tribe beyond the Mis- 
 sissippi, this being the subject of pending negotiations, which, 
 it is hoped, may be attended with a result satisfactory to all 
 parties. 
 
 The vocabularies of their language are amongst the most 
 authentic we have of any Indian nation. The appended com- 
 parative vocabulary was entirely written by Mr. Boudinot, or 
 Mr. Ridge, Jun., both native Cherokees, who speak English as 
 if it were their mother tongue. The Rev. Mr. Worcester 
 has also aided our enquiries in that quarter. 
 
 Dr. Barton thought that the Cherokee language belonged 
 to the Iroquois family ; and, on this point, I am inclined to the 
 same opinion. The affinities are few and remote ; but there 
 
 * MS. papers of the late John Montgomery of Carlisle, given to me, 
 with sundry other interesting Indian documents, by his son, the late 
 John Montgomery, of Baltimore. 
 
92 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 is a similarity in the general termination of syllables, in the 
 pronunciation and accent, which has struck some of the native 
 Cherokees. We have not a sufficient knowledge of the gram- 
 mar, and generally of the language of the Five Nations, or of 
 the Wyandots, to decide that question. But a particular char- 
 acter of the Cherokee has been disclosed by Guess’s syllabic 
 alphabet. 
 
 Sequoyah, or Guess, as he is commonly called, is a native 
 Cherokee, unacquainted with the English language. He saw 
 books in the missionary schools, and was informed that the 
 characters represented the words of the spoken language. 
 Not understanding how this was done, he undertook to make 
 characters of his own for the Cherokee, and at first attempted 
 to have a distinct one for each word. He soon saw that the 
 number would be such as to render that plan impracticable ; 
 and discovering that, although the Cherokee is eminently poly- 
 syllabic, the same syllables variously combined perpetually 
 recurred in different words, he concluded to have a character 
 for each syllable. This he did by listening, with a view to his 
 object, to every discourse held in his hearing, and noting in his 
 own way every new syllable. In a short time he produced 
 his syllabic alphabet consisting of only eighty-five characters, 
 through which he was enabled to teach within three weeks 
 every Cherokee, old or young, who desired it, how to write his 
 own language. That alphabet has superseded ours. Several 
 books and a newspaper called the “ Phoenix,” edited by Mr. 
 Boudinot, have been published with those characters ; and the 
 Cherokees universally use them when writing in their own 
 tongue. When the first imperfect copy of that alphabet was 
 received at the War Department, it appeared incredible that a 
 language, known to be copious, should have but eighty-five sylla- 
 bles. The examination of a Cherokee spelling-book, published 
 in our characters by the Missionaries, explained what seemed 
 to be a mystery. 
 
 It was found that every Cherokee syllable ended in a vocal 
 or nasal sound, and that there were no other double con- 
 sonants but tl or dl, and ts, and combinations of s with 
 four or five different consonants. The language has twelve 
 consonants including h, viz. g or k, h, l, m, n, qu, d or 
 t, dl or tl, ts, iv, y, s; five vowels, viz. a, e, i, o, u; and 
 a nasal ung. It is obvious, that, multiplying the number of 
 consonants (including the tl), by the six vowels (including the 
 nasal), and adding to the product the said six vowels, each of 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 93 
 
 which is occasionally a syllable, you have the whole number of 
 possible syllables in the language, those excepted which result 
 from the combinations of s united to another following conso- 
 nant, with the six vowels. It would have required about 
 thirty additional characters, if Guess, adhering to his principle, 
 had made a new one for each such combination, ( sta , stz, &c., 
 spa, spe, &c.) He gave a strong proof of talent, in discover- 
 ing that he might dispense with those thirty, by making for the 
 s a distinct character.* It wanted but one step more, and 
 to have also given a distinct character to each consonant, to 
 reduce the whole number to sixteen, and to have had an alpha- 
 bet similar to ours. In practice, however, and as applied to 
 his own language, the superiority of Guess’s alphabet is mani- 
 fest, and has been fully proved by experience. You must 
 indeed learn and remember eighty-five characters instead of 
 twenty-five. But this once accomplished, the education of the 
 pupil is completed, he can read, and he is perfect in his ortho- 
 graphy without making it the subject of a distinct study. The 
 boy learns in a few weeks that which occupies two years of the 
 time of ours. It is that peculiarity in the vocal or nasal ter- 
 mination of syllables and that absence of double consonants, 
 more discernible to the ear than to the eye, which were alluded 
 to, when speaking of some affinity in that respect between the 
 Cherokee and the Iroquois languages. 
 
 It is true that the original idea of expressing sounds by 
 characters was suggested to Guess by our books ; it must be 
 admitted that his plan would have failed if applied to perhaps 
 any other language than the Cherokee ; and it is doubtful 
 whether, in such case, he would have ascended to the discovery 
 of one character for each analyzed sound. But it cannot be 
 denied that this untaught Indian, in what he has performed, has 
 exhibited a striking instance of the native intelligence of his race.f 
 
 * When Guess subsequently explained the process of his invention, 
 he said that what had cost him most labor was the hissing sound. Guess’s 
 characters amount to eighty-five, viz. seventy-seven as above stated, 
 less one, the syllable mung not appearing in the language. Finding 
 that occasionally k was pronounced g ; d like t ; and two distinct as- 
 pirations connected with na, he has added eight characters representing 
 the sounds s, ka, hna, nah, ta, le, ti, tla. 
 
 t Although this syllabic alphabet has been published several times, 
 it has been thought consistent with the object of this essay to annex 
 a correct copy of it. — See Appendix. 
 
94 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 In the year 1732, when Georgia was first settled, the terri- 
 tory of the Creek confederacy, including at that time the 
 Seminoles, was bounded on the west by Mobile River, and 
 by the ridge that separates the waters of the Tombigbee from 
 those of the Alabama, the ordinary though contested boundary 
 between them and the Choctaws * ; on the north by the Chero- 
 kees ; on the northeast by the Savannah ; on every other quarter 
 by the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. It is believed that 
 at the end of the seventeenth century, the Creeks occupied, 
 south of the thirty-fourth degree of north latitude, the eastern 
 as well as the western banks of the Savannah. 
 
 It is not possible to ascertain when the confederacy was con- 
 solidated to that extent. During the forty preceding years, 
 we find the Indians between Savannah River and St. Au- 
 gustine, on various occasions, divided amongst themselves and 
 taking adverse parts in the conflicts between the Spaniards of 
 Florida and the English settlers of South Carolina. It may 
 be, that, as has been seen recently, the contending European 
 powers drew to their respective sides different portions of the 
 confederacy. But we cannot ascertain whether, by the names 
 of Appalachians and Creeks, both of which occur in Hewatt and 
 other early writers, distinct tribes are designated. It is proba- 
 ble that the appellation of Appalachians was geographical and 
 applied to the Indians living on the Appalachicola, or Chatahoo- 
 chee River, as the name of Creeks seems to have been given 
 from an early time to those inhabiting generally the country 
 adjacent to the river Savannah. 
 
 The Creek confederacy now consists of several tribes speak- 
 ing different languages. The Muskhogees are the prevailing 
 nation, amounting to more than seven eighths of the whole. 
 The Hitclfittees who reside on the Chatahoochee and Flint 
 rivers, though a distinct tribe, speak a dialect of the Muskho- 
 gee. The Seminoles or Isty-semole, (“ wild men,”) who inhabit 
 the peninsula of Florida, are pure Muskhogees, who have 
 gradually detached themselves from the confederacy, but who 
 were still considered as members of it, till the United States 
 treated with them as with an independent nation. The name 
 of Seminoles was given to them, on account of their being 
 principally hunters and attending but little to agriculture. A 
 
 * According to Adair, the river Coosa was the boundary in his 
 time. 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 95 
 
 vocabulary is wanted in order to prove conclusively the entire 
 identity of their language with the Muskhogee. 
 
 There is some diversity in the accounts given by the Musk- 
 hogees of their origin. The chiefs of the delegation, who 
 attended at Washington in the year 1826, agreed that the 
 prevailing tradition amongst them was, that the nation had 
 issued out of a cave near Alabama River. The Hitehittees 
 said that their ancestors had. fallen from the sky. These modes 
 of speaking, common to several of the tribes, only show that 
 they have lost the recollection of any ancient migration, and 
 that they consider themselves as aborigines. Independent of 
 the ancient division into families or clans, which will be here- 
 after adverted to, Mr. Mitchell, a former Indian agent, said 
 that there was, at no distant time, a political division of the 
 nation into four principal towns or tribes, viz. the Cussetah, 
 the Cowetah, the Tukawbatchie, and the Oscoochee, to which 
 the Creeks, though now dispersed throughout the whole of their 
 country, still respectively belong. This division, however, 
 whether geographical or political, has no connexion with the 
 distinction of languages. 
 
 The Uchees and the Natches, who are both incorporated in 
 the confederacy, speak two distinct languages altogether dif- 
 ferent from the Muskhogee. The Natches, a residue of the 
 well-known nation of that name, came from the banks of the 
 Mississippi, and joined the Creeks less than one hundred years 
 ago. The original seats of the Uchees were east of the Coosa 
 and probably of the Chatahoochee ; and they consider them- 
 selves as the most ancient inhabitants of the country. They 
 may have been the same nation which is called Apalaches in 
 the accounts of De Soto’s expedition, and their towns were till 
 lately principally on Flint River. It appears, however, certain 
 that, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, they were, at 
 least in part, seated on the western banks of the Savannah. 
 It has already been seen that, in 1736, they claimed the coun- 
 try below and above Augusta. In Jeffrey’s Map they are 
 laid down in the same manner, but with a note that those 
 settlements had been deserted in 1715. This was the year of 
 the signal defeat of the Yamassees, who were assisted by the 
 Creeks. The Yamassees were driven across the river ; and 
 it is probable that the Uchees were amongst their auxiliaries, 
 and that, weakened by this defeat, they found it safer to re- 
 move to a greater distance from the English settlements* to- 
 wards Flint River. 
 
96 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 It has been ascertained that two other small tribes intimately 
 connected together, to wit, the Alibamons and the Coosadas or 
 Quesadas, who reside near the river Talapoosa, also speak a 
 language or a dialect distinct from that of the Muskhogees ; 
 but its vocabulary has not been obtained. The Talapoosa and 
 the Coosa form by their junction Alabama River ; and the 
 Alibamons must certainly be the residue of the nation of that 
 name, mentioned by the French writers as living in the vicinity 
 of the old French fort on the Alabama. These five languages, 
 the Muskhogee and the Hitchittee, the Uchee, the Natches, 
 and the Alibamon or Coosada are, it is believed, the only ones 
 spoken by the different tribes of the Creek confederacy. The 
 Appalachicolas, with whom a separate treaty has recently been 
 made by the United States, are a portion of the Seminoles, 
 residing west of St. Mark’s near the mouth of the Appalachicola 
 or Chatahoochee River. It may be here observed, that, al- 
 though we have no vocabulary of the Piankishaws and of the 
 Kickapoo, it is fully ascertained that they respectively speak 
 dialects of the Miami and of the Saukee. The Alibamons 
 are the only existing tribe, east of the Mississippi, of whose 
 language we have no positive knowledge, and cannot say 
 whether it is peculiar to them, or belongs to the same stock as 
 some of the other tribes. I incline to the opinion that it is a 
 dialect of the Choctaw, or Muskhogee. 
 
 Although partial and transient collisions with the Creeks 
 occurred subsequent to the settlement of Georgia, no actual 
 war with them took place for near fifty years. They took an 
 active part in that of the Revolution against the Americans, 
 and continued their hostilities till the treaty concluded at Phila- 
 delphia, in 1795. They then remained at peace eighteen 
 years ; but, at the beginning of the last war with Great Britain, 
 a considerable portion of the nation, excited, it is said, by 
 Tecumseh, and probably receiving encouragement from other 
 quarters, took arms without the slightest provocation, and at 
 first committed great ravages in the vicinity of their western 
 frontier. They received a severe chastisement ; and the de- 
 cisive victories of General Jackson at that time, and some 
 years later over the Seminoles, who had renewed the war, 
 have not only secured a permanent peace with the Southern 
 Indians, but, together with the progress of the settlements, have 
 placed them all under the absolute control of tlie United 
 States. The Creeks and Seminoles after some struggles 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 97 
 
 amongst themselves have ceded the whole of their territory, 
 and accepted in exchange other lands beyond the Mississippi. 
 Their number is estimated at twenty-eight thousand ; of whom 
 about twenty-three thousand are Muskhogees proper, two thou- 
 sand four hundred Seminoles, twelve hundred Uchees, six 
 hundred Hitchittees, five hundred Alibamons and Quesadas, 
 and three hundred Natches. 
 
 We have copious vocabularies of the Muskhogee ; one ob- 
 tained by the late Mr. Hawkins, and transmitted by Mr. Jeffer- 
 son to the American Philosophical Society ; two others taken 
 at my request in 1825-6, by Mr. Ridge, Colonel Hambly, 
 and Mr. Denny, from two distinct Muskhogee delegations then 
 at Washington; a fourth since transmitted by the Rev. L. 
 Compere, a Methodist missionary to that nation. The com- 
 parative vocabulary is extracted from those several sources. Its 
 form did not permit me to give the several variations, which are 
 more numerous than in the different vocabularies of any other 
 tribe ; and it is not improbable that they arise from actual vari- 
 eties of dialects, rather than from errors of the persons who 
 collected the vocabularies. Those words have been selected 
 which had the greatest number of authorities in their favor. 
 As Hawkins’s vocabulary differed most from the other, a separ- 
 ate specimen taken exclusively from that has been appended. 
 The small specimen of the Hitchittee was obtained at the same 
 time from a chief of that tribe by Mr. Ridge. 
 
 The Uchee language is the most guttural, uncouth, and 
 difficult to express with our alphabet and orthography of any 
 of the Indian languages within our knowledge. The vocabu- 
 lary here given is extracted from one taken by Dr. Ware, 
 in Mr. Duponceau’s collection, and from another obtained by 
 Mr. Ridge from an Uchee chief at Washington. Mr. Ridge had 
 probably the best Indian ear, but was not so correct in his Eng- 
 lish orthography. The Natches vocabulary I took myself from 
 Is-ah-laktih, an intelligent chief of the remnant of that nation.* 
 
 * The vowels a, e, i, o, and the diphthong- ie, are, in that vocabulary 
 and in the Muskhogee words marked G., to be pronounced as in French ; 
 the u is the short one of but , nut ; the zh is the French j ; the oo, y> 
 and all the consonants as in English ; the g, always hard. The Uchee 
 and Hitchittee words taken by Mr. Ridge are, as well as Mr. Haw- 
 kins’s and Mr. Compere’s Muskhogee words, written in conformity 
 with the English orthography. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 13 
 
98 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 De Soto was the first European who discovered the Mississip- 
 pi. He crossed it in the year 1541, near the thirty-fifth degree 
 of north latitude, and after his death the remnant of his com- 
 panions, reduced to about three hundred, descended it to its 
 mouth, and with their frail barks were fortunate enough to 
 reach Panuco on the Mexican coast. Although the Spaniards 
 became thus early acquainted with that large river, and their 
 ships must have passed annually in sight of its mouth, it re- 
 mained unknown for one hundred and fifty years after De Soto’s 
 expedition; and the river was on that account designated by 
 the name of “ Rio Escondido.” Father Marquette and M. 
 Joliette, in the year 1673, reached it by the way of the Fox 
 Ri ver of Michigan and of the Wisconsin. Ten years later 
 La Salle descended it to its entrance into the sea.* But, 
 having sailed from France with the intention of forming a 
 settlement on its hanks, he passed by its mouth in 1685, with- 
 out recognising it, and landed in the Bay of St. Bernard at the 
 bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. In his attempt to reach thence 
 the Mississippi by land, he was murdered by his own people ; 
 it was only in March, 1699, that D’Iberville entered the river 
 from the sea f ; and the French, who had first established 
 themselves at the mouth of the Mobile and at Biloxi, did not 
 lay the foundation of New Orleans till the year 1717. 
 
 The seashore from the Mobile to the Mississippi, and the 
 banks of that river, were then inhabited by several small tribes, 
 of which the Natches were the principal. All the rest of the 
 country from the Gulf of Mexico to Cumberland River, if not to 
 the Ohio, bounded on the west by the Mississippi and on the east 
 by the Creeks and the Cherokees, was inhabited by the Choc- 
 taws and the Chicasas, two distinct nations, but of the same 
 
 * He reached the sea on the 7th of April, 1683. See Tonti’s re- 
 lation in the fifth volume of “Voyages au Nord.” Tonti was the 
 friend and companion of La Salle, and his relation of the inland ex- 
 peditions of that enterprising traveller is the most authentic we have, 
 though disfigured by embellishments in very bad taste, introduced by 
 the Paris publisher. The only good relation of La Salle’s last voy- 
 age is that of Joutel. 
 
 f A British ship, probably that mentioned by Dr. Cox in his “ Carola- 
 na,” entered the river in September of the same year, and ascended 
 it to the place thence called English Town. (Charlevoix). There is 
 no evidence that supports the assertion, that the river had formerly 
 been visited by English vessels. 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN' INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 99 
 
 stock, and speaking, with but few varieties, the same lan- 
 guage. 
 
 o o 
 
 The Cbicasas occupied the northern, and the Choctaws the 
 southern part of that territory. The Chicasas were warlike 
 and in a state of hostility with the Cherokees, the Illinois, the 
 Arkansas, and occasionally even with the Choctaws. The 
 Arkansas and especially the Illinois were the steadfast allies of 
 the French. Enterprising British traders from South Carolina 
 reached at an early date the Chicasa country. And owing to 
 those two causes, they became the firm allies of the English, 
 and the inveterate enemies of the French. It was in vain that 
 these invaded their territory, in 1736, by the Totnbigbee, and 
 in 1740, from the Mississippi. The Chicasas repelled the in- 
 vaders and granted at last only a precarious peace. They 
 adhered to the British during the war of Independence ; but 
 they have never committed any hostilities against the Ameri- 
 cans since the year 1783. 
 
 Their continued wars had considerably lessened their num- 
 bers. Tonti, the first European who met with them, but who 
 had no opportunity of ascertaining their number, estimated their 
 warriors, in 1682, at two thousand. Adair, who resided many 
 years amongst them, says, that in 1763, they were reduced to 
 four hundred and fifty ; which would give at most a popula- 
 tion of eighteen hundred souls. According to the late War 
 Department estimate they now amount to five thousand four 
 hundred and twenty-nine. There is no doubt of the increase of 
 the southern Indians during the last forty years ; but it is proba- 
 ble that Adair had underrated their number. An arrangement 
 is in train for a cession of their territory in exchange for lands 
 west of the Mississippi. 
 
 The vocabulary of their language was written in my pres- 
 ence by an intelligent boy of their nation, who was living with 
 Colonel McKinney, then at the head of the Indian bureau of 
 the War Department, and who spoke and wrote English with 
 great facility. His orthography may in some respects be 
 defective ; but it is, on the whole, one of the most authentic 
 vocabularies we possess. Although the separation of the 
 Chicasas from the Choctaws must have taken place long ago, 
 the language is still almost the same, and differs more in the 
 pronunciation than in the words. They understand each other 
 without interpreters. The tradition of the Chicasas is that 
 they came from the west. The Choctaws have lost the 
 
100 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 recollection of a former migration, and, like the Muskhogees, 
 say that they came from under the ground.* 
 
 The Choctaws, properly Chahtas, called also “Flat Heads,” 
 on account of the practice, common to several other tribes, of 
 flattening the head in infancy by artificial means, are a much 
 more numerous but less warlike people. Adair, whose estimate 
 of the character of the Indians depends on their political con- 
 nexions with the English or French, represents the Choctaws 
 as the most worthless of any of the southern tribes. The 
 early French writers complain of their fickleness, and that they 
 could not place confidence in their fidelity. According to 
 Bernard Romans, they were farther advanced in civilization 
 than any of their neighbours, less cruel towards their prisoners, 
 and applying more to agriculture than to the chase. “ The 
 Choctaws may more properly be called a nation of farmers than 
 any savages I have met with.” “ They help their wives in the 
 labor of the fields and many other works.” “ Their way of 
 life in general may be called industrious ; they will do what no 
 other uncompelled savage will do, that is, work in the field to 
 raise grain.” f It is certain that the Europeans have no right 
 to complain of them. They have had successively for neigh- 
 bours the French, the Spanish, the English, and the Americans ; 
 and they have never been at war with any of them. Their 
 principal wars have been with the Creeks, always defensive 
 and not very sanguinary. In a conflict of six years (1765- 
 1771), they lost about three hundred people.."]; B. Romans 
 estimated their warriors, in 1772, at les3 than three thousand, 
 which does not differ materially from Adair’s account. Ac- 
 cording to the enumeration by the War Department, they now 
 amount to eighteen thousand five hundred souls. They have 
 agreed to take lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for 
 their ancient territory; and about fifteen thousand have already 
 removed to that new country. 
 
 The Choctaw or Chicasa language is by Du Pratz called 
 the Molilian, a common language ( langue vulgaire ) ; and the 
 intercourse of the French with other tribes was generally 
 carried on by the means of Choctaw interpreters. A grammar 
 of the language has been prepared by our missionaries and will 
 
 * Bernard Romans and Du Pratz. The latter writer (Hist, de Lou- 
 isiane) explains the tradition by supposing that they invaded the country 
 in great numbers. 
 
 f B» Romans, Nat. Hist- Florida. (New York, 1776.) pp. 71, 83. f Ibid, 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OE THE MISSISSIPPI. 101 
 
 shortly be published. In the mean while, some of its principal 
 features have been disclosed in their spelling-book, or may be 
 deduced from the appended verbal forms and annotations, sup- 
 plied by Mr. Alfred Wright, but in which he was (l believe) 
 assisted by the Missionaries. Similar in its general structure 
 to the other Indian languages which have been examined, its 
 system of inflexions is more simple and uniform than any 
 other ; and the mode of compounding words in many respects 
 more similar to that used in our own languages. It appears 
 therefore to be the least difficult to be acquired by an Euro- 
 pean ; which accounts for its having been adopted by the 
 French as a general medium of intercourse with all the other 
 adjacent Indian tribes. The annexed vocabularies were ex- 
 tracted partly from the Missionaries’ spelling-book,* chiefly from 
 the copious one transmitted by Mr. Wright. 
 
 The affinities between the Choctaw and the Muskhogee 
 were such as to make it a matter of doubt, whether they should 
 not be considered as belonging to the same family. The ap- 
 pended vocabularies of both are copious, yet not perhaps 
 sufficient to decide the question. The short comparative one 
 of the two languages shows in one view the most striking of 
 those affinities. I think them sufficient to prove a common 
 origin ; but, in compliance with received opinions, they have 
 been arranged in the vocabulary as forming two families. 
 
 The four great southern nations, according to the estimates of 
 the War Department which have been quoted and are in that 
 quarter very correct, consist now of sixty-seven thousand souls 
 viz. 
 
 the Cherokees ..... 15,000 
 
 the Choctaws . 18,500 ) 0 . 
 
 the Chicasas . . 5,500 ) 
 
 the Muskhogees, Seminoles, and Hitchittees 26,000 
 the Uchees, Alibamons, Coosadas, and Natches 2,000 
 
 The territory west of the Mississippi, given or offered to 
 them by the United States, in exchange for their lands east of 
 that river, contains forty millions of acres, exclusively of what 
 
 * First edition. A copy of the second improved edition could not 
 be obtained. 
 
102 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 may be allotted to the Chicasas. Government defrays the 
 expenses of the removal, pays the value of their improvements, 
 and allows them considerable annuities. 
 
 Our knowledge of those nations, derived from English and 
 French writers, does not ascend higher than the end of the 
 seventeenth century ; and doubts have been entertained re- 
 specting their population in former times, and the date both of 
 their first settlement west of the Mississippi, and of the subse- 
 quent progress of the Muskhogees towards the Atlantic. We 
 have attempted to discover, amongst the Indian names of places 
 or persons mentioned in the relations of De Soto’s Expedition, 
 some traces of the tribes, which at that time inhabited the 
 country along his line of march. 
 
 The first of those relations was published in 1557,* by a Portu- 
 guese volunteer (of Elvas), an eyewitness, who has not given his 
 name ; the other in 1603, by Garcilaso de la Vega, on the 
 oral testimony of a Spanish cavalier, and on written docu- 
 ments from two other soldiers, who were also engaged in the 
 expedition. It is extremely difficult to reconcile in all their 
 details either of the two relations, with respect to distances and 
 courses, with the now well-known geography of the country. 
 There is however a portion of the journey which is sufficient- 
 ly clear to throw light on the object of our inquiry. 
 
 Ferdinand de Soto landed in the year 1539, on the western 
 coast of East Florida, in the Bay of Espiritu Santo, now called 
 Tampa Bay, having with him six hundred men according to 
 the Portuguese narrator, and twelve hundred according to Gar- 
 cilaso. He thence proceeded in the direction of the seacoast 
 to a village called Anhayca, in the Province of Appalachee. 
 This was situated in the vicinity of a port into which he or- 
 dered his vessels, and which, from the position designated, 
 must necessarily have been somewhere in Apalachee Bay. 
 We cannot therefore err much in placing Anhayca, in the 
 vicinity of the Ockockona River. East, and not far from it, 
 the names of Uzachil and Anille are mentioned, and there is 
 a river precisely in the same position, which to this day is 
 
 * Catalogue of Mr. Rich, who has a copy of the original edition. 
 The title is “ Relacam verdadeira dos trabalhos que ho Governador 
 don Fernando de Souto y certos fidalgos Portugueses passarom no 
 descobrimento da Provincia la Frodida. Agora novamente feita per 
 hum fidalgo d’Elvas.” Printed at Evora, 1557. Hakluyt translated 
 and published this work; Voyages, &c. Vol. V. (1609.) 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 103 
 
 called Oscilla. But I have not been able to ascertain whether 
 this is, either an Uchee or Muskhogee name, or whether it may 
 not have been subsequently given to the river by the Spaniards 
 in commemoration of De Soto’s expedition. 1 have been equally 
 unfortunate in my inquiries respecting the etymology of the 
 name Apalachee ; whether it belongs to the language of any of 
 the existing nations, or whether it has been perpetuated from De 
 Soto’s time. It is certain that the river Appalachicola is known 
 to the Muskhogees by no other name than that of Chatta 
 Hatchee, or Rock River. The only name mentioned in that 
 vicinity, having any known affinity with an Indian language, is 
 that of a village near the sea-port, which in the Spanish 
 relation is called Ante. In the Muskhogee language autti or 
 
 o o o 
 
 oty, means an island. 
 
 De Soto’s officers discovered in the course of the winter an- 
 other and better port, sixty computed leagues west of Aute. 
 This was called Ochuse, and must have been either Pensacola, 
 or the entrance of the Mobile. Instead, however, of proceeding 
 in that direction, De Soto, on the information of an Indian boy, 
 determined to march northwardly in search of a gold region. 
 He left Anhayca in March, 1540, and, in about forty days of 
 actual march, reached a district called Cofachiqui or Cutifachi- 
 quL Twelve days’ march more in the same direction brought 
 him to Xuala in the mountains ; and this was the termination 
 of his travels northwardly. The distance from the vicinity of 
 St. Mark’s to the sources of the French Broad or of the 
 Hiwassee, both tributary streams of the Tennessee, is about 
 three hundred and fifty miles in a direct line. This determines 
 the position of Cofachiqui , which was certainly on a river 
 emptying into the Atlantic, not far south of the 34th degree of 
 north latitude, on the Oconee, or on the Savannah River. The 
 statement, therefore, that, according to Indian information, it 
 was but two days’ journey to the sea, is erroneous. Between 
 Anhayca and Cofachiqui, we find the two names of Achese, 
 on a river which the Spaniards ascended some days, and of 
 Ocute, a fruitful country. Ochis is the Muskhogee name of 
 the Okmulgee river.* OJceta in the same language means 
 woman ; and Cohivita in Uchee means. man, and is the well- 
 known name of a Creek town. These detached names afford 
 but a slight indication of that part of the country having been 
 
 * Ochis hatchee, Hickory-leaf river. Rev. L, Compere’s information. 
 
104 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIKES. [iNTROD. 
 
 at that time occupied by the Creeks. But from Cofacbiqui to 
 the Mississippi, we have a continued series of names, which 
 seems to leave no doubt respecting the several nations along 
 De Soto’s line of march, from the time he left Cofachiqui. 
 
 In seven days’ march due north from that place, he came 
 to Chalaque, which cannot be mistaken, since it is the proper 
 name of the Cherokees or Chelokees. From Kuala , his 
 course was westwardly, bending to the south. In five days, 
 crossing some bad mountains he arrived at Quaxule ; in two 
 days more at Cariasaqua or Canasauga, and in five days more 
 at Cliiaha or Ichiaha, situated on the bank of a river, and 
 opposite the upper end of an island. This was an abundant 
 country, where the Spaniards rested thirty days in order to re- 
 cruit their horses. Connesauga is, at this moment, the Chero- 
 kee name of a creek that empties into the Coosa at New 
 Echota ; and Echoy is that of a well-known Cherokee town, 
 situated, not indeed on the same spot as Ichiaha, but in the 
 fork of Tugaloo and Savannah rivers ; whilst Ichiaha must 
 have been on the Coosa, probably some distance below the site 
 of New Echota. But we have repeated instances, such as 
 Echota, Coweta, Tallisee, Piqua, &c., of the Indians having 
 favorite names for towns, which they transfer successively to 
 their several villages. There cannot, therefore, I think, be 
 any doubt that the Cherokees occupied at that time the same 
 territory south of the mountains, in which they were found 
 one hundred and forty years later. And it is remarkable that 
 the line, which then separated them from the Coosa country, 
 is almost in the same place as that which till lately divided the 
 Cherokees from the Creeks. 
 
 After leaving A.coste a short distance west of Ichiaha, the 
 Spaniards entered the territory of Coosa, through which they 
 travelled from fifteen to twenty days,* passing through the 
 populous village of Coosa, and arriving at Tallisee, another 
 large, fortified, and apparently frontier town, subject to the 
 Cacique of Coosa, and situated on a rapid river. The two 
 names of Coosa and Tallisee afford a decisive proof that the 
 country was then, as now, in the possession of the Muskhogees. 
 It is equally clear, that, from the vicinity of the last-mentioned 
 place, until he reached the Mississippi, Be Soto was in the 
 
 * There is a disagreement here between the Portuguese and the 
 Spanish relations. I have taken the medium. 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OE THE MISSISSIPPI. 105 
 
 Choctaw or Chickasa country. We find the names of Tascaluca 
 or Tuscalusa, “Black Warrior,” a pure Choctaw name derived 
 from Tushka, “ warrior,” and Litsa, “ black,” and which is that 
 of the eastern branch of the Tombigbee ; that of the province 
 of Pafalaya, the precise meaning of which I do not know, 
 but which is clearly derived from the Choctaw word Falaya, 
 “long”; that of the town of Maville or Mauvila, identical with 
 that of Mobile, and given by Du Pratz to the Mobilians, a 
 Choctaw tribe; that of the chief Nicalusa, probably “Black 
 bear,” from Nitah, bear, and Lusa, black ; and finally that ot 
 Chicasa itself, given to a village situated within the territory 
 now occupied by the Chicasas.* 
 
 We may thence fairly, and as I think conclusively, infer 
 that the Cherokees, Chicasas, and Choctaws occupied then 
 nearly the same territories as at the present time ; and that the 
 Muskhogees were then, as now, seated on the Coosa, to the 
 east of the Choctaws. But we have no proof of the extent of 
 their progress toward the Atlantic. It is, indeed, probable 
 that the seashores of Georgia, as well as of West Florida, 
 were then occupied by different tribes now extinct. We know 
 that the Indians of that peninsula were a distinct nation or 
 nations from the Muskhogees; and that they were subsequently 
 
 * I incline to the opinion, that De Soto left the Coosa river at Tallisee, 
 and marched thence westward to the Tuscaloosa or Black- warrior river, 
 which he descended a short distance to Maville. It would appear from 
 the Portuguese relation, that the Spaniards, in about four days’ march 
 from Tallisee, arrived at the town of Piache, called by Garcilaso, Tus- 
 caluza, situated upon a great river, which from that account must have 
 been distinct from the Coosa, and across which Soto carried his army. 
 The division line between the Creeks and the Choctaws now is, and 
 probably was at that time, a river or a ridge, and therefore a north and 
 south and not an east and west line. I think also that De Soto must 
 have necessarily crossed the Mississippi at the northern extremity of that 
 immense swamp, which extends northwardly one hundred and fifty 
 miles from the mouth of the Yazoo River, and covers almost the whole 
 ground between that river and the Mississippi. It is impossible that 
 he should have penetrated, or attempted to penetrate through the heart 
 of that swamp, so as to cross the Mississippi near the mouth of the 
 Arkansas. It is equally clear from the details given, that, just before 
 crossing the great river, he was on the northern edge of the swamp. 
 This determines the position of the place where he crossed, between 
 the 35th degree of north latitude and the mouth of St. Francis River. 
 But whether mistaken or not on those points, it does not afi'ect in the 
 least the proofs of the actual place of residence at that time of the 
 several Indian Nations. 
 
 VOL, II. 
 
 14 
 
106 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 subjugated or destroyed by the Seminoles. The Coloosas, the 
 last remnant of those Florida Indians, had been driven to some 
 of the Keys lying near the southern extremity of the penin- 
 sula. “ Even here the water did not protect them against the 
 inroads from the Creeks ; and, in 1763, the remnant of this 
 people, consisting of about eighty families, left this last pos- 
 session of their native land and went to the Havanna.” * * * § 
 
 The accounts of the attempt by the French, in the years 
 1562 - 1567,f to make a settlement on the coast of Florida 
 and Georgia, prove also clearly that the Indians in that quarter, 
 instead of bein'? united under a confederate government, were 
 divided into a number of small, independent tribes, always at 
 war with each other. None of those now remains, unless some 
 may have been incorporated in the Creek confederacy. The 
 few words which have been preserved of their language appear, 
 with two exceptions, foreign to the Muskhogee and to the 
 Choctaw. Those two are Antipola. Bonnason, by which the 
 Indians greeted the French, on their arriving amongst them the 
 second time, and which meant “ Friends.” Itapela in Choctaw 
 means “ allies,” literally, “They help each other.” £ In the 
 Muskhogee inhisse is “ his friends,” and ponhisse, “ our 
 friends.”^ 
 
 If we were to place implicit faith in the accounts given by 
 Garcilaso de la Vega of the number of Indians in various places, 
 we should infer a greater population than was found to exist 
 one hundred and fifty years later. Considering the sources 
 from which he derived his information, the proneness of com- 
 mon soldiers to swell the number of enemies, and the habitual 
 and notorious exaggerations of the Spaniards of his time, we 
 will in that respect give the preference to the more sober 
 statements of the Portuguese narrator, who kills only two thou- 
 sand five hundred Indians by the fire and sword at the storming 
 of Mauvila, whilst Garcilaso swells the number to eleven thou- 
 
 * B. Romans’ Florida, page 291. He calls the Keys, Vacos and 
 Huyso, and represents the tribe as a set of most inhuman wreckers. 
 
 f For an able discussion of the places where the French attempted to 
 make settlements, see Holmes’s Annals, a work of great merit, research, 
 and correctness. 
 
 t Choctaw Vocabulary. 
 
 § These two words, Antipola , Bonnason , are from Lescarbot. 1 
 have not seen the original relation of Laudonniere. 
 
SECT. II!.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 107 
 
 sand.* In another place, at Cofaqui or Patofa, the last in- 
 habited district before the arrival of the Spaniards at Cofachiqui, 
 the Cacique, who was very friendly, gave them, according to 
 Garcilaso, four thousand warriors, to escort them and four thou- 
 sand retainers to carry their supplies and clothing. It must be 
 observed that the total amount of their baggage was such, that, 
 on their departure from Anhayca, each soldier carried his sup- 
 ply on his back. On the seventh day of their march through 
 an uninhabited country, the army was arrested by the termina- 
 tion of the path which they bad followed thus far. They were 
 then within twelve leagues of the first village in the province of 
 Cofachiqui, and not one of the eight thousand Indian allies 
 could point out the proper direction, which at last was dis- 
 covered by the Spaniards themselves. And the Indian chief 
 assured De Soto that none of his followers had ever been in that 
 place, and that in their wars with the Indians of Cofachiqui, 
 those of Cofaqui had never passed over their own frontiers. 
 Whether any one Indian warrior has ever been found ignorant 
 of the way to an enemy’s village, hardly one hundred and fifty 
 miles distant, and through a country offering no particular 
 obstacle, we are able to judge. According to the Portuguese 
 narrator, De Soto had demanded only six hundred Indians ; and 
 when he found himself at a loss which way to pursue, he had 
 no other guide but a young Indian they had brought from 
 Appalache, and who confessed that he did not know where he 
 was. “The Indians of Patofa (or Cofaqui) had been sent back 
 as soon as provisions began to be scarce,” though the poor 
 men showed a great deal of trouble to leave the Christians 
 before they saw them in a good country. The numbers, as 
 stated in the Portuguese relation, are not on the whole incon- 
 sistent with a population nearly the same as at this time. The 
 greatest apparent exaggeration is perhaps that of the Cacique 
 of Ocute sending two thousand Indians to De Soto with a pres- 
 ent of some provisions. 
 
 Whatever opinion may be entertained of the respective 
 population of the four great southern nations three hundred, 
 and one hundred and fifty years ago, it appears certain that 
 
 * Yet Garcilaso did not intend to impose on his readers, or exceed, 
 according to his knowledge, the bounds of credibility. Born in Peru, he 
 was deceived by an erroneous analogy, and saw nothing extraordinary 
 in the accounts given to him of eight to twelve thousand Indians cob 
 lected together. 
 
108 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROfj. 
 
 their habits and social state had not, during that interval, 
 undergone any material alteration. They were probably as 
 ferocious, but less addicted to war than the northern Indians. 
 Those of New England, the Iroquois tribes, the Sauks and 
 Foxes, had perhaps made equal progress in agriculture ; but, 
 generally speaking, the southern depended more on the culti- 
 vation of the soil, and less on hunting than the Algonkin 
 Lenape tribes. We find the Spaniards under De Soto feeding 
 almost exclusively on maize, and complaining of the want of 
 meat. Two hundred years later, Bernard Romans says, that 
 near one half of the Choctaws have never killed a deer during 
 their lives, and that, whilst in their country, he had but tw T o or 
 three opportunities of eating venison in as many months. 
 Those southern tribes have also remained respectively united 
 together as one nation. The Choctaws and Chicasas are the 
 only exception of any importance ; and the Muskhogees, as 
 has been seen, incorporated, instead of exterminating subordi- 
 nate tribes. 
 
 Several causes may be assigned for those differences. Sur- 
 rounded on three sides by the Mississippi and the sea, they had 
 less room to wander or to subdivide themselves. Their 
 country, particularly that of the Choctaws, supplied them with 
 less game ; whilst, in a more southern climate, a greater 
 quantity of agricultural products may be procured with less 
 labor. Yet, although the men may to some extent have 
 assisted the women in the cultivation of the ground, the 
 greater part of the labors of the field still fell upon the latter; 
 and so long as this is the case, the means of subsistence will 
 continue to be insufficient to promote any but a very limited 
 increase of population. 
 
 The Indians, as individuals, have preserved a much greater 
 degree of independence than is compatible with a more ad- 
 vanced state of civilization. They will hardly submit to any 
 restraints ; and it is well known that the nominal title of chief 
 confers but little power, either in war or peace, on their leaders, 
 whose precarious authority depends almost entirely on their 
 personal talents and energy. Yet we find that nominal dignity 
 of Chief, Sachem, Mingo, or King, to have been, but with few 
 exceptions, amongst all the Indians, not only for life but 
 hereditary.* But another institution, belonging to all the 
 
 * Generally, but not universally, by the female line. The hereditary 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 109 
 
 southern, and of which traces may be found amongst the 
 northern nations, deserves particular consideration. 
 
 Independent of political or geographical divisions, that into 
 families, or clans has been established from time immemorial. 
 At what time, and in what manner, the division was first made, 
 is not known. At present, or till very lately, every nation was 
 divided into a number of clans, varying in the several nations 
 from three to eight or ten, the members of which respec- 
 tively were dispersed indiscriminately throughout the whole 
 nation. It has been fully ascertained, that the inviolable regu- 
 lations, by which those' clans were perpetuated amongst the 
 southern nations, were, first, that no man could marry in his 
 own clan ; secondly, that every child belongs to his or her 
 mother’s clan. Among the Choctaws, there are two great 
 divisions, each of which is subdivided into four clans ; and no 
 man can marry in any of the four clans belonging to his divis- 
 ion. The restriction amongst the Cherokees, the Creeks, and 
 the Natches, does not extend beyond the clan to which the 
 man belongs. 
 
 There are sufficient proofs that the same division into clans, 
 commonly called tribes, exists amongst almost all the other 
 Indian nations. But it is not so clear that they are subject to 
 the same regulations which prevail amongst the southern 
 Indians. According to Charlevoix, “ most nations are divided 
 into three families or tribes. One of them is considered as the 
 first and has a kind of preeminence. Those tribes are mixed 
 without being confounded. Each tribe has the name of an 
 animal. Among the Hurons, the first tribe is that of the 
 Bear ; the two others, of the Wolf and the Turtle. The 
 Iroquois nation has the same divisions, only the Turtle family is 
 divided into two, the Great and the Little.”* 
 
 The accounts are not so explicit with respect to the Lenape 
 tribes. Mr. Heckewelder indeed says, that the Delawares were 
 divided into three tribes ; but one of them, the Wolf or Minsi, 
 
 principle may have had its origin in the primitive Patriarchal govern- 
 ment. A chief is wanted in a state of society which is one of perpetual 
 warfare with the adjacent tribes. Whatever cause may he assigned for 
 the fact, the most ancient accounts and traditions agree in representing 
 barbarous people, when first appearing as independent communities, 
 under a kingly government. The heroic times of Greece, and the petty 
 kings, cotemporary with Abraham, are familiar to all. 
 
 * Vol. III. p. 266. 
 
110 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 had altogether separated from the other, and was a distinct 
 nation or tribe, and not a clan in the sense now under consider- 
 ation. According to Mr. Johnston, the Shawnoes have four 
 tribes, the Chillicothe, the Piqua, the Kiskapocoke, and the 
 Mequachake. The first two, from having given names to dis- 
 tinct towns, would seem to be living in separate places ; but 
 the fact, that the Mequachake can alone perform the religious 
 ceremonies of the nation, gives it the character of a clan. 
 Whether the Totem, or family name of the ChippeWays, descends 
 in a regular manner, or is arbitrarily imposed by the father, has 
 not been clearly explained. But Dr. James informs us, that 
 no man is allowed to change his Totem, that it descends to all 
 the children a man may have, and that the restraint upon inter- 
 marriage which it imposes, is scrupulously regarded. “They 
 profess to consider it highly criminal for a man to marry a 
 woman whose Totem is the same as his own ; and they relate 
 instances where young men, for a violation of this rule, have 
 been put to death by their own nearest relatives.”* But the 
 Chippeways and kindred tribes are in this manner much more 
 subdivided than the other Indians are into clans. Dr. James 
 gives a catalogue of eighteen Totems, and says, that many more 
 might be enumerated. 
 
 The most direct testimony we have of the similarity, of the 
 institution amongst the northern and southern Indians, is that of 
 Loskiel, in his History of the Moravian Mission.f “The Del- 
 awares and Iroquois never marry near relations. According to 
 their own account, the Indian nations were divided into tribes 
 for no other purpose, than that no one might ever either through 
 temptation or mistake, marry a near relation, which at present 
 is scarcely possible, for whoever intends to marry, must take a 
 person of a different tribe.” 
 
 That a similar division existed amongst the Sioux tribes, had 
 escaped former observers. But Dr. Say, who resided several 
 weeks among the Omahaws, informs us, that they are divided 
 into two great tribes, the Hongashano, and the Ishtasunda.J 
 The first is divided into eight, and the other into five bands. 
 Each of these derives its name from some animal, part of an 
 animal, or other substance, which is considered as the peculiar 
 sacred object, or medicine, as the Canadians call it, of each 
 band respectively. The most ancient is that of the red maize ; 
 
 * Tanner’s Narrative, p. 313. 
 
 % Major Long’s Expedition, Vol. I. Chap. xv. 
 
 f Part I. Chap. v. 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. Ill 
 
 the most powerful that of the Wase-ishta (“male deer”). The 
 Puncas are likewise divided into similar bands. Dr. Say does 
 not mention how those several bands or clans are perpetuated ; 
 but in another place he says, that “ even a very remote degree 
 of consanguinity is an insuperable barrier to the marriage 
 union.” * 
 
 I am indebted for the first information respecting the object 
 of that institution among the southern tribes, to the manuscript 
 notes of Mr. Mitchell, formerly agent amongst the Creeks, 
 communicated to me by Mr. Forsyth ; and it has been since fully 
 confirmed by intelligent natives of the several nations. Since, 
 however, the Cherokees and the Creeks have attempted to 
 substitute, for their ancient customs, written laws on the model 
 of ours, the institution is falling into disuse, though very recent 
 instances have occurred of its being enforced. 
 
 According to the ancient custom, if an offence was commit- 
 ted by one on another member of the same clan, the compen- 
 sation to be made on account of the injury was regulated in an 
 amicable way by the other members of the clan. Murder was 
 rarely expiated in any other way than by the death of the 
 murderer ; the nearest male relative of the deceased was the 
 executioner ; but, this being done as under the authority of the 
 clan, there was no further retaliation. If the injury was com- 
 mitted by some one of another clan, it was not the injured party, 
 but the clan to which he belonged that asked for reparation. 
 This was rarely refused by the clan of the offender ; but, in case 
 of refusal, the injured clan had a right to do itself justice, either 
 by killing the offender in case of murder, or inflicting some 
 other punishment for lesser offences. This species of private 
 war was by the Creeks called “ to take up the sticks,” because 
 the punishment generally consisted in beating the offender. 
 At the time of the annual corn-feast, the sticks were laid down, 
 and could not again be taken up for the same offence. But it 
 seems that originally there had been a superiority amongst 
 some of the clans. That of the Wind had the right to take 
 up the sticks four times, that of the Bear twice, for the same 
 offence ; whilst those of the Tiger, of the Wolf, of the Bird, 
 of the Root, and of two more, whose names I do not know, 
 could raise them but once.f 
 
 * Vol. I. Chap. xiv. 
 
 f The Cherokees, according to Mr. Boudinot’s information, were 
 divided into seven clans, the Deer, the Wolf, &c. 
 
112 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 It is obvious, that the object of the unknown legislator was, 
 to prevent or soften the effects of private revenge, by trans- 
 ferring the power and duty from the blood relatives to a more 
 impartial body. The father, and his brothers by the same 
 mother, never could belong to the same clan as their son or 
 nephew ; whilst the perpetual changes, arising from intermar- 
 riages with women of a different clan, prevented their degen- 
 erating into distinct tribes, and checked the natural tendency 
 towards a subdivision of the nation into independent communi- 
 ties. The institution may be considered as the foundation of 
 the internal policy, and the basis of the social state, of the In- 
 dians. It must have contributed towards preserving the south- 
 ern nations entire and compact as we found them. It certainly 
 was not preserved in its purity amongst the Lenapes ; and this 
 circumstance may have had its share in the great subdivision 
 into small, independent tribes, and consequent impotency, of 
 that numerous nation. 
 
 There were also amongst the southern nations other institu- 
 tions intended still more effectually to check the spirit of revenge 
 and retaliation, so universally indulged by every barbarous 
 people ; and calculated to preserve either internal or external 
 peace. Such was, among the Clierokees, the City of Refuge 
 and Peace, Echoteh, where even murderers found at least a 
 temporary asylum. This place, where a perpetual fire was 
 kept, was the residence of a peculiar class of men, known by the 
 name of the “ Beloved Men,” in whose presence blood could 
 not be shed, and who, even out of the city and wherever they 
 went, secured against any act of violence those under their 
 protection.'* Such was also the division of towns or villages 
 amongst the Creeks, into White towns and Red towns, distin- 
 guished from each other by poles of those respective colors. 
 Whenever the question of war or peace was deliberately dis- 
 cussed at Thlcocotcho, the general seat of government, it was 
 the duty of the representatives of the White towns to bring 
 forth all the arguments that could be suggested in favor of 
 peace, f 
 
 * Information given by M. Boudinot. These “ Beloved Men ” were 
 entirely distinct from the hereditary Ming'oes and other chiefs. Mr. 
 Hawkins, under the modest name of Beloved Man of the Four Nations, 
 did, during his life, govern or at least exercise a very considerable 
 influence over the Creeks, Choctaws, and even Chicasas and Cherokees. 
 
 f Information from Mr. Mitchell and Colonel Hambly. But it refers 
 to customs falling into disuse, and of which traces only remain. 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 113 
 
 The aristocratical feature of the institution of clans ap- 
 pears to have been general. Some superiority is everywhere 
 ascribed to one of them : — to the Unamis among the Dela- 
 wares ; to the Wase-ishta among the Omahaws ; to the Bear 
 tribe among the Hurons and Five Nations. Charlevoix says, 
 that when the Mohawks put to death Father Iogues, it was the 
 work of the Bear clan alone, and notwithstanding all the efforts 
 of those of the Wolf and of the Turtle to save him.* But it 
 is among the Natches alone that we find, connected together, 
 a highly privileged class, a despotic government, and something 
 like a regular form of religious worship. 
 
 The Natches occupied a territory of moderate extent on 
 the Mississippi, and lived in three villages near the site of the 
 town which lias preserved their name. The number of their 
 warriors, which was estimated at twelve hundred, appears from 
 the details of their war with the French to have been rather 
 overrated. 
 
 They were divided into four classes or clans, on the same 
 principle and under the same regulations as those of the other 
 southern Indian tribes. They worshipped the sun, from whom 
 the sovereign and the privileged class pretended to be descend- 
 ed ; and they preserved a perpetual sacred fire in an edifice 
 appropriated to that purpose. The hereditary dignity of Chief 
 or Great Sun descended as usual by the female line ; f and he 
 as well as all the other members of his clan, whether male or 
 female, could marry only persons of an inferior clan. Hence 
 the barbarous custom of sacrificing at their funerals the consorts 
 of the Great Sun and of his mother. Her influence was pow- 
 erful, and his authority apparently despotic, though checked by 
 her and by some select counsellors of bis own clan. 
 
 Charlevoix says, that most of the nations of Louisiana had a 
 perpetual fire in their temples. He and Du Pratz describe as 
 eyewitnesses the temple and sacred fire of the Natches. Ton- 
 ti saw the temple of the Taensas, then living on the west side 
 of the Mississippi, and which is described in his relation with 
 its usual exaggeration. The worship of the sun and fire by 
 
 * Vol. I. Year 1646. Father Iogues was the victim of his zeal. 
 He had with difficulty been saved three years before by the good 
 offices of the Dutch commanding officer at Fort Orange. 
 
 t Amongst the Hurons the dignity of chief is hereditary through 
 the female line. They believe him to have issued from the sun. Char- 
 levoix, Y ol. III. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 15 
 
114 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 the Bayagoulas, a Mississippi tribe now extinct, is also particu- 
 larly mentioned ; and traces of it are found amongst the 
 Cherokees, the Choctaws, and the Caddoes of Red River. 
 
 Du Pratz asserts that the Taensas and the Chitimachas, both 
 originally living on the west side of the Mississippi, were kin- 
 dred tribes of the Natches. But we have a vocabulary of 
 the Chitimachas, in which no affinity is perceived with that of 
 the Natches. They seem to have been alone of their stock 
 in that region, and according to their tradition had come from 
 the west. 
 
 In the year 1729, on account of a threatened encroachment 
 on one of their villages, in the expectation of being joined by 
 the other Indian nations, they unexpectedly attacked and mas- 
 sacred more than two hundred French inhabitants. They 
 were a few months after besieged in their principal fort by the 
 French and the Choctaws, and driven from their country. They 
 retired to the west of the Mississippi, where the French pur- 
 sued them ; and they experienced such losses, that they have 
 ever since ceased to exist as a distinct nation. What contrib- 
 uted most to its extinction, was the capture of the greater part 
 of the women, who were carried to St. Domingo and sold as 
 slaves. The survivors took refuge at first among the Chicasas, 
 and subsequently among the Creeks, with whom they are 
 now incorporated. They are reduced to about three hundred 
 souls, and have preserved their language amongst themselves, 
 but speak Muskhogee ; and it is only through that medium that 
 a communication can be held with them, as there is not a single 
 interpreter of their language. 
 
 When, in the year 1826, Isahlakteh, the Natches chief, was 
 asked whether he was a Sun, he immediately answered that he 
 was not, for his father was one. But he was less disposed or less 
 ready to answer the inquiries concerning the creed of his tribe 
 at this time. After some conversation between him and 
 Colonel Hambly, this gentleman told me that he said, that the 
 sacred fire was no longer preserved, and that the sun was to 
 them an object of respect but not of worship. 
 
 We know but little more than the names of the other small 
 tribes, which formerly inhabited the seashore between the Mo- 
 bile and the Mississippi, and the two banks of this last river, 
 or which are still found west of the Mississippi, and within 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 115 
 
 the boundaries of the United States, on and south of Red 
 River. 
 
 Du Pratz mentions in the vicinity of the seashore, and east 
 of the Mississippi, the Mobilians, living near the mouth 
 of that river, and speaking the Choctaw language; the Pasca- 
 goulas or Pasca Ogoulas (“Bread nation ”) on the river of 
 that name, now living on Red River; and the Colapissas or 
 Aqueloupissas (“ who hear and see ”), living then not far from 
 the site of New Orleans, but either extinct or no longer known 
 by that name. He says, that they consisted only of twenty 
 families, whilst Charlevoix at the same time (1721) estimates 
 them at two hundred warriors. To these must be added the 
 Boluxas of Biloxi, now living below Natchitoches. 
 
 Those whom he mentions on the eastern bank of the Missis- 
 sippi, above New Orleans, are the Oumas or Plumas (“ Red 
 nation”), of whom a few are said to remain below Manchac and 
 others to be found in the vicinity of the Attacapas ; the Tuni- 
 cas, originally living opposite the mouth of Red River, in 
 alliance with the French, nearly destroyed by the Chicasas in 
 the course of the Natches war, and the remnant of whom are 
 settled at Avoyelle on Red River ; and the Yazoos, who, 
 together with some small kindred tribes also living on Yazoo 
 River, amounted to two hundred families. They spoke Chica- 
 sa, and were in alliance with that nation and the Natches. 
 During the Natches war, they were nearly destroyed by the 
 Arkansas ; the residue of them are now incorporated with the 
 Chicasas. 
 
 The tribes mentioned by the same author on the west side 
 of the Mississippi, and whose names at least have disappeared, 
 are the B ay agoulas, the Oque Loussas, (“Black Water,”) the 
 Avoyelles and the Washittas, driven away by the Chicasas, 
 and according to him incorporated with the Natchitoches. 
 
 The most complete account of the numerous small tribes 
 still existing west of the Mississippi, on Red River and south 
 of it, is that of Dr. John Sibley, of Natchitoches.* They consist 
 partly of such as had within the memory of man migrated from 
 the east side of the river ; partly of those who were considered 
 as natives. 
 
 The first class embraces the Appalaches, the Alibamas, and 
 
 * President’s Message of February 19th, 1806, with the accompanying 
 documents from Dr. Sibley and others. 
 
116 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 the Conchattas, who came from the Creek country ; the Taen- 
 sas, who, though originally living on the west bank of the 
 Mississippi, had in Du Pratz’s time removed to the vicinity 
 of the Mobile, whence they have again migrated to Red 
 River ; the Humas, the Tunicas, the Bolwxas, and the Pasca- 
 goulas already mentioned, and the Pacanas said to have come 
 from West Florida. Dr. Sibley asserts that each of these 
 four last-mentioned tribes has a distinct language of its own. 
 
 The second class consists of the following tribes, to wit : 
 
 1. The Caddoes or Caddokies, who formerly lived three 
 hundred miles up Red River on a prairie near an eminence, 
 on which they say, that, after all the world had been drowned 
 by a flood, the Great Spirit placed one family of Caddoes from 
 which all the Indians have originated. They have now re- 
 moved to a branch of Red River about one hundred and 
 twenty miles above Natchitoches. Though much diminished 
 in number by the small-pox and by their wars with the Osages, 
 and reduced to about one hundred warriors, they are held in 
 great consideration by all the neighbouring tribes. Amongst 
 these, the Nandakoes, the hues or Tachies, who have given 
 their name to the province of Texas, and the Nabedaches, 
 amounting together to about two hundred warriors, speak dia- 
 lects of the Caddo language. 
 
 2. The Natchitoches and the Yatassees, living fifty miles 
 above Natchitoches, amounting together to one hundred souls, 
 and speaking the same language, said by Dr. Sibley to be 
 different from any other. 
 
 3. The Adaize, living between the Natchitoches and the 
 Yatassees, reduced to fifty souls, speak a language totally dis- 
 tinct from any other known to us. 
 
 4. The Appelousas, in the district of that name, reduced to 
 forty men, said by Dr. Sibley to speak a distinct language. 
 
 5. The Attacapas (“ Men-eaters ”) , reduced to fifty men, said 
 to have been formerly cannibals, speak a distinct language, 
 which according to Dr. Sibley is also spoken by another tribe 
 near the seashore, called Carankouas, but who probably are 
 without the boundaries of the United States. 
 
 6. The Chactoos, living on Bayou Boeuf, estimated at thirty 
 men, and having also, according to Dr. Sibley, a distinct lan- 
 guage. 
 
 7. The Fanis or Towiaches, on Red River, near the 
 western boundary of the United States, and having two 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OE THE MISSISSIPPI. 117 
 
 villages called Nitebata and Towahach, where they cultivate 
 corn. The Tawakenoes, who live two hundred miles west of 
 Nacogdoches, south of Red River, are said by Dr. Sibley 
 to speak the same language. This, from the similarity of 
 name, has been presumed to be a dialect of the Pawnees, of 
 the Arkansa. At the time of Major Long’s first expedition, 
 they had been driven from their villages by the Osages ; but 
 they have probably returned, and are the same nation with 
 those Indians who have now villages on the north of Red 
 River and are designated by the name of Towecas and Wachos, 
 in a treaty lately concluded with several western tribes. Be- 
 yond the Panis, there are none but erratic tribes who do not 
 cultivate any thing. 
 
 To this enumeration we must add, though not mentioned by 
 Dr. Sibley, 
 
 8. The Chitimachas, formerly living in the vicinity of Lake 
 Barataria, and still existing in Lower Louisiana. 
 
 Among the various small tribes, the following have Choctaw 
 names, to wit, the Pascagoulas, “ Bread nation,” from Paska, 
 “ bread,” and ogoulas, corrupted from okla, “ nation, people ” ; 
 the Aqueloupissas, “ who hear and see,” from hoklo, “ to 
 hear, ” and pissa, “ to see ” ; Oumas, “ Red people,” from 
 humma, “red”; Oqueloussas, from oka, “ water, ” and lusa, 
 “ black ” ; to which we might add one of the small Yazoo 
 tribes, mentioned by Du Pratz by the name of Oufe Ogoulas , 
 or “ Dog nation,” from oufe, “ dog.” 
 
 This however alone is not sufficient to prove that those 
 small tribes were Choctaws or spoke dialects of that language, 
 unless the names by which they are known to us were those by 
 which they called themselves. The first settlement of the 
 French was on Mobile River, and the first tribe near the 
 mouth of that river with which they came in - contact, was 
 called Mobilian and spoke Choctaw. Hence they designated 
 that language by the name of Mobilian, and on account of its 
 great extent it was called the common or vulgar tongue.* In 
 the same manner as, in the north, we call to this day two Sioux 
 tribes, who speak languages altogether different from the Algon- 
 kin, by the Algonkin names of Winnebagoes and Assiniboins, 
 which they do not recognise as their own. The French were in 
 the habit of designating nations and objects not belonging to 
 
 * Du Pratz. 
 
118 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 the Choctaws, by the names which that people had imposed on 
 them. Of this we have at least two instances in point. The 
 name of Achafalaya, the principal western outlet of the Mis- 
 sissippi, is pure Choctaw, meaning “ the long river,” from 
 hucha, “ river,” and falaya, “ long.”* And the name of the 
 Atiacapas, “ Men-eaters,” whose language, as appears by their 
 vocabulary, is totally different from the Choctaw, is that which 
 had been given to them by this nation, derived from hottok, “ a 
 person,” and uppa, “ to eat.” As, with the exception of the 
 Natches, we have no vocabularies of any of the smaller tribes 
 originally living on the east side of the Mississippi which were 
 contiguous to the Choctaws, the presumed identity of lan- 
 guage remains uncertain. It will be perceived by Dr. Sibley’s 
 account, that six of these are still existing, to wit, the Taen- 
 sas, the Humas, the Boluxas, the Pacanas, the Tunicas, and 
 the Pascagoulas ; the four last of which he asserts to have 
 distinct languages from the Mobilian or Choctaw. 
 
 With respect to the tribes, natives of the western side of 
 the Mississippi, exclusively of the Panis, who live beyond the 
 boundaries of the State of Louisiana, Dr. Sibley states that 
 they speak six distinct languages, to which must be added that 
 of the Chitimachas not mentioned by him. We have vocab- 
 ularies of four of these, viz., of the Attacapas and of the 
 Chitimachas, taken by Mr. Duralde and by him transmitted 
 to Mr. Jefferson ; and of the Adaize, and of the Caddoes, 
 transmitted by Dr. Sibley to Mr. Duponceau. We have made 
 but partial use of the last, having received one much more 
 copious from Mr. George Gray, the Indian Agent. The three 
 still wanted are those of the Natchitoches, of the Opelousas, and 
 of the Chactoos. The four which have been obtained, fully 
 justify Dr. Sibley’s assertion ; each of those tribes speaks a 
 distinct language and different from any other known to us. It 
 appears also by a letter from Dr. Sibley to Mr. Duponceau, 
 at the time when he transmitted the Adaize and Caddo vocab- 
 ularies, that he had actually obtained those of some of the 
 other tribes, to the peculiarities of which he alludes. These 
 have not been received. 
 
 From the Arctic Sea to the fifty-second degree of north 
 
 * There are two Choctaw words for river viz. hucha, of the same 
 origin with the Muskhogee hatchee, and olchina, probably “water- 
 course.” 
 
SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 119 
 
 latitude, across the continent of America from the Atlantic 
 almost to the Pacific, vve have not found more than two great 
 families of languages, the Eskimaux and the Athapascas. 
 
 South of these, as far as the thirty-fifth or thirty-sixth degree 
 of latitude, two other families, the Algonkin-Lenape and Iro- 
 quois, filled the whole space between the Atlantic and the 
 Mississippi or the meridian which passes by its sources. Anoth- 
 er great family, that of the Sioux, extends equally far from 
 north to south, on the west side of the Mississippi. With the 
 exception of a doubtful tribe (the Loucheux), there is not to 
 be found, in the extensive territory occupied by those five 
 families, a single tribe or remnant of a tribe, that speaks a 
 dialect, which does not belong to one or another of those five 
 families. 
 
 On the contrary, in the comparatively small territory south 
 of the Lenape and Iroquois tribes, and including that portion of 
 the State of Louisiana which lies west of the Mississippi, we 
 find, allowing even the Muskhogee and Choctaw to be but one, 
 three extensive languages, the Catawba, the Cherokee, and the 
 Choctaw Muskhogee, and six well ascertained of small tribes or 
 remnants of tribes, to wit, the Uchee, the Natches, and the 
 four abovementioned west of the Mississippi. And there is a 
 strong probability that, independently of the several small extinct 
 tribes of Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which still existed 
 when those countries were first settled, several of those still 
 existing west of the Mississippi will be found to have distinct 
 languages. It also appears by the statements of their respec- 
 tive population, communicated by Dr. Sibley, and which is 
 indeed notorious, that those small tribes preserve their language 
 to the last moment of their existence.* 
 
 The most powerful southern nations appear to have been, 
 upon the whole, less exterminating than the northern Indians. 
 It is also probable that the impenetrable swamps and the multi- 
 plied channels or bayoux by which the delta of the Mississippi 
 and the Red River country are intersected, have afforded 
 places of refuge to the remnants of conquered tribes. 
 
 * The same observation applies generally to all the Indian tribes. 
 Instances have been mentioned in speaking of the Nanticokes, the 
 Nottoways, and the Long Island Indians. 
 
120 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 INDIANS BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC 
 
 OCEAN. 
 
 The Indians under this head are divided into two great 
 sections by the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 Those east of the mountains are the Sioux; the Pawnees ; 
 the Fall, Rapid, or Paunch Indians ; the Black Feet, and some 
 other erratic tribes, not so well known, and which may be 
 embraced under the general though obsolete denomination of 
 Padoucas. Some bands of Snake Indians or Shoshonees, 
 living on the waters of the river Columbia, and of Hietans or 
 Camanches, whose principal residence is south of Red River 
 and of the southern boundary of the United States, are also 
 occasionally found, either towards the sources of the tributary 
 streams of the Missouri, or north of Red River. As the 
 Winnebagoes, whose seats are near Lake Michigan, speak a 
 dialect of the Sioux language, we have also included them 
 under this head. 
 
 The nations which speak the Sioux language may be con- 
 sidered, in reference both to their respective dialects and to 
 their geographical position, as consisting of four subdivisions, 
 viz. the Winnebagoes ; the Sioux proper and the Assiniboins ; 
 the Minetare group ; and the Osages and other southern kin- 
 dred tribes. 
 
 The Winnebagoes, so called by the A Igonkins, but called 
 Puans and also Otchagras by the French, and Horoje (“Fish- 
 eaters”) by the Omahaws and other southern tribes, call them- 
 selves Hochungohrah, or the “ Trout ” nation. The Green Bay 
 of Lake Michigan derives its French name from theirs. (Baye 
 des Puans). It is not known at what time they separated from 
 the Sioux people; but it must have been prior to the settlements 
 of the French in Canada. Champlain, in the map annexed 
 to his Travels, has given an erroneous position to Lake Michi- 
 gan, which he knew only from Indian information ; but he calls 
 it “ Lac des Puans.” They are first mentioned by Father 
 Allouez in the Relation of the year 1669, at which time they 
 occupied nearly the same territory as at present. He says, 
 that they had been nearly destroyed thirty years before by the 
 
SECT. IV.] BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC. 121 
 
 Illinois, and that they spoke a language altogether distinct from 
 the Algonkin and the Iroquois. They are said by Charlevoix 
 to have been, in the year 1701, in alliance with the Sauks, the 
 Foxes, and the Potowotamies, against both the Sioux and the 
 Iroquois ; and he adds in his journal, (1721,) that they formerly 
 lived on the shores of Green Bay, but had retired farther in- 
 land. Carver was the first American who, in the year 1766, 
 travelled through their country, at which time they appear to 
 have been on friendly terms with the Sioux and all their neigh- 
 bours. Pike, in 1807, estimated their number at two thousand ; 
 but, according to the War Department, they amount to four 
 thousand six hundred souls, and appear to cultivate the soil 
 to a considerable degree. Their principal seats are on the 
 Fox River of Lake Michigan, and towards the heads of the 
 Rock River of the Mississippi, Their territory extends north- 
 wardly towards the Wisconsin ; and they are bounded on the 
 north by the Menomonies, on the west by the Sauks, and on the 
 south by the Potowotamies. As their limits are nearly the 
 same as one hundred and fifty years ago, it may be presumed 
 that they have, during that time, lived generally on friendly 
 terms with the Algonkin tribes by which they are surrounded ; 
 but of their former history we know but little. They took 
 part with the British during the last war against the Ameri- 
 cans. Their vocabulary, which was received from the War 
 Department, had been transmitted by Mr. N. Boilvin, an 
 Indian agent. Some words were supplied by General Cass ; 
 and some have been taken from Major Long’s account of his 
 first expedition. 
 
 The Sioux proper, or Naudowessies, names given to them by 
 the Algonkins and the French, call themselves Dahcotas, and 
 sometimes Ochente Shakoans, or, “ The Seven Fires,” and are 
 divided into seven bands or tribes, closely connected together, 
 but apparently independent of each other. They do not ap- 
 pear to have been known to the French before the year 1660 ; 
 and they are distinctly mentioned for the first time, in the 
 year 1666, by Father Allouez, then a missionary at Chagoua- 
 migong, towards the southwestern extremity of Lake Superior. 
 He says that they lived forty leagues more westwardly in a 
 prairie country ; that they did not cultivate the ground ; that 
 they were ferocious, warlike, and feared by all their neigh- 
 bours ; and that they spoke a language entirely distinct from 
 any other known to the French. It has already been stated, 
 
 VOL. II. 16 
 
122 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTRO D. 
 
 that they had a war with the Hurons and the Ottowas of 
 Lake Michigan, who had taken refuge in that quarter, and 
 compelled them to abandon the country. The French carried 
 on a trade with them from their post at Prairie du Chien on 
 the Mississippi ; but it is only very lately that they have come 
 into contact with the Americans. Carver was the first who 
 visited them, and gave a short vocabulary of their language, 
 which is generally correct.* 
 
 It may be observed that, considering the short time which 
 Carver resided among the Indians, and that he derived his in- 
 formation of the country north of St. Anthony’s Falls almost 
 entirely from Indian reports, his geographical notices of the 
 upper Mississippi were remarkably correct. He is the first 
 who placed the sources of that river within about forty miles 
 of their actual position, in the vicinity of the Red Lake of the 
 Red River of Lake Winnipek, and south of the Lake of the 
 Woods. The map annexed to the original edition of his 
 Travels was published during his life, in the year 1778, but 
 does not appear to have been deemed authentic by the com- 
 missioners who negotiated the treaty of peace of 1783. The 
 pretended grant of lands from the Indians to him is neither 
 alluded to, nor annexed to that original edition. It made its 
 first appearance after his death, and in subsequent editions. 
 
 The four most eastern tribes of the Dahcotas are known by the 
 name of Mcndewahlcantoan, or “ Gens du Lac,” Wahkpatoan 
 and WahlcpaTcotoan, or “ People of the Leaves,” and Sisitoans. 
 The first of these is the only one that cultivates the ground, and 
 occupies, on the east side of the Mississippi, a tract of country 
 extending from the Prairie du Chien, in the forty-third, to the 
 Spirit Lake, north of the forty-sixth degree of north latitude. 
 The three other, inhabit the country between the Mississippi 
 and the St. Peter’s, and that on the southern tributaries of this 
 river, as well as that which lies on the head waters of the Red 
 R iver of Lake Winnipek. These four are better known to us 
 than the more westerly tribes ; and their aggregate number 
 may be fairly estimated at about five thousand souls. 
 
 The three westerly tribes, the Yanktons, the Yanktoanans, 
 and the Tetons, wander between the Mississippi and the Mis- 
 souri, extending southerly to the forty-third degree of north 
 
 * That which he has given of the Chippeways is only a transcript 
 of that of La Hontan, spelt according to the English orthography. 
 
SECT. IV.] BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC. 123 
 
 latitude and some distance west of the Missouri, between the 
 forty-third and forty-seventh degrees of latitude. According to 
 Lewis and Clarke, who in their ascent up the Missouri had 
 frequent interviews with them, their number does not exceed 
 six thousand souls. Renville, a half-bleed Dahcota, who 
 served as an interpreter in Major Long’s second expedition, has 
 raised the number to twenty-one thousand six hundred, of whom 
 he allows fourteen thousand four hundred to the Tetons alone. 
 From the still more exaggerated account he gave of the popu- 
 lation of the Assiniboins, whom he supposed to be still less 
 known to us, very little reliance can be placed on his state- 
 ments in that respect ; and it is believed, though our data are 
 imperfect, that the seven tribes together amount at most to 
 twenty thousand souls. 
 
 The western Dahcota tribes have carried on a constant pred- 
 atory war against all the tribes living on the Missouri, or its 
 tributary streams, from the Mandans to the Osages ; and the 
 eastern tribes appear to have been, from time immemorial, 
 inveterate enemies of the Chippeways. The government of 
 the United States has, during the last thirty years, used unre- 
 mitted efforts to establish a permanent peace between them, 
 and lately, it is believed, with better hope of success. 
 
 The Assiniboins (Stone Indians), as they are called by the 
 Algonkins, are a Dahcota tribe, separated from the rest of the 
 nation, and on that account called Hoha or “ Rebels,” by the 
 other Sioux. They are said to have made part originally of 
 the Yanktons ; but we are not acquainted with their real name. 
 Their separation must have taken place at an earlier date than 
 has been presumed by late writers. Father Marquette, wri- 
 ting in the year 1669, from the Chagouamigong Mission, after 
 having mentioned the Nadouessies, as a formidable nation 
 speaking a language altogether different from the Algonkin and 
 the Huron, adds, that the Assiniponiels have almost the same 
 language as the Nadouessies, and live about fifteen days’ jour- 
 ney from the mission on a lake, which, from a map annexed 
 to that volume of the Relations, must have been Lake Winni- 
 pek. The only detailed account we have of them was given 
 by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and is confirmed by subse- 
 quent English writers. They formed an intimate connexion 
 with the Knistinaux and, jointly with them, drove away the 
 ancient inhabitants of the main Saskachawin and of the north 
 branch of the same river. They also continued to occupy the 
 
124 A SYNOPSIS OP THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 country bordering on the river, which bears their name, and is 
 the western branch of the Red River of Lake Winnipek.* 
 It is probable from its situation north of the Yanktons, that 
 this was their original seat. Mackenzie estimates their aggre- 
 gate number in both places at about five thousand souls, which 
 may be underrated. According to Renville’s account, they 
 would amount to twenty-eight thousand. Lewis and Clarke 
 estimate them at sixteen hundred warriors, or rather more than 
 six thousand souls. 
 
 Another tribe, called Shyennes or Cheyennes, were at no 
 very remote period seated on the left bank of the Red River 
 of Lake Winnipek, and have left their name to one of its 
 tributary streams. Carver reckoned them as one of the Sioux 
 tribes ; and Mackenzie informs us that they were driven away 
 by the Sioux. They now live on the head waters of the 
 river Shyenne, a southwestern tributary of the Missouri. The 
 names of the chiefs who signed the treaty, concluded with 
 them in 1825 by the United States, are pure Dahcota of the 
 Yankton dialect, as will be seen amongst the appended vocab- 
 ularies. It had been thence concluded that they certainly 
 were a Sioux tribe. I have been however assured, by a well- 
 informed person who trades with them, that they speak a 
 distinct language, for which there is no European interpreter ; 
 that the treaty was carried on, through the medium of some 
 of the Sioux ; and that the Indian names subscribed to the 
 treaty are translations into the Sioux language of the Shyenne 
 names of the chiefs. They are estimated by Lewis and Clarke 
 at sixteen hundred, and by the War Department at two thou- 
 sand souls. 
 
 We have only two vocabularies of the Dahcota dialects. 
 That of the Yanktons was obtained by Dr. Say. That of the 
 eastern Dahcotas of the Mississippi has been principally extract- 
 ed from one transmitted by General Cass to the War Depart- 
 ment, and partly from those of Mr. Keating and Major Long. 
 It is probable that the dialects of the Tetons and of the Assini- 
 boins, though similar, differ from both. A few words of that 
 of the Assiniboins, supplied by Umfreville, will be found amongst 
 the supplementary vocabularies. 
 
 * The source of Mouse River, a southern tributary of the Assini- 
 boin, is within one mile of the main Missouri River, about one hundred 
 miles above the Mandan village. The slightest variation in the na- 
 ture and elevation of the intervening ground would have thrown all 
 the waters of the upper Missouri into Lake W innipek and Hudson’s Bay. 
 
SECT. IV.] BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC. 125 
 
 The Minetares (Minetaree and Minetaries) consist of three 
 tribes, speaking three different languages which belong to a 
 common stock. Its affinities with the Dahcota are but remote, 
 but have appeared sufficient to entitle them to be considered as 
 of the same family. 
 
 Two of those tribes, the Mandanes, whose number does not 
 exceed fifteen hundred, and the stationary Minetares, amounting 
 to three thousand souls, including those called Annahawas, 
 cultivate the soil, and live in villages situated on, or near the 
 Missouri, between the forty-seventh and forty-eighth degrees 
 of north latitude. They are kept in a state of perpetual 
 alarm by the Assiniboins, the Tetons, the Rapid Indians, and 
 other erratic tribes, and have on that account been often obliged 
 to change the seat of their villages. Yet they have been often 
 quarrelling with the Ricaras, who like them are an agricultural 
 people ; and they make often predatory expeditions against the 
 Shoshonees, in the eastern valleys of the Rocky Mountains. 
 Both the Mandanes and the Minetares consider themselves as 
 natives of that part of the country. The tradition of the 
 Mandanes is, that they came from under ground by means 
 of a great vine, which, breaking under the weight of some of 
 them, has left behind a part of their nation whom they expect 
 to join after death. The color of the chief, who visited Wash- 
 ington, appeared less dark than that of our Indians ; and he 
 was the only full-breed Indian, ever seen by me, whose eyes 
 were of a bluish cast. It is believed that this is the tribe, 
 often spoken of as white Indians, and which gave rise to the 
 fabulous account of a tribe descended from the Welsh and 
 speaking their language ; a tale, which the knowledge we have 
 now acquired of the various Indian nations and of their dialects 
 has set at rest. 
 
 The third Minetare tribe is that known by the name of the 
 Crow or Upsarolca nation, probably the Keeheetsas of Lewis 
 and Clarke. They are an erratic tribe, who hunt south of the 
 Missouri, between the Little Missouri and the southeastern 
 branches of the Yellowstone River. According to Mr. Do- 
 nald Mackenzie, who resides at the mouth of the Yellowstone, 
 they have about three hundred lodges, and may be computed 
 at three thousand souls. 
 
 The vocabulary of the stationary Minetares, and the speci- 
 men of the Crow or Upsaroka dialect, were obtained by Dr. 
 Say. We knew from Lewis and Clarke, that the Mandanes 
 spoke a kindred dialect, and this has been confirmed by the 
 
126 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 significant names of their chiefs, subscribed to a treaty with 
 the United States. Lewis and Clarke appear to have consid- 
 ered the Rapid, Fall, or Paunch Indians, sometimes also called 
 “ Minetares of the Prairies,” as belonging to the same family. 
 But all the subsequent accounts agree in assigning to them an 
 entirely distinct language. 
 
 The southern Sioux consist of eight tribes, speaking four or 
 at most five kindred dialects. Their territory originally extend- 
 ed along the Mississippi, from below the mouth of the Arkansas 
 to the forty-first degree of north latitude. They were, and still 
 are, bounded on the north by the Dahcotas, on the west by 
 the Pawnees, on the south by the Washitta and Red River 
 tribes, on the southwest by erratic nations. Their hunting- 
 grounds extend as far west as the Stony Mountains ; but they 
 all cultivate the soil, and their most westerly village on the 
 Missouri is in about the one hundredth degree of west longitude. 
 
 The three most southerly tribes are the Quappas or Arkansas, 
 at the mouth of the river of that name, and the Osages and 
 Kansas, who inhabited the country south of the Missouri and 
 of the river Kansas. Both the Osages and the Arkansas were 
 first seen by the French, in the year 1673, and they always 
 remained in alliance with them. It is not known whether 
 Quappa was the true name of the whole nation, or of only one 
 of its tribes ; and it may be that they are those called Pacahas 
 in the relation of De Soto’s expedition. The residue of the 
 Arkansas is now known only by that name (( Quappas ). They 
 consist of only five hundred souls, and still live on the lower 
 parts of the Arkansa. 
 
 The Osages, properly Wausashe, were more numerous and 
 powerful than any of the neighbouring tribes, and perpetually at 
 war with all the other Indians, without excepting the Kansas, 
 who speak the same dialect with themselves. They were 
 originally divided into Great and Little Osages ; but about forty 
 years ago almost one half of the nation, known by the name of 
 Chaneers or Clermont’s Band, separated from the rest, and 
 removed to the river Arkansa. The villages of those several 
 subdivisions are now on the head waters of the river Osage, 
 and of the Verdegris, a northern tributary stream of the 
 Arkansa. They amount to about five thousand souls, and have 
 ceded a portion of their lands to the United States, reserving to 
 themselves a territory on the Arkansa, south of the thirty- 
 eighth degree of north latitude, extending from the ninety-fifth 
 
SECT. IV.] BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC. 127 
 
 to the hundredth degree of west longitude, on a breadth of 
 forty-five to fifcy miles. The territory allotted to the Chero- 
 kees, the Creeks, and the Choctaws, lies south of that of the 
 Osage, extending in longitude from 94° 20' to 100°, and in lati- 
 tude from the thirty -seventh degree to the Red River, the course 
 of which in that quarter is east and west, between the thirty- 
 third and thirty-fourth degrees of north latitude. 
 
 The Kansas, who have always lived on the river of that 
 name, have been at peace with the Osage for the last thirty 
 years, and intermarry with them. They amount to fifteen 
 hundred souls, and occupy a tract of about three millions of 
 acres, in about the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude, and 
 ninety-sixth to ninety-eighth degree of west longitude. 
 
 The five other tribes of this subdivision are the loways or 
 Pahoja, (Grey Snow), the Missouris or Neojehe, the Ottoes 
 or Wahtootahtah, the Ornahaws or Mahas, and the Puncas. 
 The Osages consider themselves the aborigines ; but the tradi- 
 lion of these five tribes is, that at a distant epoch they, together 
 with the Winnebagoes, came from the north ; that the Winne- 
 bagoes stopped on the banks of Lake Michigan, while they, 
 continuing their course southerly, crossed the Mississippi, and 
 occupied the seats in which they were found by the Europeans. 
 
 The loways are mentioned, perhaps erroneously, by the 
 first French missionaries, as living east of the Mississippi. It 
 is certain that they were driven away from the banks of that 
 river by the Sauks and Foxes, with whom they have contracted 
 an alliance which borders on submission. Their principal 
 seats are north of the river Des Moines ; but a portion have 
 joined the Ottoes, and are said, though the fact is not fully 
 ascertained, to speak the same dialect. 
 
 The Missouris were originally settled at the junction of the 
 river of that name with the Mississippi. They were driven 
 away by the Illinois, were found in the year 1724 by 
 M. Bourgmont settled on the Missouri, about two hundred miles 
 above its mouth, near the place where the French fort Orleans 
 stood, and have since joined the Ottoes, with whom they are 
 intermixed, and speak the same dialect. 
 
 The Ottoes and the Ornahaws, after several changes in their 
 villages, now occupy the territory on the southwest side of the 
 Missouri, above and below the mouth of the river Platte ; the 
 Ornahaws on the north, and the Ottoes on the south side of that 
 river. They speak kindred though different dialects. The 
 
128 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OP THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Puncas, who are settled on the Missouri one hundred and fifty 
 miles above the Omahaws, speak the same dialect. 
 
 The population of the loways is estimated at twelve hun- 
 dred ; that of the Ottoes and Missouris at sixteen hundred, and 
 that of the Omahaws and Puncas at two thousand ; making, 
 with the Quappas, Osages, and Kansas, an aggregate of eleven 
 or twelve thousand souls. All the nations speaking languages 
 belonging to the Great Sioux Family may therefore be com- 
 puted at more than fifty thousand souls. 
 
 The vocabularies of the Quappas and of the Osages are in 
 Mr. Duponceau’s collection; the first was transmitted to him 
 by General Izard, and is spelt according to the French orthogra- 
 phy ; he received that of the Osages from Dr. Murray of Ken- 
 tucky, and we have another of the same language published by 
 Mr. Bradbury.* Those of the Ottoes and of the Omahaws 
 were taken by Dr. Say. We have not that of the loways ; 
 but nineteen words, supplied by Governor Cass, seem to leave 
 no doubt of its identity with the Ottoes. 
 
 The Pawnees speak a language altogether different from 
 that of the Sioux tribes, or of any other Indians known to us ; 
 unless that of the Panis or Towiaches of Red River should 
 be found to be the same. They consist of two nations, the 
 Pawnees proper, and the Ricaras or Aricaras, sometimes also 
 called Black Pawnees. 
 
 The Pawnees proper inhabit the country on the river Platte, 
 west of the Ottoes and Omahaws : their three villages, two of 
 which are distinguished by the names of Loup Pawnees and 
 Republican Pawnees, are now in the same vicinity on the 
 river Loup, a northern tributary of the river Platte, about sixty 
 miles above the confluence of those two rivers. They raise 
 corn and other vegetables, but apply still less to agriculture 
 than the Ottoes and Omahaws. They hunt southerly as far as 
 the Arkansa, and westerly to the sources of the river Platte. 
 They were seen by Bourgmont, in 1724, in the same country 
 which they now occupy, but were not known to us before the 
 acquisition of Louisiana. Their number, by the concurrent 
 accounts of General Pike and Major Long, amounts to six 
 
 * The words in the appended vocabulary of the Osage, taken from 
 those two sources, have accidentally been confounded. 
 
SECT. IV.] BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC. 129 
 
 thousand five hundred souls ; their vocabulary was taken by 
 Dr. Say. 
 
 The Ricara villages are situated on the Missouri, about one 
 hundred and fifty miles below the Mandanes, in latitude 46-P. 
 They cultivate the soil, and are, like the Mandanes, always 
 exposed to the attacks of the erratic tribes. They accordingly 
 had formerly united with them, and were settled together 
 twenty miles below the present site of the Mandane villages. 
 They quarrelled and separated, since which time they have 
 had also a short war with the United States. They appear 
 now to be at peace with their neighbours, and are computed at 
 three thousand souls. All the accounts of the Indians and of 
 the interpreters agree in the fact of their speaking Pawnee, 
 but we have no vocabulary of their language. 
 
 We have now enumerated all the Indian tribes west of 
 the Mississippi which cultivate the soil ; and it has been seen, 
 that north of the Red River they consist only of the Sauks and 
 Foxes, who are Algonkins ; of the Pawnees; and, amongst 
 the Sioux tribes, of those only which belong to the southern 
 group, and of the Mandanes and stationary Minetares. The 
 six western tribes of the Dahcotas, the Assiniboins, the Crows, 
 and all the other tribes not yet enumerated, whether east or 
 west of the Rocky Mountains, cultivate nothing whatever ; and 
 those east of the Rocky Mountains subsist principally on the 
 meat of the buffalo. But whether erratic, or agricultural, 
 there is a marked difference between the habits and character 
 of all the Indians, who dwelt amidst the dense forest which 
 extends from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and those of the 
 inhabitants of the western prairie. These are everywhere less 
 ferocious than those on the eastern side of the Mississippi. 
 Like all savages, they put to death the prisoners taken in 
 battle ; but the horrid practice of inflicting on them the most 
 excruciating torture for days together, does not appear to have 
 prevailed anywhere beyond the Mississippi. These observa- 
 tions seem, however, to apply more forcibly to the southern 
 cultivating tribes of the Sioux family and to the Pawnees. 
 Dr. Say, during his residence amongst the Omahaws, collected 
 some important facts, which are equally applicable to their 
 neighbours on the south of the Missouri, of either of those twq 
 families. 
 
 They reside in their villages at most five months of the year, 
 principally for the purpose of planting, cultivating, and gathering 
 
 VOL. II. 17 
 
130 A SYNOPSIS OP THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 maize and a few other vegetables. Two winter months are 
 employed by. the men in hunting beaver and other fur animals. 
 During the rest of the year, the whole population remove to 
 the buffalo grounds, subsist on its meat, and preserve a portion 
 of it. 
 
 They address prayers to Wahconda, the Creator and Pre- 
 server of the world, to whom they ascribe infinite power and 
 omnipresence. But, although they believe in a future life, it 
 cannot be said that this vague belief has any important influence 
 over their conduct. Like all the other Indians, they put more 
 faith in their dreams, omens, and jugglers, in the power of 
 imaginary deities of their own creation, and of those consecrated 
 relics to which the Canadians have given the singular appel- 
 lation of medicine. 
 
 The Missouri Indians of the male sex exceed in height the 
 ordinary average of the Europeans ; but the women are in 
 proportion shorter and thicker. The average facial angle is 
 78°, (that of the Cherokees 75°) ; the transverse line of 
 direction of the eyes is rectilinear ; the nose aquiline ; the lips 
 thicker than those of the Europeans ; the cheek-bones promi- 
 nent, but not angular.* The recently born infants are of a 
 reddish brown color, which after a while becomes whiter, and 
 then gradually assumes that tint, which is not perfectly uniform 
 amongst all the Indians, and which, for want of a better 
 approximation, we call copper color. They designate that of 
 the European by woi'ds which mean white or pale. Theirs is 
 not the effect of exposure, as all parts of the body present the 
 same appearance.f The women marry very young, bear 
 children from the age of thirteen to forty, and have generally 
 from four to six. 
 
 The Indians who cultivate the soil, are perpetually exposed 
 to the attacks of the wandering tribes. Those of the Missouri 
 had also for enemies the Sauks and Foxes, who have acted too 
 much in that quarter the same part as the Five Nations in 
 
 * The superiority of this family of Indians struck the French, who 
 called the Arkansas Beaux Hommes. The Osages, who visited Wash- 
 ington and New York twenty-five years ago, were the finest race of 
 Indians ever seen in our Atlantic cities, and answered the description 
 of the Omahaws given by Dr. Say. That gentleman omits another 
 uniform physical character, straight black hair and black eyes. 
 
 f Captain Clavering says, that an Eskimau boy of East Greenland, 
 after being thoroughly washed, was of a copper color. 
 
SECT. IV.] BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC. 131 
 
 theirs; but they had also continual quarrels, often degenerating 
 into actual hostilities, between themselves. These originated 
 in encroachments on hunting-grounds, elopement or carrying off 
 of women, and stealing of horses. During their temporary 
 absence from their villages, cornfields and provisions in store 
 appear to have been generally respected by straggling parties, 
 even of enemies; with the understanding, however, that 
 Indians when hungry have a right to feed on any provisions 
 which they discover, and may actually want for that purpose. 
 But it is in their mode of warfare, either amongst themselves, 
 or against other tribes, that we find a decisive proof of much 
 less ferocious habits, than those which characterize the Indian 
 who dwells in the forests between the Mississippi and the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 The enemies wounded in battle are killed on tbe spot, but 
 W’ithout any particular act of cruelty, and rarely if ever scalped. 
 The prisoners carried home are neither tortured nor put to 
 death. The women are made slaves ; the men are considered 
 as servants, and generally employed in taking care of the 
 horses, and in other menial offices, but not in raising corn, that 
 being woman’s work. The children are almost always adopted 
 into the nation. 
 
 Amongst the exploits which are the boast of their warriors, 
 that which confers the highest distinction is to take a prisoner 
 alive ; the next, to strike with a lance or some other weapon 
 an enemy alive ; the third, that of striking in the same manner 
 the dead body of an enemy in presence of his friends ; the 
 fourth, taking a horse; last of all, shooting an enemy at a 
 distance with a bullet or arrow, this being that which any one 
 can do. 
 
 It is but just to observe, that traces of chivalry were also 
 found amongst our eastern Indians. It was a settled rule 
 amongst them, that those who killed stragglers, should leave 
 marks designating to what tribe those who had committed the act 
 belonged. But if done in the vicinity, or even in the heart, of 
 the village of an enemy, the warrior was bound, at the moment 
 he took off the scalp, to raise the warwhoop, thus giving notice 
 of the deed, and trusting to his own superior swiftness and skill 
 for escaping the immediate pursuit of an enraged and unforgiv- 
 ing foe.* 
 
 * The fact, so far as relates to the Delawares, was fully confirmed 
 by General Douglass of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, a gentleman of 
 
132 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 It may be added, in reference to the Missouri Indians, that 
 the annua] sacrifice of a prisoner, a practice which prevailed 
 amongst the Pawnees, and .was lately abolished by the coura- 
 geous exertions of a celebrated chief, affords an additional proof 
 of the comparatively humane manner in which prisoners were 
 generally treated by them. 
 
 Two wandering and purely hunting nations, the Fall, Rap- 
 id, or Paunch Indians, improperly called Minetares of the 
 Prairie, and the Black Feet, have their principal seats on the 
 south fork of the Saskachawin. Their hunting-grounds ex- 
 tend as far south, as the sources of the Yellowstone River and 
 of its various tributary streams. The Rapid Indians are the 
 most easterly tribe, and are more generally found between the 
 Saskachawin and the Missouri in the vicinity of and above the 
 Mandane village. They have about three hundred lodges, and 
 are estimated at three thousand souls. The Arrapahoes (or 
 Arrapahays) are a detached tribe of that nation, which has late- 
 ly wandered as far south as the river Platte and the Arkansa, 
 where they formed a temporary union with the Kaskaias (or 
 Kaskayas) and some other erratic tribes. Although intimately 
 connected with the Black Feet, they speak a distinct language. 
 
 The Black Feet are one of the most powerful Indian na- 
 tions known to us. Tiieir lodges are estimated at two thou- 
 sand five hundred, and their population at thirty thousand. 
 They occupy, as hunting-grounds, the whole territory west of 
 the Minetares and of the one hundred and third degree of west 
 longitude to the Rocky Mountains, and extending from the 
 fifty-second to the forty-second degree of north latitude. 
 They carry on a perpetual war against the Flat Heads, the 
 Shoshonees, and other tribes of the Rocky Mountains, whom 
 they confine within the mountains, and prevent from hunting 
 in the buffalo country. They are always at war with the 
 Crows and other Minetares ; but they appear to act on the 
 
 the most strict veracity and integrity, who during his youth had resided 
 amongst them, and is said to have spoken the language as a native. 
 I regret that, during an intimacy of seventeen years, not having at that 
 time turned my attention to the subject, I neglected so favorable an 
 opportunity of obtaining the most correct information respecting the 
 language of that tribe. 
 
SECT. IV.] BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC. 133 
 
 defensive against the Knistinaux and the Assiniboins, who have 
 in fact driven them away from the easterly portion of the 
 Saskachawin country, and call them the Slave Nation.* We 
 have as yet no other vocabulary of those two nations and of 
 the Assiniboins, but the scanty one of Umfreville. It is 'how- 
 ever sufficient to show, that the Assiniboins are, as they have 
 been uniformly stated, a branch of the Sioux family ; and that 
 the languages of the Rapid Indians and of the Black Feet 
 are distinct from each other, and different from any other 
 known to us. 
 
 r It will be perceived by an inspection of the map, that, with 
 the exception of some detached bands of the Slroshonees or 
 Snake Indians, who occasionally cross over to the head waters 
 of the Yellowstone and of the river Platte, the only Indians 
 within the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains, not 
 included in the preceding enumeration, are those who may 
 wander between the upper waters of the river Platte and the 
 Red River, west of the Pawnees, Kansas, and Osages. They 
 were designated by Bourgmont, in 1724, by the name of 
 Padoucas ; an appellation which seems to have disappeared. 
 The Panis, or Towiaches of Red River, have fixed villages, 
 and have already been mentioned. The Hietans, or Caman- 
 ches, are within the Mexican dominions ; and some stragglers 
 only are occasionally seen within the territory of the United 
 States. Three tribes appear to wander and hunt within their 
 limits in that quarter, or along the Mexican boundary, between 
 the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees of north latitude. These 
 are the Kaskaias or Bad Hearts, the Kinawas (or Kioways), and 
 the Bald Heads, who, united with detached bands of the Arra pa- 
 hoes, of the Shyennes, and even of the Shoshonees, were met 
 on the Arkansa by Major Long’s detachment during his first 
 expedition. The vocabularies, which Dr. Say had taken of 
 the languages of the Kaskaias and the Kiawas, have been un- 
 fortunately lost. We only know, that both were harsh, guttur- 
 al, and extremely difficult. It is a remarkable circumstance, 
 
 * The information respecting the Crows, the Rapid Indians, and 
 the Black Feet, has been principally derived from Mr. Kenneth Mac- 
 kenzie, who is at the head of the establishment of the American Mis- 
 souri Fur Company at the mouth of the Yellowstone ; and from whom 
 I hope to receive in the course of next year correct vocabularies of 
 those and other adjacent tribes. The Paegan and Blood Indians are 
 subdivisions of the Black Feet. 
 
134 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 that none of those tribes understood the language of any of 
 the others; and that they communicated together partly by 
 what is called the “ language of signs,” partly through the 
 medium of the Crow, which was not the native language of 
 either of them. Their number has been estimated at only 
 fourteen hundred souls by the Indian Department, and, includ- 
 ing other small bands mentioned by Lewis and Clarke on 
 uncertain information, cannot well exceed three thousand. 
 
 The Wakasli or Nootka Sound Indians are the most southern 
 tribe on the shores of the Pacific, of which we have been 
 able to give a vocabulary. With the exception of a few words 
 collected in the Straits of Fuca, and of some of the Chinook 
 language at the mouth of the river Columbia, we have not a 
 single one along the coast, till we come to the Ellenes and the 
 Ruslenes of the Spanish missions of New California. Mac- 
 kenzie has given a short one of an inland tribe, the Atnahs, 
 who, in 52° 30' north latitude, are bounded on the north by 
 the Tacullies, and extend thence southwarldy down Frazer’s 
 River towards the Straits of Fuca. It is also a language dis- 
 tinct, so far as we are now informed, from any other. But of 
 all the tribes inhabiting the territory west of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains between the forty-second and the forty-ninth degree of 
 north latitude, we have, besides a few Shoshonee words col- 
 lected by Dr. Say, no other vocabulary but that of the Salish 
 or Flat Heads, which belongs to Mr. Duponceau’s collection. 
 This is a small tribe, computed at two hundred warriors, waging 
 an unequal war with the Black Feet, and residing towards the 
 sources of one of the branches of the Columbia River, which 
 must be either the most southern branch of Clarke’s River, or 
 the most northern branch of Lewis’s River. It will be per- 
 ceived that, with that single exception, our deficiency embraces 
 all the Indian tribes living on the Columbia River and all its 
 numerous tributary streams. Messrs. Lewis and Clarke had 
 brought with them copious vocabularies of all the Indian tribes 
 along the line of their route. These had been placed by Mr. 
 Jefferson in the hands of the late Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton 
 for arrangement and publication, but could not be found after 
 his death. The country has now been for many years occupied 
 by the British traders ; and for the present we must look to 
 
SECT. IV.] BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC. 135 
 
 that quarter for information. A long list of the tribes, together 
 with an estimate of their numbers, is annexed to the account 
 of Lewis and Clarke’s expedition, to which we must refer the 
 reader. Captain Lewis was of opinion, that along his route 
 there were three distinct families of languages on the waters of 
 the Columbia River ; that of the mountains, that of the CoL 
 umbia plains, and that of the seashore. According to his 
 estimate of the population, which was almost entirely derived 
 from Indian accounts, those on the waters of Columbia 
 River amounted to eighty thousand souls. A more recent 
 statement reduces the number to five thousand six hundred 
 warriors. It is probable that they have been overrated in the one, 
 and underrated in the other estimate. Considering the nature 
 of the country and the means of subsistence which it affords, 
 it is probable that they can hardly amount to fifty thousand 
 souls. This however, as well as any estimate of the popula- 
 tion of the Eskimaux, of the Athapascas, and generally of 
 the tribes north of the United States, can only be founded on 
 conjecture. That of the Indians within the territory of the 
 United States east of the Rocky Mountains,' is, with few ex- 
 ceptions, as correct as the nature of the case will admit. 
 With this observation we submit the following recapitulation. 
 
 Eskimaux, Athapascas, Atnahs, and tribes on the Pacific 
 
 as far south as Fuca’s Straits 
 
 Indians of Columbia River, and the seashore of Pacific 
 
 from 42° to 49° north latitude 
 
 Algonkin-Lenape ; in British dominions 20,000 ) 
 
 “ “ in United States 40,000 j 
 
 Iroquois tribes ; in British dominions . 1,000 ) 
 
 “ “ in United States . . 6,000 ( 
 
 Choctaws and Chicasas 
 
 Muskhogees and Seminoles 
 
 Cherokees 
 
 Uchees, Natches, small Lousiana tribes .... 
 
 Sioux, including Assiniboins (7,000) in British Dominions 
 Pawnees 9,500 ; Panis or Towa-ash 1500 
 
 Black Feet and Rapid Indians 
 
 Chiennes 
 
 Kaskaias, Kiavvas, Bald Heads, and other small erratic bands 3,000 
 
 60,000 
 
 50.000 
 
 60.000 
 
 7.000 
 
 24.000 
 
 26.000 
 
 15.000 
 
 4.000 
 
 50.000 
 
 11.000 
 33,000 
 
 2.000 
 
 345,000 
 
136 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The Rocky Mountains are the great line of demarcation, in 
 reference both to climate and to the means of subsistence 
 which the country in its natural state affords to its inhabitants. 
 The diffei'ence between the climate of the Atlantic shores of 
 North America and the opposite European coast, is well known. 
 It consists less in that of the summer heat, which, though 
 greater on the American than on the European side of that 
 ocean, does not vary essentially under the same latitudes, than 
 in the intensity of the cold in the American winters. This is such 
 as to make a difference equivalent to one of more than ten degrees 
 of latitude. Neither the Alleghany Mountains, nor the less 
 elevated transversal chain which seems to extend from the river 
 Saguenay to the sources of the Saskachawin, produce any sen- 
 sible change in that respect. The comparative observations, 
 made at several military posts, show on the contrary, that the 
 excess both of heat and cold respectively is greater, in the 
 valley of the Mississippi and the adjacent prairies, than on the 
 shores of the Atlantic. * It may be said generally, that, with 
 variations arising from local causes, the same climate prevails 
 from the seacoast to the Rocky Mountains. But the country 
 lying west of that chain, and more particularly that portion 
 which lies along the Pacific, enjoys a climate similar to that of 
 Western Europe. 
 
 Since it is also ascertained, that the climate of Pekin is the 
 same with that of Philadelphia, and that the temperature both 
 in summer and winter of the eastern coast of Asia, north of the 
 Torrid Zone, corresponds generally with that of the eastern 
 coast of North America, under the same latitudes, it appears 
 certain that this difference of climate arises from the respective 
 exposure of the seacoasts. Those which face the west enjoy 
 a much more temperate climate than those which have an 
 eastern exposure. In order to account for such a general result, 
 we must seek for an equally general cause. Apart from the 
 
 * This may perhaps be accounted for, by the winds, which, whether 
 from the south or from the north, sweep that immense valley, without 
 being intercepted by any sufficient transversal chain of mountains. 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 137 
 
 variations produced by a different configuration of the surface of 
 the earth, and by the difference in the general course of the 
 great chains of mountains in the two hemispheres,' the most 
 probable general cause will be found in the great prevalence 
 of the western winds throughout the Northern Temperate 
 Zone. The fact is fully ascertained, and is the cause of a dif- 
 ference amounting to about one third in the length of the pas- 
 sages between Europe and America. Those winds reach the 
 western coasts of both, after having crossed the Atlantic or the 
 Pacific Ocean, and with a temperature corresponding with that 
 of the sea. The same winds, on the eastern coasts of Asia and 
 of America, are land winds, and bring with them, especially in 
 winter, when they come from the northwest, the temperature 
 of the country where they originated. 
 
 If the trade-winds of the Torrid produce a counter-current in 
 the atmosphere of the Temperate Zone, the rotatory motion of 
 the earth and the effect of the solar heat may be assigned as the 
 primary cause of the difference of climate to which we allude. 
 Whatever that cause may be, there cannot be any expectation 
 of a permanent change in that respect. It is not indeed per- 
 ceived, how cultivation could make any sensible alteration ; and 
 it is ascertained that the absence of trees produces none.* 
 But the difference between the forest and the prairie country 
 had a greater influence on the means of subsistence and the 
 habits of the Indians, than even that of climate. 
 
 The whole country, east of the Alleghany Mountains, was 
 covered with a dense and uninterrupted forest, when the 
 European settlers landed in America. South of the fortieth 
 degree of latitude, it extends in the same manner, as far west 
 as the Mississippi, without any other considerable exception, 
 than a tract called “ the Barrens,” situated in the vicinity of 
 the river of that name in the State of Kentucky. But, between 
 that latitude and Lake Erie, some intervals of land destitute of 
 wood, and called “ Prairies,” begin to appear, as you approach 
 the Scioto, and even more eastwardly in the vicinity of the 
 Lake. These prairies gradually increase in size and in num- 
 ber as you proceed westwardly, and are nearly equal in extent 
 to the forest land, in the northern part of the State of Illinois 
 
 * It would seem that the climate of Rome was formerly colder in 
 winter than now. The account given of that of Paris by the Emperor 
 Julian would nearly answer for the present time. 
 
 VOL. II. 18 
 
138 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 and of the adjacent country on the north. North of the Lakes, 
 the forest continues uninterrupted, at least in their vicinity, as 
 far west as Lake Winnipek. Beyond the Mississippi, the 
 prairies continue to encroach rapidly on the woodland, until at 
 last an immense plain, bounded on the west by the Rocky 
 Mountains, extends from the vicinity of the Arctic Sea to the 
 Gulf of Mexico, leaving only narrow strips of wooded land 
 along the banks of the rivers and water-courses. The forest 
 makes again its appearance in the Rocky Mountains, in the 
 secondary ridges, and in the intervening valleys. Beyond the 
 mountains vast prairies are again found, extending as far west 
 as the northern continuation of the Californian chain of moun- 
 tains, and known by the name of Columbia Plains. Their 
 extent to the north is not known, but southwardly, and assuming 
 a different character, they reach the Gulf of California. A 
 great portion of the Mexican dominions is equally destitute 
 of trees. The tract of land, contained between the Pacific and 
 the Californian chain, does not exceed one hundred and fifty 
 miles in breadth, and is well timbered. 
 
 But there is a vast difference, in the means of subsistence 
 they afford to the Indians, between the Columbia Plains and 
 the Prairies of the Missouri. These are the native country of 
 the bisons, or buffaloes, as they are universally called in 
 America, and through which they range, from the fifty-fifth 
 degree of latitude to the sources of the rivers that empty into 
 the Gulf of Mexico between the Mississippi and the Rio Norte. 
 The buffaloes constitute the principal article of food of the 
 erratic tribes, as well as of the cultivating Indians whom we 
 have designated by the name of Missouris ; and their undi- 
 minished numbers prove, that the Indian population has not 
 quite reached the extent, of which, in that state of nature, it 
 was susceptible. The Columbia Plains, on the contrary, are as 
 destitute of game as of trees. The buffalo has never pene- 
 trated there ; the principal and cheapest article of food of the 
 European and American traders was, at least till very lately, 
 horse flesh ;* and dogs were a luxury. The Indians who did 
 
 * The horse is not a native of America. The wild herds of Texas 
 are entirely of Spanish origin. They have been obtained by the Indians 
 either directly or by internal exchanges among themselves, and ai-e 
 now abundant in a domesticated state on both sides of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, as far north as they can subsist without the aid of food supplied 
 by man. 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 139 
 
 not live immediately on the shores of the Pacific, or in the Rocky 
 Mountains, derived their means of subsistence almost exclusively 
 from the salmon, which ascends the rivers to their sources, and 
 from various species of native roots, some of which are very 
 unwholesome. They cultivate absolutely nothing : and it is 
 therefore evident that their population must be less, in propor- 
 tion to territory, than that of the Indians east of the mountains. 
 
 The bisons are found, in the Missouri plains, in flocks of 
 several thousands. They generally migrate in winter to the 
 country south of the Arkansa. Many however find during that 
 season, even in high latitudes, an asylum in the valleys of the 
 mountains, or wherever a detached tract of forest land is to be 
 found. Their bulk, shape, and habits render mountains a formi- 
 dable obstacle to their progress. Wherever a buffalo path is 
 found in a mountainous or hilly country, it is a sure guide for 
 the most practicable way of crossing the mountain. It was such 
 a path, which, for a number of years, became the main route across 
 the Cumberland Mountains, between the southwest parts of Vir- 
 ginia and Kentucky. In the same manner the buffalo has 
 pointed out the most practicable route, across the ridge which 
 divides the sources of the Yellow Stone and the river Platte, from 
 that of Lewis’s River, a southern branch of the Columbia, and 
 from those of the Rio Colorado of California. They have 
 penetrated down the last river as far south as the fortieth degree 
 of latitude, and down Lewis’s River as far west as the one hun- 
 dred and fifteenth degree of longitude. Beyond those points 
 they have been arrested in both directions by impassable moun- 
 tains. Toward the east they had crossed the Mississippi, and, 
 before they were driven away by the American settlements, they 
 had ascended the valley of the Ohio within one hundred miles of 
 Pittsburgh, and that of the Tennessee to its sources. They were 
 but rarely seen south of the ridge which separates that river 
 from the sources of those which empty into the Gulf of Mexico, 
 and nowhere, in the forest country, in herds of more than 
 from fifty to two hundred. The bison is but a variety of the 
 European ox ; and the mixed breed will again propagate.* He 
 
 * As doubts have lately been raised upon that point, I must say that 
 the mixed breed was quite common fifty years ago, in some of the north- 
 western counties of Virginia ; and that the cows, the issue of that mixture, 
 propagated like all others. No attempt that I know of was ever made by 
 the inhabitants to tame a buffalo of full growth. But calves were occa- 
 sionally caught by the dogs and brought alive into the settlements. A 
 
140 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 is very intractable, and is not known to have ever been domesti- 
 cated by the Indians. 
 
 Some unforeseen circumstances have prevented General 
 Ashley of Missouri, from communicating to me in time, as he 
 intended, some further information respecting the country, 
 which he explored in the Rocky Mountains, and thence in a 
 southwesterly direction beyond Lake Timpanogo. But he 
 has transmitted to me a manuscript map, accompanied with 
 numerous explanatory notes, the materials for which consist of 
 various journeys and explorations by some of our enterprising 
 traders and hunters. It is on that authority, and subject to 
 such corrections, as more complete explorations and scientific 
 observations will hereafter render necessary, that several geo- 
 graphical innovations have been introduced in the small map 
 annexed to this Essay. 
 
 It will he seen by this, that the sources of the Multnomah do 
 not reach farther south than the forty-third degree of latitude ; 
 that some rivers, which had been believed to belong to it, are 
 southern branches of Lewis’s River ; that the sources of the 
 Rio Colorado of California are as far north as almost the forty- 
 third degree of north latitude, whilst those of the Rio Norte do 
 not reach the thirty-ninth degree ; and that the river commonly 
 called Rio Rojo, that heads nearly opposite to Taos and Santa 
 Fe on the Rio Norte, is a branch, not of the Red River of the 
 Mississippi, but of the Canadian fork of the Arkansa. The 
 most important discoveries, however, relate to the country be- 
 tween the Rio Colorado of California and the Pacific Ocean 
 south of the forty-second degree of north latitude. 
 
 The Lake Timpanogo has been found, and is laid down, in 
 the same latitude and longitude nearly, as had been assigned 
 to it by Baron Humboldt. It receives two rivers from the east, 
 
 bull thus raised was for a number of years owned in my immediate 
 vicinity by a farmer living on the Monongahela, adjoining Mason and 
 Dixon’s line. He was permitted to roam at large, and was no more dan- 
 gerous to man than any bull of the common species. But to them he 
 was formidable, and would not suffer any to approach within two or 
 three miles of his own range. Most of the cows 1 knew, were descended 
 from him. For want of a fresh supply of the wild animal they have 
 now merged into the common kind. They were no favorites, as they 
 yielded less milk. The superior size and strength of the buffalo might 
 have improved the breed of oxen for draught ; but this was not at- 
 tended to, horses being almost exclusively employed in that quarter for 
 agricultural purposes. 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 141 
 
 which issue from the mountains west of the Colorado, is known 
 to the Americans by the name of Great Salt Lake, and has no 
 outlet whatever towards the sea. General Ashley’s own ex- 
 plorations extend as far south as another smaller lake, to which 
 his name has been given, and which is situated about eighty 
 miles south of the southeastern extremity of Lake Timpanogo. 
 It is also fed by a river coming from the mountains in the 
 southeast, and has no outlet. The discoveries south and west 
 of that place appear to belong to others, and principally to 
 J. S. Smith. Another river known by the name of Last River, 
 coming-also from the coast, falls into another lake, also without 
 outlet, situated in 33° north latitude, and in the same longitude 
 as Lake Timpanogo. 
 
 J. S. Smith descended the Rio Colorado of California, in 
 the year 1826, as far south as the thirty-fifth degree of north 
 latitude. Proceeding thence westwardly, he reached the Span- 
 ish Missions of San Pedro and San Diego near the Pacific. 
 The ensuing year, he visited Monterey and St. Francisco ; 
 ascended the river Buenaventura some distance, and recrossed 
 the Californian chain of mountains, called there Mount Joseph, 
 in about the thirty-ninth degree of latitude. He thence pro- 
 ceeded north of west, and reached the southwestern extremity 
 of Lake Timpanogo. The eastern foot of the Californian 
 chain, where he recrossed it, is about one hundred and eighty 
 miles from the Pacific. There he crossed some streams, coming 
 from the south, which may either he lost in the sands, 
 or', breaking through the mountains, north of Mount Joseph, 
 unite with the river Buenaventura. The course of this last 
 river, so far as it is known, is from north to south, between and 
 parallel to the Californian chain and the Pacific. 
 
 The most southern branch of the Owyhee, a southern tribu- 
 tary stream of Lewis’s River, takes its source not far west from 
 the northern extremity of Lake Timpanogo, and in its most 
 southerly bend passes, in the forty-first degree of latitude, 
 through an extremely mountainous and rocky country. The 
 result of Mr. Smith’s journey is, that the whole country south 
 of that river, from the vicinity of the Rio Colorado to the Cali- 
 fornian mountains, is an immense sandy plain, in which a few 
 detached mountains are seen, “ from which flow small streams 
 that are soon lost in the sand. A solitary antelope or black- 
 tailed deer may sometimes be seen. A few wild Indians are 
 scattered over the plain, the most miserable objects in creation.” 
 
142 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OP THE IN1HAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 The chain of mountains, east of Lake Timpanogo, and west 
 of the Rio Colorado, continues southwardly, close to that river, 
 to the thirty-sixth degree of latitude, where it terminates. The 
 chain which divides the waters of the Rio Norte, from those of 
 the Arkansa, is well known, and is an easterly branch of the 
 Rocky Mountains. But the main chain, which may be consid- 
 ered as a continuation of the Mexican Andes, lies between the 
 Colorado and the Rio Norte. This section of the country is 
 known to us only through the reports of our beaver-hunters 
 (trappers), who have not penetrated farther south than the 
 thirty-seventh degree of latitude. They represent the country 
 extending thence northwardly to the sources of the river Platte, 
 as being only a body of mountains, intersected at right angles 
 by rivers that empty into the Colorado. The only section, 
 which has not at all been explored by the Americans, is that 
 lying east of the Colorado between the Rio Gila and the thirty- 
 seventh degree of north latitude. 
 
 The uniformity of character in the grammatical forms and 
 structure of all the Indian Languages of North America, which 
 have been sufficiently investigated, indicates a common origin. 
 The numerous distinct languages, if we attend only to the 
 vocabularies between which every trace of affinity has disap- 
 peared, attest the antiquity of the American population. This 
 may be easily accounted for, consistently with the opinion that 
 the first inhabitants came from Asia, and with the Mosaic 
 chronology. The much greater facility of communication, 
 either across Behring’s Straits, or from Kamschatka or Japan 
 by the Aleutian Islands, would alone, if sustained by a similarity 
 of the physical type of man, render the opinion of an Asiatic 
 origin, not only probable, but almost certain. The rapidity with 
 which the human species may be propagated under favorable 
 circumstances removes any apparent inconsistency between that 
 opinion and the early epoch, which must be assigned to the 
 first appearance of man in America. 
 
 Reasoning a priori, it would appear that the population of 
 a country may be doubled in the short period of fifteen years, 
 provided it finds adequate means of subsistence. We know 
 with certainty, that the white inhabitants of the United States 
 continue even now to increase, independent of migration, at the 
 rate of near thirty-three and a third per cent, in ten years, and 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 143 
 
 that their number is therefore doubled within less than twenty- 
 three years. So long as man, compelled to seek, or voluntarily 
 seeking new places of residence, found in his progress no 
 obstacle from more ancient inhabitants, there was no impedi- 
 ment, that could either arrest his march, or retard the natural 
 increase of the population. We know this- to be the fact with 
 respect to an agricultural nation. Hunting tribes would meet 
 with no greater difficulty in finding means of subsistence ade- 
 quate to a similar increase in their numbers ; the only difference 
 being that, wanting more space for that purpose, they must have 
 moved faster, and have peopled the earth in their own w r ay, in 
 a shorter time than agricultural nations would have done. 
 
 Assuming the central parts of Asia to have been the cradle 
 of mankind, and since three couples would, in thirty periods of 
 duplication, increase to more than six thousand millions of souls, 
 we may fairly infer, not only the possibility, but even the proba- 
 bility, that America began to be inhabited only five or six hun- 
 dred years later than the other hemisphere.* 
 
 Another problem perhaps more interesting, and the solution 
 of which is not less difficult, is that of the origin of the semi- 
 civilization which .was found to exist in certain parts of America. 
 With respect to oUr own Indians, the only difficulty consists in 
 assigning sufficient reasons for their having remained during so 
 many centuries in the state of comparative inferiority in which 
 we found them. It is perhaps partly on that account, that the 
 Europeans were astonished to find, in Mexico and Peru, a great 
 comparative progress, and in every respect a much farther 
 advanced state of civilization. Yet it is but lately, that any 
 plausible reasons have been suggested, in support of the opinion 
 that assigns a foreign origin to that civilization. The proofs 
 attempted to be deduced from the affinities oflanguages, appear 
 insufficient. In comparing the vocabularies of twenty distinct 
 American, with those of as many Asiatic languages, accidental 
 coincidences will necessarily occur. The similarity of the structure 
 and grammatical forms of those of America indicates a common 
 origin, and renders it probable that the great diversity of their 
 vocabularies took place in America. Should that have been 
 
 * These observations must be understood, as they were intended, as 
 only showing that there is nothing in the American languages and the 
 early epoch which may thence be deduced of the American population, 
 inconsistent with the opinion of an Asiatic origin and with, the received 
 chronology. 
 
144 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 the case, it can hardly be hoped that any one American will be 
 found to have preserved in its words indisputable affinities with 
 any one Asiatic language. An investigation of the grammatical 
 character of the Asiatic languages, with which we are as yet but 
 imperfectly acquainted, may perhaps lead to a more satisfactory 
 result.* Even then, the questions would arise, whether a simi- 
 larity in that respect does not ascend to the most remote anti- 
 quity ; whether the first emigrants to America were much 
 superior to the present inhabitants of the northeastern parts of 
 Asia ; how, if they brought with them a superior degree of 
 civilization, no trace of it is to be found in those northern parts 
 of America, which they must have inhabited in their passage 
 towards a more southern region ; and why the civilization which 
 they brought with them was ultimately confined to certain 
 favored spots. 
 
 We may indeed suppose, for we have no proof of the fact, 
 that the American arts and institutions, of which we seek the 
 origin, were introduced by subsequent migrations from the other 
 hemisphere, which took place long after America had been first 
 peopled, and when European and Asiatic nations were already 
 far advanced in civilization. Without denying the possibility of 
 such an origin ; admitting, as is proved by the population found 
 in the islands of the Pacific, that such a migration was practi- 
 cable; it is equally obvious that it could, at any one time, have 
 consisted of but few individuals. Any number, however small, 
 might without difficulty have occupied uninhabited islands. 
 But they might not have found a very friendly reception among 
 the American savages ; and the influence founded only on the 
 persuasion of a few foreigners, to such an extent, as to induce 
 a barbarous people to change their habits and social state, ap- 
 pears to me less probable, than a gradual progress towards civ- 
 ilization of domestic origin. 
 
 On the other hand, it cannot be denied, that a correspon- 
 dence has already been pointed out, between the style of arts, 
 the hieroglyphics, the calendar, the worship, and other American 
 institutions, and those found in some parts of the other continent. 
 Alexander Humboldt has thrown great additional light on that, as 
 
 * The ingenious dissertation of an enlightened Mexican, pointing out 
 affinities between the Ottomy or Othomite, and the Chinese languages, is 
 not quite satisfactory. The principal distinguishing characters of the 
 Indian languages are found in the verb ; and the author resorts to the 
 supposition that the Ottomies borrowed their conjugations from the 
 Mexicans. 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 145 
 
 on every other subject which he has discussed. Much remains 
 to be done, and all the attainable materials have not yet 
 been collected. All that remains of ancient paintings, hiero- 
 glyphic or descriptive, should be collected and published ; fair 
 and correct drawings of many ancient monuments are still 
 wanted.* The works, in the Indian languages, of the earliest 
 writers after the conquest should be translated ; and every other 
 proof collected of the authenticity of the Mexican and Peruvian 
 annals, and of that of the paintings, or other means of transmit- 
 ting the knowledge of events, on which they are founded. 
 Should subsequent investigations fail of adducing satisfactory 
 proofs of a connexion between the civilization of America and 
 that of the other hemisphere, the progress that had been made 
 in America has, after all, nothing so wonderful as to render it 
 absolutely necessary to resort to the supposition of a foreign 
 importation. On the probable supposition, that the whole conti- 
 nent of America was inhabited one thousand years after the 
 flood, or near four thousand years ago, the faculties of man, 
 gradually unfolded and improved, may, in the course of so long 
 a period, have produced, without any extraneous aid, that more 
 advanced state of society and of knowledge, which existed in 
 some parts of America, when first discovered by the Europeans. 
 Those centres of American civilization were all found precisely 
 in those places, where we might have expected to find them, if 
 that civilization was of domestic origin. 
 
 Those countries where, on account of the climate, greater 
 exertions are required in order to obtain the necessaries and 
 comforts of life, may be those which ultimately will make the 
 greatest progress in the arts and in the acquirement of wealth 
 and knowledge ; but they are not those where civilization has 
 been found generally to originate. We uniformly trace its 
 commencement and first progress in the other hemisphere, in 
 countries equally exempt from the rigor of severe winters, and 
 from the excessive heat of the Torrid Zone. In America, the 
 corresponding latitudes are subject in winter to cold as severe as 
 that of the north of Germany ; whilst, in the Torrid Zone, exten- 
 sive and fruitful districts of elevated table land and valleys enjoy 
 a climate as mild and favorable, as the banks of the Euphrates 
 
 * Some of the plates of Delrio’s account of the City of Stones appear 
 suspicious, as relates to the style of architecture, and still more as to the 
 correctness with which the human figures are drawn. 
 
 VOL. II. 19 
 
146 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 and of the Tigris. And it is accordingly in those favored spots, 
 in the vicinity of Mexico, of Santa Fe de Bogota, of Quito, and 
 of Cusco, that were found those agricultural and manufacturing 
 nations, those extensive empires and populous cities, with regu- 
 lar forms of worship and of government, which excited the 
 wonder and inflamed the cupidity of the European invaders. 
 
 Although we may not place full reliance on the details and 
 the dates of the Mexican annals, it is indubitable that several 
 nations, some of them speaking different languages, have, sub- 
 sequent to the first civilization of the country, successively 
 occupied the various provinces of the Mexican empire. The 
 ruins of Palenque and of other cities are monuments of those 
 revolutions. The annals and traditions ascend no higher than 
 the Tolteques, as the authors of the first civilization. Whether 
 the merit is due to them, or to some more ancient and unknown 
 people, it may be asked, whence came the subsequent succes- 
 sive conquerors? The abodes of the Azteques, or Mexicans 
 proper, may probably be traced as far north as the Casas 
 Grandas of the Rio Gila ; but from what quarter had they come 
 to that place ? 
 
 In order to account for their success, it must necessarily be 
 admitted, that they were previously an agricultural people ; for 
 the pastoral state cannot exist where there are no domesticated 
 animals ; and we know with the utmost certainty, that no purely 
 hunting nations could be numerous enough, or keep together 
 and support for any length of time a force sufficient successfully 
 to invade, or make any serious impression on a country, such as 
 Mexico is represented to have been, and in fact was at the time of 
 the invasion. But we now know that, north of the latitude of the 
 Rio Gila, there is nothing west of the Rio Colorado but a sandy 
 desert, nothing between that river and the Rio Norte but accumu- 
 lated ridges oi mountains, nothing east of the last river but the 
 buffalo plains. In fact we find in no part of the country, whether 
 east or north, adjacent to the northern civilized provinces of 
 Mexico, any trace, or any probability of the former existence, 
 of an agricultural people. But we may easily understand, that 
 the civilization of Mexico gradually extended its influence, as 
 from a common centre, northwardly as well as southwardly ; 
 that the northerly tribes, as far north as the thirtieth degree of 
 latitude, and perhaps the Rio Gila, without having made the 
 same progress in arts, or attained the same degree of wealth as 
 the ancient inhabitants of Mexico, may have been gradually 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL, OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 147 
 
 converted into an agricultural people ; and that, like the Ger- 
 man nations in Europe, they may ultimately have conquered 
 their less warlike southern neighbours. 
 
 The next and more immediate subject of inquiry is, how we 
 shall account for those ancient tumuli, fortifications, and other 
 remnants, both east and west of the Mississippi, the origin of 
 which is entirely unknown to the Indians, who in the seventeenth 
 century were the sole inhabitants, and still continue to occupy 
 a part of that country. 
 
 On this, as on many other subjects relative to our Indians, 
 we are still in want of facts. We are not yet sufficiently 
 acquainted with the extent of the country over which those 
 monuments are spread, or how far they differ in character, 
 extent, or number, in the different sections of the country. 
 They only appear to have been more numerous and of greater 
 importance in the vicinity of the Mississippi and in the valley 
 of the Ohio. There is nothing in their construction, or in the 
 remnants which they contain, indicative of a much more ad- 
 vanced state of civilization than that of the present inhabitants. 
 But it may be inferred from their number and size, that they 
 were the work of a more populous nation than any now existing ; 
 and if the inference is correct, it would necessarily imply a 
 state of society, in which greater progress had been made in 
 agriculture. For wherever satisfactory evidence of a greater 
 population is found, this could not have existed without ade- 
 quate means of subsistence, greater than can be supplied by the 
 chase alone. 
 
 Those monuments seem in two respects to differ from any 
 erections that can be ascribed to the Indians, such as they were 
 found by the first F rench or English settlers. Some are of a char- 
 acter apparently different from those purely intended for defence. 
 It may be doubted whether those extensive mounts, so regularly 
 shaped and with a rectangular basis, such as that near the Mis- 
 sissippi, on which the refugee monks of La Trappe had built 
 their convent, one hundred feet in height, facing the four cardi- 
 nal points, and with those platforms designated by the name of 
 Apron, are entirely the work of man, or whether they may 
 not have been natural hills, artificially shaped by his hands. 
 But if they have been correctly described, they have a strong 
 family likeness to the Mexican pyramids, as they are called, 
 and were probably connected with the worship of the nation. 
 Of these, for there appear to be at least two more, and of 
 
148 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 other enclosures or works which cannot be accounted for by a 
 reference to military purposes only, we want full and precise 
 descriptions. 
 
 But, if considered only as fortifications, ramparts of earth, in 
 a forest country, strike us as a singular mode of defence, against 
 savage enemies and Indian weapons. All the defensive works, 
 without exception, that were used by the Indians, east of the 
 Mississippi, from the time they were first known to us, were of a 
 uniform character. The descriptions of Mauville at the time of 
 De Soto’s expedition, and of Hochelaga by Cartier, agree entirely 
 with the Indian forts within our own knowledge, with that of 
 the Five Nations in the siege of which Champlain was engaged 
 in 1615, and of which he has left a correct drawing, and with 
 every other description given by the early writers. They all 
 consisted of wooden palisades strongly secured, with an internal 
 gallery, from which the besieged party might under cover repel 
 the assailants with missile weapons. And they were also of a 
 moderate size, and such as could be defended by the population 
 of an Indian village. Wood affords the natural means of forti- 
 fication against a savage enemy, where the material is abundant. 
 It cannot indeed be understood how these works could have 
 been properly defended, unless they were surrounded, not only 
 by the rampart, but also by a palisade. And it is on any sup- 
 position extremely difficult to account for works containing five 
 hundred acres, such as that on the banks of the Missouri, which 
 was correctly measured by Lewis and Clarke. 
 
 The only conjecture I can form, and it is but a conjecture, is, 
 that the people who erected those works came from the west, 
 and that it was during their residence in the prairie country, 
 that they were compelled to resort to that species of defensive 
 works. They may, as is often the case, have persisted in the 
 habit when there was no longer occasion for it. From the 
 Colorado or the Rio Norte, the way to the Mississippi was easy 
 by the river Platte or the Arkansa. The conjecture is entitled 
 to consideration, only in case further investigation should show 
 a probable connexion between the monuments of the valley of 
 the Mississippi with those of Mexico. The extensive tract of 
 alluvial land along the Mississippi opposite St. Louis, now 
 called the American Bottom, is the place in which are found 
 the strongest indication of a concentrated population. 
 
 It is not necessary to refute the opinion of those who 
 would ascribe these works to European emigrants. There is 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 149 
 
 nothing in them, which may not have been performed by a 
 savage people. The Scandinavian colony of Yinland (New- 
 foundland) is out of the question. The Norwegians might 
 indeed have penetrated through the Straits of Bellisle to the St. 
 Lawrence. But, if not destroyed by the savages, a considera- 
 ble time must have elapsed, before they could in their subse- 
 quent progress, have reached the Mississippi, and ascended its 
 western tributaries. The well ascertained age of trees, growing 
 on those ramparts in the lower part of the valley of the Ohio, 
 proves, that some of those works were erected before the thir- 
 teenth century ; and we know, that the insignificant colony of 
 Vinland had not left its original seats in the year 1120. Igno- 
 rant as we are and shall ever remain of the internal revolutions, 
 which may have formerly taken place amongst the uncivilized 
 tribes of North America, it is not probable that we can ever 
 know by whom the works in question were erected. Should it 
 appear, from a review of all the facts, that they must be 
 ascribed to a populous and agricultural nation, we must, I think, 
 conclude that this was destroyed by a more barbarous people. It 
 appears at least extremely improbable, that, independently of 
 external causes, or of some great catastrophe, a people once 
 become agricultural should take such a retrograde step, as to 
 degenerate again into the hunting or savage state. 
 
 All the Indians of North America, north of the civilized 
 districts of the Mexican empire,* may be arranged in two 
 classes ; those who cultivated the soil, and those who derived 
 their subsistence exclusively from the natural products of the 
 earth and the sea. The territory, over which cultivation had 
 extended, is that which is bounded on the east by the Atlantic, 
 on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, on the west generally by 
 the Mississippi or perhaps more properly by the prairies, on 
 the north, it may be said, by the nature of the climate. The 
 northern boundary of cultivation was, near the Atlantic, that 
 which divided the Abenakis from the Etchemins, including 
 certainly the river Kennebec, and probably the Penobscot. 
 With the exception of the Hurons and other kindred tribes on 
 the northern shores of Lake Erie, there was no cultivation 
 
 * These do not now extend so far north as the thirtieth degree of 
 north latitude, unless an exception be found in the long and narrow valley 
 of the Rio Norte called New Mexico. I do not know whether the 
 Indians there cultivated the soil before the Spanish conquest, or whether 
 they have been compelled to do it. The subject deserves investigation. 
 
150 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 north of the great Lakes ; nor does there appear to have been 
 any amongst the Chippeways, who occupied the country along 
 the southern banks of Lake Superior. They and the Menomonies 
 depended for vegetable food, principally if not altogether on 
 the wild rice, or wild oats, as the plant is called. The few 
 tribes west of the Mississippi, which attend at all to agriculture 
 have already been designated, as well as those, which, extend- 
 ing thence to the Pacific, derive their principal means of sub- 
 sistence, either from the buffalo, or from roots and fish. Nor 
 were the inhospitable regions of the north destitute of those 
 means. Innumerable lakes cover perhaps one third of the 
 inland country, and would afford an abundant supply of food to 
 an industrious and provident population. The musk ox and 
 the American rein-deer are found under those latitudes, where 
 the buffalo and the common deer cannot exist. Even along 
 the shores of the Arctic Ocean and of its numerous bays, the 
 Eskimaux appear to be as well provided as the more southern 
 Indians. Immense quantities of salmon are caught in the sum- 
 mer, and are easily preserved till the ensuing year. The seal, 
 which is taken even during the winter, supplies the Eskimaux 
 with food, fuel, light, and clothing. And even, where there are 
 neither trees nor drift wood, and where subterraneous abodes 
 are not resorted to, or cannot be excavated, the ice itself 
 affords materials for winter dwellings, as comfortable and as 
 quickly constructed, as the leather lodges or the bark huts of 
 the erratic tribes. 
 
 It is obvious, that the population of nations which, for their 
 subsistence, depend exclusively on natural products, is neces- 
 sarily limited by the quantity naturally produced. A nation of 
 hunters, living exclusively on game, cannot increase the quan- 
 tity which a given extent of territory can sustain. All they 
 can, at most, effect for that purpose is the destruction of car- 
 nivorous animals. If, at any time, their population should be so 
 increased, as to require a greater consumption of food, than 
 is afforded by the natural production of game, this wmuld be 
 checked, and the population would soon be diminished till the 
 equilibrium was again restored In order to keep up their 
 numbers, the Indians must resist any encroachment on their 
 hunting-grounds. They must fight in their defence, against 
 invaders, as for existence. On the other hand, the great extent 
 of ground necessary to sustain game, sufficient for the subsist- 
 ence of a very moderate population, compels them to separate 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 151 
 
 and to form a number of small independent communities. It 
 may easily be perceived that the perpetual state of warfare, in 
 which neighbouring; tribes are engaged, had its origin in the 
 same cause which has produced the great diversity of Ameri- 
 can languages or dialects. We may also understand, how the 
 affections of the Indian became so exclusively concentrated in 
 his own tribe, the intensity of that natural feeling, how it 
 degenerated into deadly hatred of hostile nations, and the ex- 
 cesses of more than savage ferocity in which he indulged under 
 the influence of his unrestrained vindictive passions. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that the population of those hunting 
 nations does not appear to have ever reached the maximum of 
 which it was susceptible. We have the proof of this, in the 
 undiminished numbers of the buffalo in the prairies, and even 
 of the deer in the north, and in the facility, with which the 
 numerous servants of the European and American trading com- 
 panies derive their means of subsistence in those districts from 
 the natural resources of the country, from the chase or from the 
 product of the lakes. The only species of animals, which 
 have decreased, are those which supply furs and skins, for 
 which commerce has created an extraordinary demand. The 
 intestine wars of the Indians may have checked the increase of 
 population ; but this is not the only cause, and we may find 
 another in their inveterate indolence, united, as it is, with that 
 habitual improvidence, occasionally attended with the greatest 
 privations and even with famine. 
 
 War and the chase are the only pursuits which the men do 
 not think beneath their dignity. This is the uniform char- 
 acteristic of all our Indian nations. When not thus engaged, 
 they sink into a state of mental apathy and physical indolence, 
 from which strong stimulants alone can rouse them ; and to this 
 cause may be traced their excessive passion for gambling and 
 for ardent spirits. Women are everywhere slaves and beasts of 
 burden. Independent of that portion which naturally falls to 
 their share, the cares of maternity and of the household, every 
 other species of labor falls upon them. And this alone has 
 prevented the beneficial effects which would otherwise have 
 flowed from the introduction of agriculture. 
 
 It has already been seen, that cultivation is exclusively con- 
 fined to that portion of the country, clothed with forests, which, 
 between the Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, extends from the 
 Atlantic to the Mississippi, and hardly beyond it. This terri- 
 
152 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 tory, and Chili, in South America, might, in some respects, be 
 considered as centres of an incipient civilization. But the 
 Araucanians appear to. have ceased to be hunters, and to have 
 derived their subsistence exclusively from agriculture. Their 
 long and successful resistance against the Spanish invaders 
 proves them to have been a numerous and united people ; they 
 were not, like the Peruvians and Mexicans, under the yoke of 
 a civil or religious despotism; and, although they had not made 
 the same progress in arts or knowledge, they may perhaps be 
 considered as the most favorable specimen of the American race. 
 The social state of the semi-agricultural nations of North America 
 
 O 
 
 presents a very different picture. 
 
 Cultivation amongst them appears to have been confined to 
 the maize, some species of beans ( 'phaseolus •), and pumpkins 
 ( cucurbit a ), and in some quarters the sweet potato ( convolvu- 
 lus ), the watermelon, and tobacco ; all which plants were also 
 cultivated in Peru.* Maize, which constituted the most impor- 
 tant article, is decidedly of southern origin ; but whether the 
 cultivation first took place on the continent, or in the West 
 India islands, cannot be ascertained. It would seem more 
 probable that it originated in the favored elevated plains of the 
 Torrid Zone, and that, in its gradual progress, it was introduced 
 from the neighbouring islands of the Gulf of Mexico, into the 
 country which lies along its northern shores. Its extension 
 northwardly would be a natural process, and may have been 
 favored by the greater difficulty of obtaining food where there 
 is no fish, and the game, consisting principally of deer, is com- 
 paratively less abundant, and obtained with greater labor, than in 
 the prairies. But the introduction of agriculture produced little 
 alteration in the habits or manners of the men. They continued 
 to be still hunters, and being too indolent to attend to the daily 
 and tame labors of agriculture, these were again thrown upon 
 the women. 
 
 Apart from the pernicious influence of that state of society 
 on the moral feeling and conduct of both sexes, we will here 
 observe, that, although agriculture did to a certain extent 
 increase the population, yet, left to women alone, its effect was 
 very limited. In order that the cultivation of the soil may pro- 
 
 * Some species of corn, chestnuts and other nuts, as also some roots, 
 were natural products, which made some addition to their nutritious 
 vegetable food. 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 153 
 
 mote that increase of mankind, which is limited only by the 
 quantity ofland fit for cultivation, it is necessary that the annual 
 agricultural labor should produce a quantity of food, at least 
 equal to the annual consumption of the whole existing popula- 
 tion. The labor of women alone is not sufficient to produce 
 that result. A portion of their time is necessarily employed in 
 the other domestic occupations which must always fall to their 
 share ; and the residue is unequal to the task of raising food 
 adequate to the whole consumption of the nation. The pro- 
 portion may vary, according to soil, climate, and the greater or 
 less degree of assistance, which, amongst some tribes, they 
 occasionally receive from the men. But it fell short every- 
 where of that which was required ; and the result was, that, after 
 producing an increase of population proportionate to the addi- 
 tional supply, that increase was again ultimately limited by the 
 quantity of game which the territory afforded. 
 
 Supposing, for instance, that a territory containing ten thou- 
 sand square miles supplied game enough to sustain a population 
 of five thousand souls, and that the labor of women afforded a 
 supply equal to three fourths of the subsistence of the whole 
 population, a most favorable supposition, its total amount could 
 never have exceeded twenty thousand, or four times the num- 
 ber which could be supported by the game alone. For, if we 
 suppose the number to have been for a time raised to twenty- 
 four thousand, since the agricultural labor of the women could 
 only support eighteen thousand or three fourths of the whole, 
 and the game still five thousand, one thousand must have been 
 left without food. 
 
 The first European settlers were not, like Cortez, Pizarro, 
 and his worthy comrade De Soto, reckless invaders, who, 
 actuated by the thirst of gold, laid waste the country with fire 
 and sword, and claimed as of right the sovereignty of the land 
 and the servitude of the natives. The Puritans of New Eng- 
 land, William Penn, Oglethorpe, and Lady Huntingdon were 
 all conscientious people ; and, though Locke’s plan of govern- 
 ment was a failure, those who on that occasion consulted that 
 great benefactor of mankind, the most powerful advocate of 
 civil and religious liberty, must have been men of liberal minds. 
 Yet it does not appear, that, in forming their plans, any of them 
 was at all arrested by considerations arising from the rights of 
 the natives to the soil. The emigrants all arrived, without any 
 previous steps having been taken in reference to the Indians. 
 
 vol. ii. 20 
 
154 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 It seems to have been a general opinion, that they had certainly 
 much more land than they wanted ; that there would be no 
 difficulty in obtaining a sufficient quantity from them, since there 
 was enough for both parties ; that their situation would be greatly 
 improved by the blessings of Christianity and a participation in 
 the arts and superior knowledge of the Europeans ; and that 
 both races would subsist and flourish together. Those expec- 
 tations were fulfilled in every respect but that in which the 
 Indians were most immediately concerned. The fact was, that 
 the Indians, so long as they preserved their habits, had but little 
 if any more land than they actually wanted. And, to this day, 
 they have almost universally proved refractory to every attempt 
 made to induce them to change these habits. The Indian 
 disappears before the white man, simply because he will not 
 work. The struggle was between inveterate indolence and the 
 most active and energetic industry ; and the result could not be 
 doubtful. The Indian at first thoughtlessly sold his land for a 
 trifle ; he then vainly fought in order to recover or to preserve it ; 
 he finally was compelled to seek a retreat farther to the west : 
 and the few who remained behind, though protected by govern- 
 ment, and with reserved lands sufficient, as we might think, for 
 their sustenance, still persevering in their indolent habits, sank 
 into a most degenerate race, and have almost altogether disap- 
 peared. 
 
 The four millions of industrious inhabitants, who, within less 
 than forty years, have peopled our western States, and derive 
 more than ample means of subsistence from the soil, offer the 
 most striking contrast, when compared with perhaps one hun- 
 dred thousand Indians whose place they occupy. Not only 
 was the hunter unable to procure food for an increased popula- 
 tion, but he had generally to provide daily for the wants of the 
 day, and never could accumulate the product of his labor in the 
 shape of capital. An agricultural people, even though as little 
 advanced in that respect as our western settlers are at first, 
 have always, from the moment they have prepared a field suffi- 
 cient for the food of the family, a capital either in their barns 
 or growing, equal to the product of one year’s labor. Within 
 two years, more corn is produced than is wanted for their own 
 support. The surplus affords means of subsistence to new 
 emigrants ; it is either sold to those who have some prop- 
 erty ; or advanced in the shape of wages to those who bring 
 nothing with them but their labor. This simple process, 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 155 
 
 renewed every year in a fast increasing ratio, and carried on 
 with unexampled activity and energy, has produced those 
 results unparalleled in the known history of nations. There 
 was nothing to prevent the Indian from reaching the same 
 state of agriculture and population, but his own indolence. 
 
 It may be admitted that the intercourse with the whites has 
 enlarged the sphere of ideas of the Indians and of late softened 
 their manners.* Without examining whether, even with those 
 who have preserved their lands, those advantages have not 
 been more than counterbalanced by the introduction of new 
 vices and new evils, it may be asserted, that the general ten- 
 dency of that intercourse has rather been to perpetuate than to 
 change their habits. The furs and skins of wild animals were 
 the only articles they could offer in exchange of European 
 commodities ; and commerce, which by increasing their wants 
 might be considered as beneficial to them, has thus stimulated 
 them to apply still more exclusively their time and faculties to 
 the chase. Even the benevolent intentions of the government 
 of the United States have not always taken the most proper 
 direction. The larger compensation allowed for their lands, 
 and the annuities bestowed upon them, have promoted the habit 
 of being supported otherwise than by labor. It is not by treat- 
 ing them as paupers, that a favorable change can be expected. 
 
 So long as the Indians were formidable, their mode of war- 
 fare and their excessive cruelty and ferocity made them objects 
 of execration. The feeling has been universal, and is exhibit- 
 ed in as strong colors in the contemporaneous accounts |'of 
 New England, as it may have since appeared on our western 
 frontiers. That state of things is at an end ; the natives have 
 ceased to be an object of terror, and they are entirely at our 
 mercy. We may indeed say, that, if a scrupulous regard had 
 always been paid to the rights of the Indians, this nation would 
 not have sprung into existence. The fact is not less true, that 
 it has been created at their expense ; and the duty is imposed 
 upon us to exhaust every practicable means to prevent the 
 annihilation of those who remain, and to promote their happi- 
 ness. Though their intellectual faculties were palsied and 
 
 * The cessation of internal wars amongst the Indians has been suc- 
 cessfully promoted by the government of the United States. There 
 may have been, but I have not heard of any instance of a prisoner being 
 tortured, burnt by a slow fire, &c., during the last forty years. 
 
156 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 their moral feelings debased, this was the result of the circum- 
 stances under which they were placed. I cannot persuade 
 myself, that they were doomed to a transitory existence, cor- 
 responding with that of the flocks of deer and buffalo on which 
 they fed. Their natural affections, though exclusive and im- 
 properly directed, were not extinguished, and were still displayed 
 within their own tribes, and often towards strangers. They 
 have exhibited repeated proofs of intellectual powers appa- 
 rently very superior to those of the African, and not very 
 inferior to those of the European race.* If a correct view has 
 been taken of the great obstacle to be surmounted, that of con- 
 verting a purely hunting into an agricultural nation, it must be 
 acknowledged to be one of tbe most difficult undertakings 
 within the power of man. 
 
 We read in the legends of those nations which had preserved 
 a recollection of a previous barbarous state, that they were 
 taught agriculture by a Triptolemus, or a Manco Capac. It 
 is much to be apprehended, that necessity and compulsion were 
 the deities that made men submit to the fatigue of agricultural 
 labor. The annals of every nation, of which we have any 
 ancient and authentic records, exhibit to us a state of society, of 
 which slavery constituted a component and important part. 
 Such was the case with the Romans, with the Greeks, and 
 with the eastern nations, without excepting the Jews. It 
 seems as if, after man had departed from the first ordinances 
 given to him, conquest and slavery had become necessary 
 ingredients in order to bring him within the pale of civilization. 
 It may be, that it was on that account that slavery, or, upon the 
 most favorable construction, a servitude of fifty years, was 
 expressly allowed by the laws of Moses, and that it is not 
 expressly forbidden by the Gospel. The great and fundamental 
 moral principles of Christianity were left to produce their effect 
 on man, according to his conscience and knowledge, by a 
 religion, intended for all times and for all men without regard to 
 
 * Father Le Jeune, answering in one of his letters the objections 
 made to the prospect of converting and civilizing the Indians, says, that 
 it was admitted on all hands, that they were superior in intellect to the 
 French peasantry of that time. It is curious enough to see him at the 
 same time advising that laborers should be sent from France in order 
 to work for the Indians. The same sentiment is expressed in a letter 
 written in the Indian language by an Algonkin, who had visited 
 France. 
 
SECT. V.] GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 157 
 
 their political or social state, and which disclaims any inter- 
 ference or alliance with the powers that may regulate the 
 machinery of human affairs. 
 
 Had the Five Nations, or any other conquering Indian tribe, 
 instead of murdering or adopting prisoners of war, reduced them 
 to a state of slavery and made them their helots, they might 
 have attained a Spartan civilization. That of Peru and Mex- 
 ico was avowedly the result of conquests, and, in both cases, 
 had for its foundation the abject servitude or submission of the 
 many, the military power of the conquerors, and the yoke 
 imposed by a false religion. 
 
 The only well ascertained instance, amongst our own Indians, 
 of their having, at least in part, become an agricultural nation, 
 meaning thereby that state of society, in which the men them- 
 selves do actually perform agricultural labor, is that of the 
 Cherokees. And i.t is in proof, that, in this case also, cultiva- 
 tion was at first introduced through the means of slavery. In 
 their predatory incursions they carried away slaves from Caro- 
 lina. These were used to work, and continued to he thus 
 employed by their new masters. The advantages derived by 
 the owners were immediately perceived. Either in war, or in 
 commercial intercourse, slaves of the African race became 
 objects of desire ; and gradually, assisted by the efforts of the 
 government and the beneficial influence of the missionaries, some 
 amongst those Indians, who could not obtain slaves, were 
 induced to work for themselves. Accounts vary as to the 
 extent of that true civilization. It is believed that it embraces 
 nearly one third of the male population ; and the following 
 statement of an actual census of that part of the nation which 
 remained on this side of the Mississippi, taken in the year 1825, 
 corroborates this - opinion. 
 
 Free males . 6883; do. females . 6900; total 13,783 
 
 Slaves, male . . 610; do. female . . 667; total 1,277 
 
 15,060 
 
 White men married to Cherokee women . 147 
 
 Cherokee men married to white women . . 68 
 
 33 grist mills; 13 saw mills ; 1 powder mill. 
 
 69 blacksmith shops; 2 tan yards. 
 
 762 looms ; 2486 spinning wheels. 
 
 172 wagons ; 2923 ploughs. 
 
 7683 horses; 22,531 black cattle; 46,732 swine; 2566 sheep. 
 
158 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 The number of ploughs, compared with that of male slaves, 
 shows clearly that no inconsiderable number of male Indians 
 must have been employed in agriculture. 
 
 The purchase of slaves to be given to the Indians in order to 
 enable them to live without labor, or the use of compulsory 
 means to oblige them to work themselves, are inadmissible. 
 Example and persuasion can alone be resorted to. And, 
 although these have so often failed, the instance of the Chero- 
 kees shows that the case is not hopeless. It is hoped that 
 government, in carrying into effect its laudable intention of 
 providing a permanent place of refuge for the Indians, will give 
 to its operations the direction best calculated to produce that 
 favorable result. But I think that it is principally on the efforts 
 of the missionaries, that we must rely for effecting the object. 
 
 The Indians do not and cannot love us ; and, seeing the little 
 regard paid to engagements, which they at ]east had considered 
 as binding on both parties, they look on all the acts of govern- 
 ment with a jealous eye. Those ministers of the Gospel who 
 with equal zeal, disinterestedness, and singleness of purpose, 
 have devoted themselves to the service of the Indians, have 
 deserved and alone have acquired their confidence. They may 
 succeed in converting to Christianity the present generation; 
 but this alone will not prevent the speedy annihilation of the 
 Indian race, which is inevitable, unless, forsaking their habits, 
 the Indians shall become an industrious people. There can be 
 no hesitation in asserting, that the labor necessary to support a 
 man’s family is, on the part of the man, a moral duty ; and that to 
 impose on woman that portion, which can be properly perform- 
 ed only by man, is a deviation from the laws of nature. I 
 leave it to those, who have undertaken the task of instructing 
 mankind in their religious duties, to decide, how far the obliga- 
 tion to labor may be enforced by the religious sanction. For 
 all temporal purposes, a day of rest in the week is unnecessary 
 for those who are idle the greater part of their time. And it is 
 believed, that no nation, or individual, can transgress with im- 
 punity that first decree which, allotting to each sex its proper 
 share, declared labor to be the condition, on which man was 
 permitted to exist. 
 
 Let not the Indians entertain the illusory hope, that they can 
 persist in their habits, and remain in perpetuity quiet posses- 
 sors of the extensive territory west of the Mississippi, lately 
 given to them in exchange for their ancient seats. The same 
 
SECT. V.] 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 159 
 
 causes will ultimately produce the same effects. A nation of 
 hunters cannot exist, as such, when brought in contact with an 
 agricultural and industrious people. They must be deeply im- 
 pressed with the conviction that their ultimate fate depends 
 exclusively on themselves. 
 
 The obstacles to be surmounted, before deep-rooted habits 
 can be eradicated and a total change be effected, are undoubt- 
 edly great, and should be fully understood. If the missions to 
 the Eskimaux have been so much more successful, than those 
 amongst the more southern Indians, it has been principally, 
 because a profitable cultivation of the soil was impracticable in 
 that frozen region, and that, as the inhabitants must continue to 
 draw their subsistence from the sea or the chase, it was only 
 requisite to regulate and not necessary to change their habits. 
 
 The attempt may be hopeless with respect to men beyond a 
 certain age ; and the effort should be directed towards the chil- 
 dren. For that purpose, it is sufficient, that the parent should 
 be thoroughly convinced of the absolute necessity for a change, 
 without requiring him to do himself what perhaps has be- 
 come impracticable. If that point could be accomplished, and 
 the Indians would permit their children to be brought up by us, 
 the success of the experiment would depend on those appointed 
 to superintend its execution. Moral and religious education will 
 not be neglected. In the present state of those people, no 
 greater demand need be made on their intellectual faculties, than 
 to teach them the English language ; but this so thoroughly, 
 that they may forget their own. That, without which all the 
 rest would be useless, is the early habit of manual labor. They 
 must be brought up to work, to till the ground, in short, in the 
 same manner as our own people, as the sons of our industrious 
 farmers. They have land of their own, and will not, when 
 reaching manhood, be obliged to work for others. They have 
 an abundant quantity of land, and may, if they please, be per- 
 petuated and multiply as ourselves. There is no reason why, if 
 they become an agricultural people, the sixty thousand southern 
 Indians should not, within less than a century, increase to one 
 million. 
 
160 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 The vocabularies appended to this essay will enable the 
 reader to judge, whether the preceding classification of the 
 Indian languages is correct. Those of the Mohawk, Seneca, 
 Cherokee, Muskhogee, Choctaw, and Caddo, were prepared 
 according to a model circulated by the War Department at 
 the request of the author of this essay. But, in framing a 
 general comparative vocabulary, the selection of the words was 
 controlled by the existing materials ; and many have been 
 omitted, because they were found only in a few of the vocabu- 
 laries, either manuscript, or already published, which could be 
 obtained. It happens, however, that the greater number of 
 words of which we have the equivalents in most Indian langua- 
 ges, belong to that class, which has generally been considered 
 as so absolutely necessary in any state of society, that the 
 words of which it consists must have been in use everywhere 
 in its earliest stages, and could not have been borrowed by any 
 nation from any other. Whenever therefore a sufficient num- 
 ber of words of that description have been found to be the same 
 or similar in two or more languages, such languages have 
 generally been considered as of the same stock, and the 
 nations which spoke them, as having belonged to the same 
 family, subsequent to the time when mankind was divided into 
 distinct nations. The same principle has been adopted in the 
 classification of the Indians ; and its correctness has been 
 proved in every instance, where it had been previously ascer- 
 tained, by the unanimous testimony of the missionaries, traders, 
 and interpreters, that two or more languages were certainly 
 dialects of the same, or kindred tongues. But such is the 
 tendency of languages, amongst nations in the hunter state, 
 rapidly to diverge from each other, that, apart from those 
 primitive words, a much greater diversity is found in Indian 
 languages, well known to have sprung from a common source, 
 than in kindred European tongues. Thus, although the Minsi 
 were only a tribe of the Delawares and adjacent to them, even 
 some of their numerals differed. It is proper however to ob- 
 serve, that commerce may have communicated to barbarous 
 tribes in the other hemisphere, the numerals used by more 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 161 
 
 civilized nations ; and that, as between hunters and hunters 
 there are rarely any objects of exchange, numerals cannot in 
 America have been borrowed by one tribe from another. The 
 pronouns of the first and second person belong also in the 
 Indian languages to the class of primitive words. No definitive 
 opinion can, for want of sufficient materials, be formed with 
 respect to prepositions. 
 
 An apprehension of being deceived by false etymologies, or 
 accidental coincidences, has perhaps led into a contrary error. 
 The only case where any language has been placed as belong- 
 ing to a certain family, without conclusive proof, is that of the 
 Minetares. But there are several, and particularly the Choctaw 
 and Muskhogee, which have been set down as forming distinct 
 families, that will probably be found, on further investigation, 
 to belong to the same. Some of the vocabularies are not 
 sufficiently copious ; in many instances, affinities will be dis- 
 covered through the medium of kindred dialects ; and, in 
 order to have a full view of the subject, we should have not 
 only a small collection of primitive words, but dictionaries in- 
 cluding derivatives. Thus, for instance, the numeral, one, in 
 Choctaw is, achufa, and, in Muskhogee, humma, between which 
 there is not the slightest affinity. Yet it is revealed by the 
 Choctaw word for once, which is himmunna. It is therefore 
 highly probable, that the number of distinct families of Indian 
 languages will be found to be less than has been here stated ; 
 though, at the same time, that of subordinate dialects is un- 
 doubtedly greater. 
 
 The diversity which does actually exist proves only, that 
 the separation of some of the Indian nations took place in very 
 early times ; and the difficulty of accounting for it is not 
 greater here than on the other continent. We find there, in 
 one quarter, the Sanscrit and the Chinese in juxtaposition, and, 
 in another, the Basque surrounded by languages of Latin 
 origin. The same cause, which produced that effect, may, 
 under different circumstances, have given rise to ten, instead of 
 two totally distinct languages. In point of fact, the number 
 does not appear to be greater in North America than in Africa, 
 in the northeastern parts of Asia, or in the Oceanic region. 
 The varieties of languages and of dialects must be more num- 
 erous amongst uncivilized tribes, principally those in the hunter 
 state, necessarily subdivided into small communities, than in 
 populous nations united under one government. Public speaking 
 
 VOL. II. 21 
 
162 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 in their councils is the only standard of language of our 
 Indians. None can become fixed and stable, until that char- 
 acter has been imparted to it by the art of writing and the 
 influence of powerful writers. We have proofs of the multi- 
 tude, at least, of dialects, which will spring out of an oral lan- 
 guage, in those of Germany and of Italy, and in the Patois of 
 France. These are indeed but varieties of the French, with 
 a greater or less residue of Latin or of the other more ancient 
 language of Gaul ;* but they still differ (much more in words 
 than in grammatical forms), and are perpetuated, notwithstand- 
 ing the long-continued influence of a common government and 
 of a common written language. To those obvious causes of a 
 tendency to produce changes, we may add, that inflected 
 languages seem to be more liable to alterations, than those 
 which, like that spoken in China, consist principally of mono- 
 syllables. 
 
 Although, for a proper study of the character of a language, 
 a dictionary could afford but little aid, if it did not include 
 derivatives and compound words, even our meagre vocabula- 
 ries, if thoroughly investigated, might offer interesting results. 
 Thus for instance, a single glance at the table of numerals 
 shows, that all the Indian nations have resorted to a decimal 
 numeration. But an examination of several of the languages 
 will afford proof, that they must at first have counted by jives , 
 instead of tens. Thus, in the Choctaw, the numerals seven 
 and eight , untuklo and untuchina , are evidently derived from 
 tulclo two and trichina three, meaning respectively, five and 
 two, five and three. The same will be found in various other 
 languages, and particularly in those belonging to the Algonkin- 
 Lenape. A further investigation will also show, that, although 
 the Knistinaux, Chippeways, Algonkins, and Abenakis use 
 for the unity the word peyac, or paizhik, instead of nequit or 
 ngut, as the other nations of the same stock, they must origin- 
 ally have had also the last word ; since their numeral six is, 
 in all of them, derived from it. It is probable, that those two 
 
 * In seventh-five French Patois, of which specimens have been 
 lately published, no greater grammatical variations are to be found than 
 the union of the pronoun with the verb, such as Soui for Je suis. In 
 one, in the Ardennes, the pronoun coalesces with the noun, as in our 
 Indian languages ; M'per , and S'per, for Mon pere and Son phre. Mr. 
 Heckewelder’s apostrophe has, probably for the same purpose, been 
 used by the French writer. - 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 163 
 
 words were used, as a and one are, in the English language ; 
 and Mr. Schoolcraft corroborates that which with me could 
 only be a conjecture. 
 
 It will also be found, that, in the Ivnistinaux and the Chippe- 
 way, the initial m is often prefixed to the noun, instead of the 
 pronominal characteristics ft, k, w, when such nouns are taken 
 in an absolute or abstract sense, as, miskcewon, nose, misko- 
 tick, forehead, meeton , mouth, meepit , teeth, &c. ; which seems 
 to corroborate the existence of a definite article mo, discovered 
 by Mr. Du Ponceau in Eliot’s translation of the Bible. 
 
 Another feature, which may be discovered by the vocabu- 
 laries, consists in the different names, by which all the Indian 
 nations distinguish the various degrees and modifications of 
 relationship, such as the elder brother, and the elder sister, as 
 distinguished from the younger ones ; paternal, or maternal 
 uncle, &c. But what is remarkable, as a feature common to all, 
 is, that women use different words from men for those pur- 
 poses ; and that the difference of language, between men and 
 women, seems, in all the Indian languages, to be confined to 
 that species of words, or others of an analogous nature, and to 
 the use of interjections. 
 
 It is perhaps less, however, in dictionaries, than by an inves- 
 tigation of grammatical forms and structure, that we must 
 study the philosophy of language and the various ways, in 
 which man has applied his faculties to that object. We may 
 discover in their Relations, that the Jesuits had analyzed the 
 two principal languages spoken in Canada. The venerable 
 Eliot had in his Grammar, published in 1666, exhibited the 
 most prominent features of the Massachusetts dialect. And 
 we have long been in possession of good grammars of several 
 of the languages of Mexico and South America by the Catho- 
 lic missionaries. But it was not, till after the publication of 
 the more popular works of Egede # and of Crantz, that public 
 attention was attracted by the peculiar character of the Karalit 
 or Eskimau language. And the first inference was, that the 
 Eskimaux must have been a colony from Europe, or from some 
 other civilized country, and a distinct race from the other 
 American Indians. In the year 1819, Mr. Du Ponceau, after 
 having elicited with much labor, from Mr. Heckewelder, the 
 principal features of the Delaware, and compared it with the 
 
 * Alluding to his account of Groenland, rather than to his Grammar. 
 
164 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Eskimau, with the languages of South America, and with the 
 scanty specimens within his reach of those of our own Indians, 
 submitted to the further investigation of the learned the three 
 following propositions, to wit : 
 
 1. That the American languages in general are rich in 
 words and in grammatical forms, and that, in their complicated 
 construction, the greatest order, method, and regularity prevail. 
 
 2. That these complicated forms, which he calls polysyn- 
 thetic, appear to exist in all those languages from Greenland to 
 Cape Horn. 
 
 3. That these forms appear to differ essentially from those 
 of the ancient and modern languages of the old hemisphere. 
 
 The last proposition does not fall within the scope of this 
 essay, and is far beyond my very limited knowledge of lan- 
 guages. All the information, connected with the first propos- 
 ition, which could be obtained, has been collected, and will be 
 found in a condensed form in the annexed grammatical notices 
 and specimens of conjugations. But the inquiry has, with a 
 single exception, been confined to the languages of our own 
 Indians; and the result, so far as it goes, fully confirms the 
 first two propositions of Mr. Du Ponceau ; although I think, 
 that there is less of method and regularity in the Delaware and 
 other dialects of the Algonkin-Lenape, than in some of the 
 other Indian languages. 
 
 Yet the materials are very incomplete ; although we may 
 perceive the general features, we cannot yet deduce with suf- 
 ficient precision the rules of grammar or of the composition of 
 words ; and there is some difficulty in discriminating between 
 the specific characters which distinguish certain languages, and 
 the general features which belong to all. But we are at least 
 justified in asserting, that such a general character does exist, that 
 it applies to all those American languages which have been suf- 
 ficiently investigated, and that it seems to prove, beyond a doubt, 
 that common origin, which could not be discovered in vocabula- 
 ries so entirely different from each other. It is not however 
 intended to assert, that all the American languages, without 
 exception, possess that general character. It would indeed 
 appear more astonishing, to find them all belonging to one and 
 the same family, than to discover some, like the Chinese in 
 Asia, and the Basque in Europe, of a structure altogether 
 differing from the general mass. 
 
 The fundamental characteristic of the Indian languages of 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 165 
 
 America appears to be a universal tendency to express in the 
 same word, not only all that modifies or relates to the same 
 object, or action, but both the action and the object ; thus con- 
 centrating in a single expression a complex idea, or several 
 ideas among which there is a natural connexion. All the 
 other features of the language seem to be subordinate to that 
 general principle. The object in view has been attained by 
 various means of the same tendency and often blended together: 
 a multitude of inflections properly so called ; a still greater num- 
 ber of compound words, sometimes formed by the coalescence 
 of primitive words not materially altered, more generally by the 
 union of many such words in a remarkably abbreviated form ; 
 and numerous particles, either significative, or the original 
 meaning of which has been lost, prefixed, added as termina- 
 tions, or inserted in the body of the word. 
 
 The modern languages of Europe generally, and none more 
 than the English, have substituted, for the inflections of the 
 ancient languages, auxiliary verbs and separable prepositions ; 
 and the inflections or compounded words, in the classical lan- 
 guages, bear no proportion in point of number to the multiplied 
 forms and combinations exhibited by those of the Indians. 
 
 Notwithstanding this great apparent complexness, all these 
 various forms, either of inflected or compounded words, must 
 necessarily have their foundation in analogy, modified by eupho- 
 ny : but they render a competent acquirement of the language 
 extremely difficult to a foreigner ; and even after this object has 
 been attained, more by routine than in any other way, it mustlbe 
 no easy task for the student, to analyze the words, to reduce 
 them to their proper elements, to class them in conformity with 
 the genius of the language, and to convey to others his knowl- 
 edge with method and sufficient perspicuity. 
 
 This remains to be done for almost every Indian language ; 
 and we can, in the mean while, only try to give some imperfect 
 notions of the most general features which appear to have been 
 ascertained. 
 
 , Number and Gender. 
 
 There is a great variety in the Indian languages with respect 
 to Genders and Number. 
 
 Like all others, they have various distinct words, expressive 
 of the differences of sex in the human species, in reference 
 
166 A SYNOPSIS OP THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 principally to age and consanguinity ; such as, father and mother, 
 son and daughter, man and woman, boy and girl, &c. ; and also 
 distinct names for the male and female of various animals. 
 But, if the grammatical distinction of gender be understood, as 
 applying exclusively to the varied inflections by which it is 
 designated, the Eskimaux,the Choctaws, the Muskhogees, and, 
 it is believed, the Sioux, having no inflection of that description, 
 may, in that sense, be said to make no distinction between gen- 
 ders. And the languages of the Iroquois family afford the only 
 instance, as yet discovered, of such a distinction between the 
 masculine and the feminine. 
 
 Father Brebeuf pointed it out,* in the third person of both 
 the singular and the plural of the Huron, or Wyandot : ihaton, 
 ‘ he says’; iouaton, ‘she says’; ihonton, ‘they say (the men)’ ; 
 ionton, ‘ they say (the women)’. The same distinction and 
 applied to the same person is found in Zeisberger’s Grammar of 
 the Onondago, a language of the same family : waharrie, ‘ he 
 beats’; iagorrie, ‘she beats’; hottirrie, ‘they (the men) beat’; 
 guetirrie, ‘ they (women) beat.’ And we find it again in the 
 specimen of the conjugation of the verb “ to eat,” in the Mo- 
 hawk, another Iroquois language-! 1° these cases the 
 inflection is that of the pronoun of the third person. Zeisberger 
 also discovered it in some Onondago nouns, where, as well as 
 in the pronoun of that dialect, it is generally expressed by pre- 
 fixing or inserting the sound g: sajadat, ‘a male’; sgajadat, ‘a 
 female.’ 
 
 A much more prevailing distinction is that between animate 
 beings and inanimate things. It is not, however, universal, 
 since it does not exist in the Eskimau, the Choctaw, the Musk- 
 hogee, and the Caddo, and has not, as yet, been discovered in any 
 other of our Indian languages than the Iroquois, the Cherokee, 
 and the Algonkin-Lenape. 
 
 Our information respecting the Iroquois is very limited ; and 
 we can say little more than that the distinction is made. The 
 only notice taken of it in Zeisberger’s Onondago Grammar is 
 (when speaking of the prefixed letters by which, in some cases, 
 the feminine are distinguished from masculine nouns), in these 
 words, “ Nouns of inanimate objects have no prefixes and 
 
 # See his letter of July, 1636, in the Appendix, 
 t See Appendix, verbal forms ; and do. and grammatical notices of 
 Zeisberger. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 167 
 
 accept none.” In our Seneca vocabulary, as well as in another 
 printed in London, a word is given for the pronoun it, distinct 
 from those for he or she. And Father Brebeuf, in the letter 
 already alluded to, amongst the most remarkable features of the 
 Huron verbs, says, “ that they have some for animated beings, 
 and others for things without life.” * 
 
 In the Cherokee language, Mr. Pickering has pointed out 
 the prefixed particles, used to designate the plural, which are 
 commonly assigned to inanimate nouns, and those belonging to 
 the animate class : kutusi, £ a mountain’; tikutusi, ‘mountains’ ; 
 atsutsu, ‘ a boy ’ ; anitsutsu, ‘ boys ’ ; a distinction which, in various 
 cases, extends to adjectives. And it will be seen amongst Mr. 
 Worcester’s answers to grammatical queries, that the same dis- 
 tinction prevails, both in the third person of intransitive verbs, 
 and in the inflections of transitive verbs, according as they 
 govern the noun of an animate, or of an inanimate object. 
 
 But it is in the languages of the Algonkin-Lenape family, that 
 the distinction is most remarkable, and may be considered as 
 one of its specific characteristics. It was first pointed out by 
 Father Le Jeune in the Algonkin, f and distinctly stated by 
 John Eliot in the Massachusetts, is repeatedly alluded to in 
 F ather Rasle’s Dictionary of the Abenaki, specially mentioned in 
 Father Maynard’s notes on the Micmac, and explained in Mr. 
 Heckewelder’s correspondence with Mr. Du Ponceau respecting 
 the Delaware dialect. ££ The principle,” Mr. Schoolcraft 
 observes in his lectures on the Ojibway (Chippeway) language, 
 ££ has been grafted upon most words and carries its distinction 
 throughout the syntax. It is the gender of the language, and 
 of so unbounded a scope, as to give a twofold character to the 
 parts of speech.” We find accordingly that the inflection, which 
 designates the plural of nouns, varies according to the class to 
 which the noun belongs. According to the dialect or different 
 language, it is og, aig , or ak for the animate ; ain, ash, or all 
 for the inanimate gender : but the vocal sound which precedes 
 the characteristic consonant varies, according to euphony, or 
 
 * Charlevoix, a faithful compiler, who derived his information respect- 
 ing Indian languages from the writings of Brebeuf and other early his- 
 torians, has inserted the observation in his journal. But he assigns 
 erroneously to the Huron the exclusion of the distinction between 
 masculine and feminine. It is the Algonkin, instead of the Iroquois 
 languages, which do not make that distinction. 
 
 f See above, Section II., under the head of Algonkins. 
 
168 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [lNTROD. 
 
 usage. Zeisberger seems to confine the use of the Delaware 
 animate termination ok to substantives without the prefixed 
 pronoun. 
 
 Adjectives, when susceptible of a plural form, are subject to 
 a similar variation of inflection, according as the noun, with 
 which they are connected, is of the animate or inanimate class. 
 Numerals and demonstrative pronouns appear to follow the 
 same rule as adjectives. The distinction seems to be wanted 
 in the personal and possessive pronoun of the third person ; or, 
 at least, it has not, if it does exist, been distinctly pointed out. 
 But the inflection of the verb varies in reference to the nature 
 of the noun it governs. Thus, in the Massachusetts ; ‘ I keep 
 him,’ Noowadehan; ‘I keep it,’ Noowadchanumun: in the 
 Delaware ; ‘ I see a man,’ Lenno newau; ‘ I see a house,’ Wi- 
 quam nemen: in the Chippeway; ‘/see a man,’ n’wabima; l I 
 see a house,’ n’wabindan. We are not however informed, 
 whether the terminations or inflections of the verb, which dis- 
 tinguish, whether its regimen belongs to the animate or inani- 
 mate class, are always the same, or, if they vary, whether the 
 variations are due to euphony, or usage, or may be traced to 
 some other principle ? It appears also that there are some cases, 
 where the termination of the noun governed by the verb is 
 altered on account of the class to which it belongs. 
 
 According to Eliot, “ there seemeth to be one cadency of the 
 form animate, which endeth in oh, uh, ah, when an animate noun 
 followeth a verb transitive. Thus anogqs, ‘ a star,’ (which by the 
 Indians is considered as animate) in the plural is anogqsog, ‘stars.’ 
 But in the sentence, ‘ He made stars,’ this last word must be 
 anogqsoh, because it followeth (is governed by) the verb agim, 
 ‘ he made.’ ” This it would seem, if I have not mistaken Mr. 
 Schoolcraft’s meaning, is confined to the case when the verb is 
 in the third person. There is in that person no distinction 
 between the singular and the plural ; and its termination, oh, ah 
 in the Massachusetts, un, in, &c. in the Chippeway, is given not 
 only to the verb, but to the regimen when this belongs to the 
 animate class. It appears, that, in the Chippeway, that termina- 
 tion (un, in, &c.) is also that of the plural of inanimate things ; 
 but why these are not, in all the languages of that family, sub- 
 ject to the same rule as animate beings, does not appear ; and 
 all that relates to regimen, with respect both to nouns and pro- 
 nouns of the third person, requires further investigation and 
 explanation. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 169 
 
 The class of animate beings is not in the Algonkin languages 
 confined to animals. In the Massachusetts, it embraces cer- 
 tainly the stars and probably several other personified objects ; 
 but, according to Eliot, all vegetables belong to the inanimate, 
 whilst forest trees, both in the Delaware and the Chippeway, 
 are included in the animate class. Various other objects, not 
 probably always the same in every dialect, are also considered 
 as belonging to it, on account of peculiar properties belonging 
 or ascribed to them. Such are, at least in the Chippeway, a 
 stone, a bow, a kettle, a pipe, &c. # It was probably in refer- 
 ence to this, that the French Missionaries have designated the 
 two classes by the names noble and ignoble.- 
 
 It will be easily perceived, that, if this distinction constitutes 
 an essential character of the Algonkin-Lenape languages, it is 
 not on account of the principle itself, but of its extensive ap- 
 plication, which pervades the whole language, and affects the 
 termination of every part of speech without excepting the 
 adverbs. The existence of the neuter gender, in the classical 
 languages, renders it almost certain, that it had its origin in the 
 same distinction. But, by a deviation, much more extensive 
 than any found in the Indian tongues, the greater number of 
 inanimate objects came to be designated by the masculine and 
 feminine genders. In the French, the neuter has been alto- 
 gether excluded ; and the arbitrary distinction of masculine and 
 feminine is one of the great difficulties of the language, one 
 also, of which the application is very extensive, on account of 
 the change of termination to which not only the pronouns but the 
 adjectives are subject. In the English, the natural distinction 
 between inanimate and animate, and the subdivision of the last 
 class, according to sex, have been preserved or adopted : but 
 adjectives are indeclinable ; and the distinction appears only in 
 the third person singular of the personal and possessive pronouns 
 and in the relative ; so that, if the words her, it, hers, its, who, 
 whom, and whose were expunged from the language, it might 
 be said of it, as of the Eskimau, that it had no genders. But 
 the distinction has been preserved, in the English, in the case 
 where it was most needed, for the purpose of correcting the 
 ambiguity inherent in the third person of the pronoun ; whilst, 
 in the Algonkin, this is the very case which appears not to be 
 provided for, the characteristic sign of the third person being 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 # Mr. Schoolcraft. 
 22 
 
170 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 either omitted altogether, or the same for the animate and inan- 
 imate genders. 
 
 Nice distinctions may, in a purely oral language, escape the 
 notice of the inquirer, if their application should happen to be 
 limited to a few particular cases ; and of this at least one 
 instance in point may be given. 
 
 We have, in order to institute a useful comparison, inserted, 
 amongst the grammatical notices, an extract of Father Febre’s 
 Grammar of the language of Chili.* The distinction between 
 animate and inanimate, which was not adverted to by Molina, is 
 there pointed out, but incidentally and only in a single case. 
 The particle pu, prefixed to nouns, is the common sign of the 
 plural, and is properly applicable to animate, though sometimes 
 used for inanimate objects. But the proper designation of the 
 plural for the inanimate class, is the termination ica, substituted 
 for the pu prefixed. 
 
 The plural number of the nouns is in most Indian languages 
 designated by the addition of a particle prefixed, inserted, or 
 affixed. It is affixed, or. an inflection of the termination in the 
 following: 
 
 Eskimau, et, it, ut ; inn.uk, ‘ man ’ ; innuit, ‘ men ’ ; iglo, ‘ a 
 house ’ ; i glut , ‘ houses.’ 
 
 Sioux, pee; weetshashtah, ‘man’; weetshashtahpee, ‘ men ’ ; 
 wahtah, ‘ a canoe’ ; wahtapee, ‘ canoes.’ 
 
 Algonkin, as already stated, g, k for the animate ; sh, n, ll for 
 the inanimate : 
 
 Massachusetts ; nunksqau, ‘ a girl ’ ; nunsqauog, ‘girls’ ; liussun, 
 ‘ a stone ’ ; hussunash, ‘ stones ’ : 
 
 Delaware ; okhqua, ‘ a woman ’ ; okhqucwak , ‘ women’ ; akhsin, 
 ‘ a stone ’ ; akhsinall, ‘ stones ’ : 
 
 Chippeway ; pinai, ‘ a partridge ’ ; pinaiwug , ‘ partridges ’ ; ossin, 
 ‘ a stone ’ ; ossitieen, ‘ stones.’ 
 
 Cheppeyan (Athapasca), tlilang ; dinne, ‘a man’; dinnethlang, 
 ‘ men ’ ; tsakhulley , ‘ a hat ’ ; tsakhulleythlang, ‘ hats.’ 
 
 In the Cherokee the plural is designated by the prefixed 
 particles t, ts, generally though not universally used for inani- 
 mate, and ni for animate nouns. 
 
 In the language of Chili, by pu prefixed, or ica affixed, as 
 above stated. 
 
 In the Iroquois languages by particles generally affixed, 
 
 * I am indebted to Judge Davis of Massachusetts for having pointed 
 out that excellent grammar, and loaned to me the only copy, I believe, 
 in the United States. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 171 
 
 sometimes inserted, varying in the several dialects, and even in 
 the same, according to the termination of the noun. The par- 
 ticles shoh, vie, ogu are used in the Onondago ; dak, suh , 
 shoeh in the Seneca. 
 
 Seneca ; * hahjenah, ‘ a man ’ ; hahdahjenah, ‘men’; hudagoolioneh, 
 ‘ a chief’ ; hudagoohonehsuh, ‘ chiefs.’ 
 
 The Choctaw, the Muskhogee, and the Caddo nouns have, 
 with few special exceptions, no inflection designating the plural. 
 That deficiency is respectively supplied by the words okla, 
 ulgy, or homulgy, and wia, all of which mean, ‘several,’ 
 ‘ many,’ ‘ a multitude.’ 
 
 When adjectives are connected (not incorporated) with nouns 
 substantive, the sign of the plural may, in most languages, be 
 transferred to the adjective ; and, in the Sioux, the plural sign 
 pee, added to the last word of the sentence, be it noun, verb, or 
 even adverb, makes the whole sentence plural. 
 
 The plural of pronouns, personal and possessive, is almost 
 universally designated by particular terminations or inflections, 
 distinct from those assigned to the plural of nouns, and which 
 will be adverted to, when treating of conjugations. 
 
 In all the languages which have been investigated, with the 
 exception of those of the Sioux family, concerning which the 
 information is not sufficient, there is, besides the singular and 
 general or indefinite plural, a third number, which is sometimes 
 a dual, more generally a definite or special plural, occasionally 
 assuming both forms. 
 
 It is represented as a pure dual by the grammarians of the 
 Eskimau, and of the language of Chili ; and it appears to be 
 such in the Athapasca. In the various dialects of the Algon- 
 kin-Lenape, and in the Choctaw, it is a definite plural ; but, 
 although including always, in every such dialect, a definite 
 number of persons, it is not applied precisely in the same man- 
 ner in all. 
 
 In the Delaware, according to Mr. Heckewelder, it embraces 
 our family, nation, select body, us who are here assembled, in 
 this room ; and including therefore, at least when he, or they 
 belong to the nation or select body, the person or persons 
 spoken to. But in the Chippeway, as we are informed by Mr. 
 Schoolcraft, it always excludes the person or persons thus 
 spoken to ; and it is used in the same manner in the Micmac. 
 
 * Seneca Spelling-Book. London, 1818. This was not seen till 
 after the appended vocabularies had been prepared for the press, 
 
172 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 The following examples given by Father Maynard appear con- 
 clusive in that respect; “ Rik tan Tcinoo aunka moolk,” ‘ There 
 is somebody who sees us,’ is the indefinite plural ; “ JSinenoo-en 
 oolanook najamooloktau,” ‘ One of us will go this evening to see 
 you,’ is the special or definite form; and it is obvious that, ‘ one 
 of us ’ contrasted with ‘ you ,’ excludes the person spoken to. The 
 Jc\ characteristic of the second person, is always prefixed in the 
 general, and the n\ characteristic of the first person, in the 
 special or definite plural, in both the Chippeway and the Del- 
 aware languages. It will be seen hereafter, that it is a constant 
 rule in both, that whenever the second person, whether in the 
 nominative or objective case, is one of the pronouns connected 
 with the verb, h? is prefixed. Therefore, the «’ prefixed to the 
 special plural shows that the second person was intended to be 
 excluded, that the Chippeways have preserved the original 
 meaning of that plural, and that the Delawares have departed 
 from it. And this seems to corroborate the opinion, that the 
 Chippeway, or Algonkin, is the primary language, and the Dela- 
 ware one of those derived from it. 
 
 In the Choctaw, where pishno is the pronoun of the first 
 person for the definite, and hupishno that for the indefinite ; 
 according to Mr. Wright, “ liupishno is used, when speaking of 
 an action in which all the hearers are concerned. But if all 
 the hearers are not concerned in it, but only the speaker and 
 some other persons (understood or designated), pishno is used.” 
 
 It is not practicable, from the specimens we have of the 
 Caddo, to decide whether the third number is a dual, or a defi- 
 nite plural. It appears to be a dual in the Muskhogee. 
 
 In the Cherokee, the distinctions connected with number 
 are more minute than in the Algonkin and Choctaw. There 
 are in that language distinct words or inflections for each of the 
 following combinations of pronouns either personal or posses- 
 sive, viz. he and I ; they and I ; thou and I ; you and I ; you 
 two ; you all ; they. Of these combinations, the two last are 
 the indefinite plural for the second and third persons ; the first, 
 third, and fifth are three distinct forms of the dual ; the second 
 and fourth, two distinct forms of a special plural ; but none is 
 given for a general plural we which might include you and they 
 with the speaker. 
 
 Zeisberger’s Grammar of the Onondago throws no light on 
 the subject. But the examples given by Father Brebeuf of the 
 Huron (in the letter already quoted) show, that, though proba- 
 bly differing in the details, the distinctions that relate to the 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 173 
 
 number, are, in the Iroquois languages, founded on the same prin- 
 ciple as in the Cherokee. ‘We set off, thou and I,’ kiarascsa ; 
 ‘he and I,’ aiarascxa ; ‘we, several of us’ ( nous autres ) 
 axarascxa; ‘we along with you,’ exarascxa. 
 
 In the Eskimau, the dual applies not only to pronouns, but 
 also to nouns which, in that number have a distinct inflection 
 from the plural, viz. k : iglo, ‘ a house ’ ; dual, igluk ; plural, iglut. 
 In all the other languages, the inflection of nouns is the same 
 for dual, definite, or indefinite plural. The pronouns are alone 
 affected by the distinction, and generally only in the first per- 
 son ; in all the three persons in the language of Chili ; in the 
 Cherokee and Iroquois, in the manner already stated. In some 
 languages, the distinction applies only to the nominative, and, 
 in others, embraces also the objective case ; but the information 
 is in that respect as yet incomplete. 
 
 There is a vocative case in some at least of the Algonkin- 
 Lenape languages, terminating, in the singular of the Delaware, 
 in an, and of the Massachusetts in in ; in the plural Delaware 
 in enk, 4 ‘ when coupled with the pronoun our.” (Zeisberger, 
 page 99). The same termination eunk is used generally for 
 the second person plural in the Massachusetts. Woi kenaau 
 Jerusalem wuttaunzunk, ‘ O ye daughters of Jerusalem.’ (Du 
 Ponceau on Eliot). The only instance of an inflection of the 
 noun, in what may be called the direct regimen, correspond- 
 ing in some degree with the Latin accusative, has been 
 pointed out.* The genitive is designated in the Eskimau by 
 an inflection of the noun ; in other languages occasionally by an 
 abbreviated form of the possessive pronoun, generally by the 
 relative position of the two nouns. With respect to the other 
 oblique cases, the offices performed by inflections in the classi- 
 cal languages, and by separable prepositions in most of those 
 of Europe, are, in those of America, generally performed by 
 affixed or prefixed inseparable prepositions. Delaware ; uteny, 
 ‘ a town ’ ; utenink, ‘ in, from, the town ’ ; menuppeque, ‘ the lake ’ ; 
 awossenuppeque, ‘over the lake.’ In the Eskimau, there are but 
 five such prepositions ; mik, ‘ with, through ’ ; mil, ‘ from ’ ; mut, 
 ‘ to ’ ; me, ‘ in, upon’ ; kut, ‘ around.’ They are more numerous in 
 other languages ; f and it might be inferred, from the general 
 
 * The objective cases of the pronouns, or the manner in which they 
 are supplied, will he adverted to in the conjugations. 
 
 f In the Onondago, Zeisberger gives fourteen inseparable affixed 
 prepositions, meaning, in, on, at, to, under, along, through, &c. ; hut 
 some may be added in the separable form. 
 
174 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 tendency to incorporate the accessaries in the same word with the 
 noun or verb, that separable prepositions were not to be found, 
 or but rarely used, in any Indian language. Eliot, in the Mas- 
 sachusetts Grammar, and the authors of the English Seneca 
 Spelling-Book, have enumerated respectively the parts of speech 
 of those two languages ; and prepositions are omitted in both. 
 But reasoning a priori is unsafe; and facts are still wanted, in 
 order to ascertain, in almost all the Indian languages, the num- 
 ber, the derivation, and the manner of using or compounding 
 the inseparable and separable propositions. 
 
 Substantive Verb. Conversion of Nouns into Verbs. 
 
 The preceding observations relate rather to peculiarities 
 than to the general character of the Indian languages. The 
 substitution of intransitive verbs for the substantive verb, in 
 cases, where this is generally used in modern languages, 
 may be reckoned as one of the general characters of those at 
 least of our Indians. 
 
 It appears certain that the Indians have one or more verbs, 
 expressive of locality, and corresponding with the verb to be, 
 when used in that sense, as, ‘ Peter is at, or in, such a place.’ 
 And it may be, that some of the nations have a verb denoting 
 absolute existence. Mr. Schoolcraft has, in his vocabulary, 
 
 I To be,’ v. s. Jn, and ‘ I am,’ 1 thou art,’ nin dya, hi dya ; 
 Mr. Worcester mentions the Cherokee verb geha, meaning 
 
 I I exist,’ and sometimes, ‘ I dwell,’ and another defective 
 impersonal verb gesunggi, but which seems rather to denote 
 time, than to apply to existence. Mr. Compere alludes to a 
 Muskbogee verb, domist, as implying existence ; and other 
 instances may perhaps be adduced. But, whether such a verb 
 be found or not in some of the languages, and whatever may 
 be its proper meaning, it is at least certain, that no such verb 
 is used, either as an auxiliary in the passive voice, or in con- 
 nexion with attributes, or with substantives susceptible of a 
 verbal form. Although the English language has a great 
 number of intransitive verbs ; yet, in the passive voice, or 
 when it is intended to express a certain particular state of 
 passive existence, implying no voluntary, organic, or instanta- 
 neous action, the substantive verb is uniformly used. We say 
 indeed , 1 to run,’ ‘ to sleep,’ and even, ‘ to die ’ ; in which last case, 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 175 
 
 the act of dying is alone implied. But if we intend to ex- 
 press the state, in which that act places the person, we must 
 recur to the substantive verb and say, £ He is dead.’ I may 
 not have expressed the difference with sufficient perspicuity ; 
 and the line of distinction between the cases, where we use an 
 intransitive, and those in which we must resort to the substan- 
 tive verb, is not perhaps always accurately drawn in the 
 language. It is sufficient for our purpose to say, that in all 
 the cases, where we use the verb to be, in connexion with an 
 attribute, or with a noun, the Indians use an intransitive verb ; 
 and that where we use it in connexion with the participle past, 
 they substitute an inflection. Thus the passive voice in the 
 Indian languages is, as in the simple tenses of the Latin, formed 
 by an inflection, consisting generally of the insertion of a par- 
 ticle, such as xi, ssi, in the Delaware, all in the Choctaw, &c.* 
 And, instead of saying, ‘I am cold,’ £ I am sick,’ ‘I am a 
 man,’ &c., they say, I cold, I sick, I man, &c. These various 
 expressions are, each of them, an intransitive verb conjugated 
 through all its persons, tenses, and moods. . The only differ- 
 ence is, that, in all those cases, it is the substantive verb which 
 we conjugate; whilst the Indian conjugates what we call the 
 adjective and even the noun itself, in the same manner as he 
 does other intransitive verbs. We find, in the Latin language, 
 several instances of similar neuter or deponent verbs such as 
 sitio, esurio, tegroto, &c, which we cannot render into English, 
 without resorting to the substantive verb. The Indian does, 
 in every instance, that which in Latin occurs only in some 
 cases ; and he extends the principle to nouns and even to proper 
 names. 
 
 When the process is applied to a noun, the noun undergoes 
 the inflexion proper to the verb. Thus in the Micmae, from 
 lenno, £ a man,’ is derived the verb, n’looi, C I am a man,’ the 
 conjugation of which will be found in the Appendix. But the 
 adjective, which, according to our habits, we should consider as 
 converted into a verb, appears in the Indian languages, as if 
 it were the simplest form of the verb. In most cases, the word 
 he is cold, or it is cold, is found to be identical with what we 
 
 * The passive voice in the Onondago and probably other Iroquois 
 languages is formed by an inflexion, not of the verb, but of the pro- 
 noun ; and, in the Choctaw, the objective case of the pronoun is used, 
 beside the inserted particle. 
 
176 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 call the adjective cold. Mr. Zeisberger accordingly hesitated, 
 whether, in his Grammar of the Delaware language, he should 
 consider the adjectives as a distinct part of speech ; and he 
 ultimately arranged the greater number of them under the 
 head of verbs adjective. There are however, in every Indian 
 language, some adjectives, or words generally considered as 
 such, which from their nature are not susceptible of a verbal 
 form, or which by usage appear only in that of an adjective. 
 Instances of that kind will be found in Mr. Zeisberger’s Onon- 
 dago Grammar. 
 
 I believe that it must appear sufficiently obvious, that this 
 general if not universal character of the Indian languages, the 
 conversion into verbs and the conjugation, through all the 
 persons, tenses, and moods, of almost all the adjectives and of 
 every noun which, without a palpable absurdity, is susceptible 
 of it, is entirely due to the absence of the substantive verb ; * 
 the idea of which is nevertheless as clear in the mind of the 
 Indian, when he says, I cold, and conjugates the word, as in 
 that of the European, when he says, ‘ I am cold,’ and con- 
 jugates the verb I am. 
 
 The adjective, whether considered as the root, or as one 
 of the forms of the verb, appears nevertheless to have pre- 
 served some of the properties of the noun adjective. A few, 
 in the Choctaw, have a distinct plural form. The feminine 
 gender in the Onondago, the inanimate or animate in other 
 languages, are distinguished by a varied inflection. The 
 degrees of comparison are in almost every language expressed 
 by words, corresponding to the English more and most, prece- 
 ding or following the adjective. 
 
 It appears, that in the Onondago language, a distinction is 
 madm between the adjectives which may, and those which do 
 not coalesce with the substantive, and that, when thus coales- 
 
 * Father Febre says, that the passive voice, in the language of 
 Chili, is formed by substituting for the termination of the active (in the 
 first person of the present indicative) gen, which he asserts to be the 
 substantive verb sum, es ; and, in another place, that the same termina- 
 tion gen, meaning existence, added to an adjective, makes the noun 
 substantive of abstract qualities, (corresponding to the English termina- 
 tion ness.) This makes an exception, as to the passive voice, for that 
 language. But the adjectives, substantives, and even proper names are, 
 in the Chilian, as in our Indian languages, converted into intransitive 
 verbs and conjugated without the aid of gen, or of any other analogous 
 auxiliary verb. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 177 
 
 cing, the adjective invariably becomes a verb : eniage, ‘ hand ’ ; 
 ostwi, ‘ little ’ ; eniastwi, ‘ a little hand ’ ; wag eniastwi, ‘ my hand 
 is little ’ ; saniastwi, [ thy hand is little ’ ; honiastwi, ‘ his hand is 
 little.’ 
 
 It will be perceived that, in this instance, the conjugation 
 can he carried through all the tenses and moods, but only in 
 the third person ; the variations of hand and hands, and of 
 my, thy, his, our, belonging properly, the first to the noun and 
 the other to the pronoun. 
 
 The notions of time belong properly to the action and not to 
 the object, to the verb and not to the nouns. Yet we find, con- 
 trary to the universal usage amongst our own languages, in- 
 flections, in those of the Indians, of nouns and adjectives 
 denoting time, both in the past and future tenses. Mr. School- 
 craft has given instances of it in the Chippeway, where the 
 termination, bun, added to a noun proper, indicates that the 
 person has ceased to exist. But the most numerous exam- 
 ples, applying both to adjectives and to substantives, are found 
 in Father Maynard’s Notes on the Micmac. It may be, that 
 this peculiarity is due to the verbal form, so easily assumed by 
 nouns of every description. 
 
 This process of conversion is reciprocal. Verbs, in almost 
 all the Indian languages, may by a small varied inflexion be 
 converted into nouns. Both verbs and adjectives become 
 substantives in the Chippeway, by adding to them the termina- 
 tion win. The same result is obtained in the Delaware by the 
 termination gan, and in the language of Chili by that of gen. 
 This termination appears, in the three languages, to be princi- 
 pally used for the purpose of forming abstract nouns expressive 
 of qualities. Thus are derived, in the Chilian, cumegen, ‘ good- 
 ness,’ from cume, ‘ good ’ ; in the Delaware, wulissowagan, 
 
 ‘ prettiness,’ from wulisso, ‘ pretty ’ ; in the Chippeway, minwai- 
 dumowin, ‘ happiness,’ from minwaindum, { he (is) happy.’ 
 
 Of Pronouns. 
 
 Nouns substantive are often and the verbs are always em- 
 bodied, the first with the possessive, the other with the per- 
 sonal pronouns, so as to form in each case respectively but a 
 single word. And this union of the verb includes the pronoun 
 not only in its nominative case, or as agent or subject of the 
 
 vol. ii. 23 
 
178 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 action, but also in its objective case, or as object of the action. 
 Thus the various sentences “ He loves me,” “ I love thee,” 
 &lc., are always expressed by a single word. This feature is 
 found universally in every American language, from Greenland 
 to Cape Horn, which has been investigated. 
 
 John Eliot accordingly commences his Grammar with an 
 examination of the pronoun ; “ because of the common and 
 general use of the pronoun to be affixed with both nouns and 
 verbs and other parts of speech, and that in the formation of 
 them ; therefore, that is the first part of speech to be handled.” 
 But although the principle is the same in all the Indian lan- 
 guages, it has been applied in a different manner in almost 
 every one of them. Referring for further details to the Ap- 
 pendix, we will give here only some general notions on that 
 part of speech. 
 
 In almost all the Indian languages, there is an intimate con- 
 nexion between the separate personal pronouns, and the 
 personal or possessive connected with the verb or the noun. 
 An exception is found in the Cherokee, where the pronouns of 
 the first and second person, when used in an absolute sense, in 
 answer for instance to a question, (Who has done it ? I.) differ 
 from those united with the verb ; but these are the same with 
 the possessive united with the noun. 
 
 In conformity with what has already been said of the dual 
 and plurals, the inflections which designate the number affect 
 particularly, and in some languages exclusively, the pronouns ; 
 varying, for the dual and plural and for their subdivisions, 
 according to the nature of each dialect. The only exceptions 
 are found in the third person, for which there is no personal 
 pronoun in the Choctaw, and no distinction between the sin- 
 gular and plural in some other languages. In the Sioux also, 
 the general termination pee, designates alone the plural in many 
 instances ; and the plural sign te, prefixed, performs the same 
 office in the Cherokee with respect to the objective case of 
 the pronoun. 
 
 In the Eskimau and in the language of Chili, the personal 
 pronouns are affixed to the verb, and the same rule applies, in 
 the Eskimau, to the possessive pronoun connected with the 
 noun. The possessive and also the personal pronoun, both in 
 its nominative and objective case, are prefixed to the noun and 
 to the verb respectively, in the Choctaw, the Sioux, the Chero- 
 kee, and apparently the Iroquois. In the Muskhogee, the per- 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 179 
 
 sonal pronoun in the nominative case is affixed, and in the 
 objective case is prefixed to the verb. In the Choctaw the 
 objective case is always clearly, and in the Muskhogee and 
 Sioux generally, distinguished by its inflection from the nomin- 
 ative. Its position is also always determined in the Choctaw 
 and in the Eskimau. 
 
 In the Algonkin-Lenape languages, the two plurals of the 
 pronouns are, as in others, distinguished from the singular and 
 from each other by inflections ; the nominative of the personal 
 pronoun connected with the verb is not distinguished from the 
 objective case by its position ; and the particles or inflections 
 by which that object is effected, as well as the terminating in- 
 flections which denote the two plurals, both in the possessive 
 and the personal pronouns, are separated from the characteris- 
 tics which distinguish the several persons. These character- 
 istics are prefixed, and the other inflections are affixed, to the 
 verb or to the noun. Both are very similar in the several 
 languages of that family. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 
 Separate. 
 
 Verbal. \ Posses. || Separate. 
 
 Verbal. 
 
 1 , 
 
 nenn, 
 
 noo, n ; , we, neenawun, kena- 
 
 noo — umun, 
 
 thou , 
 
 ken, 
 
 koo, k ; lye, kenaau, [wun,* 
 
 koo — u mum woo, 
 
 he, 
 
 noh, nagum, 
 
 oo, 1 w j 1 hliey, nahoh, nagau, 
 
 umwog, 
 
 Possessive. 
 nu — anon, 
 k — anoo, 
 vv — anoo. 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 
 /, ni, 
 thou, ki, 
 
 he , neka, nekema, 
 
 n’ llwa, niluna, kiluna,* 
 
 k* \\you , kiluvva, 
 
 w* \\thcy, nekamawa, 
 
 In’ — neen, fn’ — ena, una, 
 
 k’ — himo, Ik’ — owa, uwa, 
 
 |\v’— ewo, wak,|w — wawall. 
 
 Although Mr. Schoolcraft was, in his lectures on the Cbip- 
 peway, treating specially of the noun and not of the pronoun, 
 the examples he has given of their combination are the most 
 satisfactory that can be selected in reference to the various lan- 
 guages of that family. The exclusive or special plural is that 
 which excludes the person spoken to. The inclusive or in- 
 definite includes that person ; and although it has, for that 
 reason, the same characteristic (Zr) as the second person, they 
 are distinguished from each other by a different termination. 
 It appears that the syllable oom, which is susceptible of the 
 variations dm, aim, im, eem, om, and which Mr. Schoolcraft 
 considers as the distinctive sign of the possessive pronoun, is 
 
 # Kenawun, kiluna, indefinite, or inclusive pronoun of first person. 
 
180 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 occasionally dispensed with ; but, whether at the option of 
 the speaker, or according to some fixed rule, is not explained. 
 
 my, 
 
 thy, 
 
 our, (excl.) 
 our, (incl.) 
 your, 
 his, 
 their, 
 
 Mol, a moose. 
 
 Os, a father. 
 
 ni moz-oom, 
 
 nos, 
 
 ki inoz-oom, 
 
 kos, 
 
 ni moz-oominan, 
 
 nos-inan, 
 
 ki rnoz-oominan, 
 
 kos-inan, 
 
 ki moz-oomiwu, 
 
 kos-iwa, 
 
 o moz-oomun, 
 
 os-un, 
 
 o moz-oomiwan, 
 
 os-iwan, 
 
 Os-ug, fathers, 
 nos-ug, 
 kos-ug, 
 nos-inan-ig, 
 kos-inan-ig, 
 kos-iwa-g, 
 os-un, 
 os-iwan. 
 
 It is obvious, that the termination ug, or ig, which desig- 
 nates the plural of the noun, is the only inflection of that part of 
 speech, and that all the other variations are the inflections 
 of the pronoun and not of the noun. It could hardly at first 
 have been otherwise in the formation of languages. 
 
 When we say, ‘ my house,’ ‘ thy house,’ ‘ his house,’ ‘ our 
 house,’ &c., the object which we designate by the name, house, 
 remains unchanged ; and the variations refer only to the person, 
 or to the number of persons, who own the house. The same 
 observation applies to the combinations of the verb with the 
 pronoun. The variations of number or of person (first, second, 
 or third), either as agent, or as object of the action, belong 
 also in reality to the pronoun and not to the verb. This is at 
 once seen in those languages where the amalgamation has not 
 taken place, or has been but partially adopted. When, in 
 English, we say, ‘ my house,’ ‘ our house,’ or, ‘ I love,’ ‘ we love,’ 
 it is evident that our and we, are the plural of my and I; no 
 one will presume to say that they are inflections respectively 
 of the noun house, and of the verb love. 
 
 In those languages where, from reasons or accidental causes 
 unknown to us, the principle of combination has been adopted, 
 it would seem, that an amalgamation of the entire pronoun with 
 the noun or verb, so as to concentrate both in one single word, 
 must have been the first process, at least so far as relates to 
 the first and second persons of the pronoun. An abbreviation 
 of the pronoun would afterwards be substituted. The last 
 process must have been the substitution of an arbitrary letter, 
 or syllable, in which there was no longer any trace of affinity 
 with the original pronoun. 
 
 It might indeed be supposed, that, inasmuch as such nouns 
 as father are relative and have no real existence without their 
 correlative, and as the verbs, such as love, are also independent 
 
INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 181 
 
 SECT. VI.] 
 
 of the subject and of the object of love, a pure abstraction ; 
 the expressions my father, thy father, I love thee, &c., must 
 have preceded the invention of the verbs, nouns, and pronouns, 
 in their respective insulated forms. This might be true of 
 pure relative nouns, such as , father-, and we find some reasons 
 for thinking that it was so, in Father Brebeufs letter and in 
 the manner in which Mr. Heckewelder answered Mr. Du Pon- 
 ceau’s inquiry on that point. The question might be doubtful 
 with respect to some verbs. But it seems that distinct words, 
 designating the first and second persons of the pronoun must 
 have been amongst the first which were wanted and therefore 
 invented by man. At first, proper names alone would be used. 
 Adam and Eve did not stand in need of pronouns. Children, 
 who begin to speak, generally designate themselves at first by 
 the names given to them, and only after a while substitute the 
 pronoun I. But, as it became impossible to designate every 
 individual by a distinct proper name, the great convenience, if 
 not the absolute necessity, of words designating the person 
 speaking and that spoken to, must have soon become apparent, 
 and have produced the invention of such words, which, when 
 used in the singular number, have also the great advantage of 
 precision. And we may here take notice of one of the dis- 
 tinguishing general features of the Indian languages, and such 
 a one as we might have expected to find in them. 
 
 It must have been the primary object of every language to 
 designate with precision every object and every action, and 
 every modification of which every object or action was suscepti- 
 ble. Specific names would naturally precede generic terms ; 
 and, if the Indian languages are often deficient in these, they 
 abound in distinct names for every particular species of tree, 
 for every variety of age, sex, or peculiarity, in certain species 
 of animals, and in degrees of consanguinity, and generally for 
 those subdivisions of the same genus, which in our languages 
 are distinguished by attributes which qualify the generic term. 
 Thus, instead of designating the several species of oak by the 
 names of white oak, black oak, swamp oak, &c., the Indians 
 have a distinct name for every species, and, in many langua- 
 ges, no generic term, embracing all the species of oak.* And 
 
 * There are some exceptions ; and even these show the gradual 
 progress of language. Uppe, in Choctaw, means trunk or stalk, and is 
 often used, in compound words, for tree. An acorn is nusse ; all oaks 
 bear acorns ; JYussuppe (the acorn tree) is the Choctaw word for the oak. 
 
182 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 instead of discriminating brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, 
 &c., by the attributes ‘elder,’ ‘younger,’ ‘ paternal,’ ‘ maternal,’ 
 &c., they have also distinct names, which have no affinity with 
 those expressive of those qualifications, for ‘ elder brother,’ ‘ youn- 
 ger brother,’ ‘ paternal uncle,’ ‘ maternal uncle,’ &c. In the same 
 manner, when passing, in the pronouns of the two first persons, 
 from the singular to the plural, instead of designating this by 
 a general, indefinite expression, the Indians have all resorted to 
 a dual, or to a specific definite plural ; and, in some languages, 
 they have carefully distinguished the several species of dual, 
 and given distinct names to each species, in the Cherokee and 
 Iroquois, for instance, to thou and. I, you two, &c. The ap- 
 parent confusion in the third person, the want of a word for it 
 in some languages, and its occasional omission in others, may be 
 traced to the same cause ; not to a want of precision, but to the 
 tendency to avoid whatever was not definite and precise. The 
 pronoun of that person is in its nature vague and indefinite, a 
 relative, the proper use of which depends on the structure of 
 the sentence and the skill of the speaker or writer. If, in the 
 Choctaw language, tokche equally means, ‘ to tie,’ ‘ he ties,’ 
 ‘ he ties him,’ and ‘ tie him ’ ; and if olda tokche means both 
 ‘ he ties them ’ and ‘ they tie him,’ it is because, in fact, the 
 pronouns he, him, they, them, are not to be found in the lan- 
 guage. The proper names of the persons, whether subject or 
 object of the action, are used instead of a vague pronoun, 
 ‘ John ties Peter,’ instead of ‘ he ties him.’ And when at 
 last the necessity of a general plural expression was on certain 
 occasions felt, the word oTcla, which means ‘ a multitude of men,’ 
 ‘ a people,’ ‘ a nation,’ was adopted as a substitute for the 
 pronoun which was wanted. The third person singular of the 
 verb is accordingly, in several Indian languages, its root, or 
 simplest form. 
 
 In many languages of the other continent, the process by 
 which the pronoun was incorporated with the verb has reached 
 its last stage. Thus, in the Latin, where it has not been 
 adopted with respect either to the possessive or to the objec- 
 tive case of the personal pronoun, but only in the combination 
 of the nominative case of that pronoun with the verb, there 
 does not remain the slightest trace of affinity between the ter- 
 minations 5 and t , which, in the active voice of all the verbs, 
 are the signs of the second and third person singular respec- 
 tively, and the separable pronouns of those two persons. Those 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 183 
 
 and other similar terminations, in their present shape, appear 
 and are considered as inflections of the verb. It is quite 
 otherwise in the Indian languages. In all of them, whether 
 in the combination of the possessive pronoun with the noun, 
 or in both the simple and compound conjugations, the separable 
 pronoun and its inflections, though generally in an abbreviated 
 form, are still visible ; and the possessive pronoun in one case, 
 and the personal pronoun in the other, are almost always nearly 
 identical. There are undoubtedly some exceptions, such as the 
 first personal singular in the Choctaw, and the plural termina- 
 tion of the second person in the Delaware ; and the division 
 of the pronoun into two parts, in the Algonkin-Lenape lan- 
 guages, has rendered the affinity less immediately obvious. 
 But there is no language, or dialect, in which there are not 
 still evident traces of the original pronouns, and of which it 
 may not be asserted, that in all the combinations alluded to, the 
 inflections of number and person are those of the pronoun, and 
 neither of the noun or verb. There is accordingly but little 
 difficulty in the declensions, if they may be so called, of the 
 noun and possessive pronoun combined, or in the simple conju- 
 gations which involve with the verb only the subject of the 
 action, or nominative case of the pronoun, provided the varia- 
 tions of which the pronoun is susceptible be previously under- 
 stood . 
 
 It has been already mentioned that, in the Sioux language, 
 the plural sign pee is applicable to every part of speech ; 
 and that, in the Cherokee, the corresponding sign te is used 
 for the purpose of designating the plural of the objective case 
 of the personal pronouns. In several of the languages, such 
 as the Algonkin-Lenape, the plural is formed by adding a ter- 
 mination to the singular of the pronoun. There are some in 
 which that plural, especially in the first and second person, is 
 not an inflection, but a distinct word having no affinity with the 
 singular. We find the same feature in many European lan- 
 guages : ego, nos ; tu, vos ; I, we; thou, you; &c. 
 
 Transitions. 
 
 The complex compound conjugations consist in the amalga- 
 mation of the verb with the pronoun, both in its nominative 
 case, or as agent, and in its objective case, or as the object of 
 
184 a synopsis or the Indian tribes. [introd. 
 
 the action. As the passing of the action, from the agent to the 
 object in which it terminates, is thus expressed by a single 
 word, the Spanish authors of Indian grammars have designated 
 that species of conjugation by the name of transition. It is 
 common to all the Indian languages, which have been investi- 
 gated. But, although the character is common to all, the prin- 
 ciple does not belong exclusively to them. That, which in 
 that respect characterizes them, is the manner in which the 
 principle has been applied, and which, varying greatly in the 
 different languages, has in some of them been the cause of those 
 countless inflections, which at first excited the wonder of 
 European philologists. Every Hebrew student knows that 
 these transitions exist in that language, and in a form so simple, 
 as not to cause him any great embarrassment. They are 
 founded on the same principle as in the Indian languages. 
 Abbreviations of the inseparable pronouns become respectively, 
 pronouns possessive by being added as terminations to the noun, 
 and the objective case of the personal pronoun by being in the 
 same manner added to the verb. Other distinct abbreviations 
 represent the nominative case of the same pronoun ; and as, in 
 the compound conjugation, the abbreviated form of the pronoun 
 in the objective case always follows that in the nominative 
 case, and there are also distinctive variations between the sin- 
 gular and the plural of each, the whole process unites precision 
 with simplicity. It differs no otherwise from the conjugation 
 in the English language, so far as pronouns are concerned, 
 than in the collocation of the pronoun, and in the pronuncia- 
 tion in one word instead of three. They say, lovlthee, in 
 one word, instead of I love thee in three words ; and the 
 number of inflections, or combinations of inflections, required 
 for the purpose, is the same with that of the words, which we 
 use in order to attain the same object, (I, thou , me, thee, we, 
 us, &c.) 
 
 The system is nearly the same in the Choctaw. The fol- 
 lowing table exhibits the pronouns, personal separable in the 
 first column ; united with verbs in the nominative case in the 
 second ; possessive united with the nouns designating the parts 
 of the body, and used also (as in Hebrew) as the objective 
 case, when united with verbs. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 185 
 
 I, 
 
 thou, 
 
 he, 
 
 we, (exc. pi.) 
 we, (indef. pi.) 
 you, 
 they, 
 
 Separable. 
 
 Inseparable. 
 
 
 Personal nominative . 
 
 Personal objective. 
 
 unno, 
 
 ille, 
 
 sa, SU, 
 che, chi, 
 
 chishno, 
 
 ish, is, 
 
 ipishno, 
 
 huppishno, 
 
 huchishno, 
 
 e, 
 
 eho, 
 
 hush, hus, 
 
 pe, pi, 
 huppi, 
 huchi, 
 
 “ 1 
 
 okla, 
 
 okla, 
 
 me, 
 
 thee, 
 
 him, 
 
 us, 
 
 us, 
 
 you, 
 
 them. 
 
 All the pronouns, in the nominative case, precede the verb, 
 excepting ille, which is a termination. The rule applies equally 
 to the simple conjugation and to the transitions. All the pro- 
 nouns, in the objective case, are placed, in the transitions, 
 immediately before the verb and therefore immediately after 
 the pronoun in the nominative, with the exception always of 
 the first person in the nominative, which is still a termination : 
 tokch, ‘ he ties ’ ; tokchM, ‘ 1 tie ’ ; ishtokch, ‘thou tiest ,’ &c. 
 Suttokch, ‘he ties me’; chittokchM, ‘I tie thee’; ishjnttokch, 
 
 ‘ thou tiest us ’ ; (exc. pi.), &c. 
 
 Those two rules constitute the whole system of the Choctaw 
 transitions in the paradigm of the verb tokche, ‘to tie,’ and 
 equally apply to all the tenses and moods, passive voice, and 
 negative form ; all these being each distinguished by the inser- 
 tion of its characteristic particle, but without interfering, other- 
 wise than by their respective collocation, with the pronominal 
 inflections. It is not stated, whether there is more than one 
 conjugation ; and, where this depends solely on the inflections 
 of the pronoun, it may well happen that, with some anomalies, 
 there is but one. Such is found to be the case in the language 
 of Chili, where the system of transitions, though somewhat more 
 complex, is governed by uniform rules and attains a precision 
 nearly equal to that of the Choctaw. The pronouns, in the 
 noniinative and objective cases, are placed in the Choctaw in 
 the same order as in the French. The English say, thou tiest 
 me; the French and the Choctaw, tu me lies, thou me 
 tiest. 
 
 A peculiarity in that language deserves notice. An inserted 
 particle, ull, denotes the passive voice ; but the personal pro- 
 noun, instead of being as in our languages in the nominative, is 
 in the Choctaw in the objective case. Instead of saying, ‘ I (am) 
 tied,’ ‘ tullokchille,’ they say, ‘me (am) tied,’ ‘ SMttuZ/okche.’ 
 The same rule applies to all those intransitive verbs which we 
 
 vol. ii. 24 
 
186 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 express by ‘ I am,’ and to all those, such as, ‘ I sleep,’ ‘swnnusse’ ; 
 ‘ I die,’ £ sidle ’ ; in which the person appears to be the object 
 of the action, rather than an active agent.* But when action 
 is implied in the intransitive verb, the pronoun is put in the 
 nominative case : ‘ I sing,’ ‘ taloa lie ; ’ ‘ I came,’ ‘ mintiZZetokok.’ 
 If we now turn to the numerous paradigms of the simple 
 conjugations in Zeisberger’s Grammar of the Delaware, amongst 
 those anomalies, which compelled him to class the verb into 
 eight conjugations, and many other even in verbs of the same 
 conjugation, we find upon the whole a great uniformity and 
 regularity, and also sufficient evidence that the inflections belong 
 to the pronoun. The initial characteristics of the three per- 
 sons, which precede the root of the verb, are generally pre- 
 served in the indicative mood ; the principal exception being 
 found in the frequent omission of the characteristic of the third 
 person, sometimes accompanied by a change of the termination 
 into u, or eu. The plural termination of the first person eneen, 
 or hena, is derived from that of the possessive pronoun ena, or 
 of the separable una, both allied to the Chippeway termination 
 inan. The plural termination of the third person, wak, or ewo, 
 is likewise derived from that of the separable pronoun wa. But 
 the connexion between the separable pronoun and its termina- 
 tion when united with the verb is lost in the second person 
 plural, which in the last case ends always in himo, or humo. 
 Referring to the tables in the Appendix for details, the follow- 
 ing examples of the present tense of the indicative will be suffi- 
 cient to explain what precedes. 
 
 Infinitive. 
 
 To eat. 
 mitzin, 
 
 To he happy. 
 wulamulsin, 
 
 I, 
 
 n’mitzi, 
 
 n’ulamalsi, 
 
 thou. 
 
 k’mitzi, 
 
 k’ulamalsi, 
 
 he, 
 
 mitzu, 
 
 w’ulamalsi, 
 n’ulamalsi hena, 
 
 we. 
 
 n’mitzi neen, 
 
 ye, 
 
 k’mitzi himo, 
 
 k’ulamalsi himo, 
 
 they, 
 
 mitzo wak, 
 
 w’ulamalso wak, 
 
 To hear. 
 pendamen, 
 n’pendamen, 
 k’pendamen, 
 pendamen, 
 n’pendamen een, 
 k’pendam ohumo, 
 pendamen ewo. 
 
 But, if we pass to the transitions, we find a multitude of 
 varied terminations, for which it appears extremely difficult to 
 find any general rules. There is however one respecting the 
 initial characteristic, which at once strikes the eye. It has 
 
 * The same principle is found in the passive form of Latin deponent 
 (neuter) verbs. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 187 
 
 been seen, that, in the Hebrew, in our modern languages, and 
 in the Choctaw, the pronoun, in the nominative, is always distin- 
 guished from that in the objective case by their relative 
 position. That fundamental and essential principle has been 
 entirely neglected in the Delaware, and probably in all the 
 other languages of the same family. Instead of this, it will be 
 found, that a preference has been given, in the first place, to the 
 second, and in the next to the first person. When the second 
 person occurs in the transition, whether in the nominative, or 
 in the objective case, we find its characteristic k placed before 
 the verb. Whenever the transition is from the first to the 
 third, or from the third to the first person, the n, characteristic 
 of the first is, in like manner, placed before the verb, whether 
 that person be the agent, or the object of the action. When 
 the action passes from one third to another third person, its 
 initial characteristic w is placed before the verb, or is omitted 
 altogether.* It thence follows, that the termination, placed 
 after the root of the verb, must perform the various offices of 
 distinguishing, which of the two pronouns is in the nominative 
 or objective case ; whether both, or, if only one, which of the 
 two is in the plural ; and, whenever the second is one of the 
 persons concerned, that is to say in sixteen cases out of twenty- 
 eight, whether the other pronoun is of the first or third person. 
 To distinguish with precision all the various combinations, 
 resulting from those several offices, requires twenty-eight dis- 
 tinct, different terminations for each tense. The Choctaw 
 requires but twelve, in the same manner as, in English, twelve 
 words are sufficient in order to effect the same purpose ; and 
 these run regularly through all the tenses and moods of the 
 verb, whilst numerous discrepancies are found in that respect in 
 the Delaware. 
 
 The comparative simplicity of the Hebrew, of the English, 
 and of the Choctaw rests on three principles, neither of which 
 has been observed in the Delaware ; the regular relative posi- 
 tion assigned to the pronouns in the nominative and objective 
 case ; the distinct designation by which the objective is always 
 distinguished from the nominative case of the pronoun ; and a 
 
 * There are a few anomalies, some only in appearance, such as 
 k'milgneen, ‘ they give to us,’ in which the k designates the indefinite plu- 
 ral. But the rule may be considered as general. No exception to it is 
 found in the paradigms of the Massachusetts conjugations in Eliot’g 
 Grammar, 
 
188 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 similar distinction for the plural. And the Delaware conjuga- 
 tions are rendered still more complex, by the transfer of the 
 plural termination of the pronoun, which has separated it from 
 its initial characteristic. 
 
 This example shows how men, though setting off upon the 
 same principle, may, by pursuing different routes in its applica- 
 tion, impress a different character on their respective languages. 
 Yet the preference given by the Algonkin nations to the second 
 and, next to it, to the first person, though unfortunate in its 
 consequences was very natural. In an oral language, there 
 are always two parties, the person who speaks, and the person 
 or persons whom he addresses. When speaking of the person 
 spoken to in connexion either with himself or with a third 
 person, the person thus addressed is generally the most prom- 
 inent in the mind of the speaker; and on that account, or from 
 courtesy, he will be named first, without regarding the distinc- 
 tion, whether he be the agent or the object of the action. The 
 Delaware may very naturally have said, ‘ thee I love,’ ‘ thee 
 he has insulted.’ When speaking of himself in connexion with 
 a third person, he becomes the most important party. 
 
 May we not also trace to an exclusively oral language, com- 
 bined with the habit of public speaking, the special plural of 
 the Indians, as well as the different manner in which it appears 
 to be applied ? According to Mr. Heckewelder, the Dela- 
 wares deliberating in council, on a question of war or peace, 
 say ‘ we,’ meaning all of us here present, our nation, as contra- 
 distinguished from any other body of men, or nation. Accord- 
 ing to Mr. Schoolcraft, the Chippeway, addressing another 
 person in behalf of himself and some others, will, in saying, 
 
 ‘ we,’ exclude the person to whom he speaks. And thus 
 gradually the special plural may have been modified, and have 
 received a different signification in the two languages. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great number of varied inflections in the 
 transitions of the Algonkin conjugations, and the numerous 
 apparent anomalies in the several tenses and moods, they still 
 exhibit a degree of uniformity which had its origin in analogy; 
 and there can be no doubt that the rules of their formation, 
 though not very obvious, may be deduced from the paradigms 
 collected by Zeisberger and others. It is not intended to inti- 
 mate, that the language was formed according to any such 
 preconcerted rules ; but only that analogy has necessarily pro- 
 duced that uniformity, which renders it practicable to deduce 
 the rules from the language. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 189 
 
 The characteristic letter or syllable which precedes the root of 
 the verb designates only, when it is k’, that one of the two 
 pronouns is that of the second person; when it is n\ that the 
 two pronouns are those of the first and third person ; when it 
 is w’, that both pronouns are in the third person. The ter- 
 mination must show, in the first case, to what person the other 
 pronoun belongs ; in every case, which of the two pronouns 
 is in the objective case ; and that termination must also desig- 
 nate, when required, whether one, or both, and, if only one, 
 which of the two pronouns is in the plural number. If there- 
 fore, we select those transitions only, in which the action passes 
 from a person in the singular number to another person also in 
 the singular, the termination, not being encumbered with the 
 varied signs of the plural or plurals, must only show in what 
 manner the pronoun, when unknown, is discovered, and which 
 of the two is in the objective case. 
 
 There are in each tense seven such transitions from the sin- 
 gular to the singular ; and the table, in the Appendix, of the 
 transitions of the present of the indicative of the five Dela- 
 ware paradigms given by Zeisberger, shows, that when the 
 action passes from the first or second person singular to the 
 third person singular, a particle, viz. a, an, awa, or awan is 
 inserted immediately after the root, or unchangeable part of the 
 verb ; when the action passes from the third singular to the 
 first or second person singular, the particle inserted is uk, ag> 
 or agun ; when the action passes from the first to the second 
 person singular, the particle is ell or olen ; and when the action 
 passes from the second to the first person singular, the particle 
 is i, or awi. The four characteristic letters used in the four 
 cases respectively are a, or iva ; g, or k ; l ; and i ; the other 
 sounds or letters aw, un, &c., varying according to euphony or 
 usage. Those letters or sounds stand respectively ; a or wa 
 for him ; g, k for he ; l for 1 ; i for me. And combined with 
 the initial characteristics k’, ?c’, (the last often omit- 
 ted,) they are sufficient to designate with precision the two 
 pronouns involved in each transition, and which of them is in 
 the objective case. When the action passes from one third to 
 another third person singular, although this might be deemed 
 the simplest case, it presents in our five paradigms more varie- 
 ties than any other case. They are as follows. 
 
190 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 Second pers. sing. Imperative. 
 
 Third pers. sing, transition to third pers. sing. 
 
 Give thou, 
 
 mil. 
 
 he gives him, 
 
 milan, milgol, milawal 
 petagol, 
 
 bring “ 
 
 petol, 
 
 he brings him. 
 
 hear “ 
 
 penda, 
 
 he hears him, 
 
 pendagol, 
 
 love “ 
 
 ahoal, 
 
 he loves him, 
 
 w’dahoalawall. 
 
 say “ 
 
 ill, 
 
 he says to him, 
 
 w’dell gun, w’dell ak. 
 
 A single example will be sufficient to illustrate the rules for 
 the six other transitions : 
 
 I give him, 
 thou givest him, 
 
 S he gives me, 
 he gives thee, 
 
 I give thee, 
 thou givest me, 
 
 n’mil an, (him,) 
 k’mil an, (him,) 
 n’mil uk, (he,) 
 k’mil uk, (he,) 
 k’mil ell, (/,) 
 k’mil i, (me.) 
 
 With each of these seven transitions from the singular to 
 the singular, three others are connected, in which either one or 
 the other, or both the pronouns are in the plural number. 
 Thus we have, I give him, 1 give them, They give me, Tltey 
 give us ; and so on for each of the seven primitive transitions. 
 The terminations added to these primitive transitions designate 
 therefore, whether one or both the pronouns are in the plural, 
 and, if only one, which of the two. This is effected with 
 great precision for every case, so as to prevent any confusion or 
 ambiguity ; but it is difficult to reduce those final terminations 
 to uniform rules. The following table, subject to several ex- 
 ceptions and anomalies, shows the most usual or general of 
 those plural terminations. 
 
 
 me. 
 
 thee. 
 
 him. 
 
 us. 
 
 you. 
 
 them. 
 
 he, 
 
 
 
 
 na, 
 
 wa, 
 
 wak, 
 
 I, thou, 
 
 
 
 
 neen, 
 
 himo, 
 
 wak, 
 
 they, 
 
 $ e > 
 
 ( ewo, 
 
 e, 
 
 ewo, 
 
 ewo, 
 
 neen, 
 
 himo, 
 
 wawak, 
 
 ye, 
 
 himo, 
 
 
 ewo, 
 
 hena, 
 
 
 wawak, 
 
 we. 
 
 
 neen, 
 
 neen, 
 
 
 hena, 
 
 wavvuna. 
 
 These plural terminations, which are nearly the same with 
 those of the simple conjugation, combined with the four inserted 
 particles a, g, l, i, and with the three initial characteristics n, 
 Tc, w, constitute the twenty-eight personal forms or transitions 
 of the present of the indicative ; and united, though not with 
 perfect uniformity, with the particles ep, up, and tsh, which are 
 the respective signs of the preterite and future tenses, they 
 also form the twenty-eight transitions of each of those tenses 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 191 
 
 in the indicative mood. But an entirely different plan has 
 prevailed in the subjunctive, or, as Eliot calls it, the supposi- 
 tive mood, which is rendered into English by if or when. 
 The initial characteristics of the pronouns are, in that mood, 
 almost always omitted ; and the following examples of the 
 simple conjugation and of the seven primitive transitions (from 
 a singular to another singular person) will show how their 
 place is supplied : 
 
 
 Jlhoalan, to love. 1 
 
 I/uen, to say. 
 
 If I love, 
 
 ahoal ak, 
 
 luey a, 
 
 if thou lovest, 
 
 ahoal anne, 
 
 luey anne, 
 
 if he loves, 
 
 ahoal at, 
 ahoal enk, 
 
 lue te, 
 
 if we love, 
 
 luey enk, 
 
 if ye love, 
 
 ahoal eque, 
 
 luey ek. 
 
 if they love, 
 
 ahoal akhtit, 
 
 lue khtit. 
 
 If, when, 
 
 he loves him, 
 
 ahoal ate, 
 
 1 ate, 
 
 I love him, 
 thou lovest him, 
 
 ahoal akhte, 
 
 1 ake, 
 
 k’d ahoal anne, 
 
 1 at panne, 
 
 he loves me, 
 
 ahoal ite, 
 
 1 ite, 
 
 he loves thee, 
 
 ahoal quonne, 
 
 1 uk quonne, 
 
 I love thee, 
 
 ahoal anne, 
 
 lei lanne, 
 
 thou lovest me, 
 
 ahoal iyanne, 
 
 1 iyanne. 
 
 We find, in the two last transitions, the characteristics, l, and 
 i, indicative of the action passing from the first to the second 
 and from the second to the first person, but little affinity with 
 the original pronouns. The plural terminations are diversified, 
 enk, enkwe, yenk, yenkwe, ank, awank, kwek, kwenk , akhtite, 
 &lc., apparently with the general plural sign, but with difficulty 
 reducible to general rules. The simple conjugation and the 
 transitions in the singular number are very uniform, but dis- 
 similar, in reference to the pronouns, from those of the indica- 
 tive mood. Eliot’s paradigm shows, that his suppositive mood 
 was, in the Massachusetts language, of the same character with 
 the Delaware subjunctive. 
 
 It appears extraordinary, that there should be, for the moods 
 of the same verb, two systems of conjugation so entirely dif- 
 fering from each other ; that for the indicative founded on the 
 inflections of the common pronouns, and that of the subjunc- 
 tive without any apparent affinity with these, or with the in- 
 dicative. 
 
 In the subjunctive of our languages, the verb is governed by 
 a separate conjunction, which requires a varied inflection in the 
 
192 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTIiOD. 
 
 verb. But the corresponding Indian mood embraces the con- 
 junction, and concentrates in a single word the verb, the pro- 
 noun or pronouns, and the conjunction expressed or implied. 
 Zeisberger says, that conditional conjunctions, such as ane and 
 appane are thus compounded with the verb in that mood. And 
 in his list of particles, we find ank, ‘ when ’ ; eet, ‘ perhaps.’ 
 The coincidence of those with the terminations ak, ank, anne, 
 it, at, of the singular subjunctive, might therefore sustain the 
 conjecture, that that mood was derived from the incorporation 
 of those conjunctions with the verb. But Mr. Schoolcraft has 
 pointed out certain possessive pronouns, differing from those in 
 general use, to which 1 think it more probable that we can 
 trace the formation of the subjunctive mood. 
 
 He designates these possessive pronouns as “ pronominal 
 suffixes,” which supply the ordinary distinctions of persons, 
 and are used in connexion with a certain class of substantives 
 descriptive of country and place ; and he has given the follow- 
 ing example of the union of the possessive pronoun of that 
 species with the word home, which may be compared with the 
 subjunctive of the simple Delaware conjugation. 
 
 Mij home, 
 thy “ 
 his “ 
 our “ 
 our “ 
 your “ 
 their “ 
 
 Chippeivay. 
 
 Delaicare. 
 
 ainda-yan, 
 
 lue-ya, 
 
 ainda-yun, 
 
 lue-yanne, 
 
 ainda-d, 
 
 lue-te, 
 
 ainda-yang, ) 
 ainda-yung, ) 
 
 lue-yenk, 
 
 ainda yaig, 
 
 lue-yek, 
 
 ainda-wad, 
 
 lue-ktit, 
 
 If I say, 
 “ thou “ 
 
 “ he “ 
 
 “ we “ 
 
 “ ye “ 
 
 “ they 11 
 
 Allowing for the usual permutations of g and k, and of d 
 and t, and considering that the comparison is instituted be- 
 tween two distinct languages though of the same family, the 
 similarity of the pronominal Chippeway suffixes, with the 
 Delaware subjunctive terminations, is so striking, that it is 
 hardly possible that they should not have had a common origin. 
 But why there were two distinct sets of pronouns, and why 
 this was adopted for the subjunctive mood, remains unexplained. 
 
 Amongst the various forms of which the verbs are suscepti- 
 ble, some are mentioned by Zeisberger, which are conjugated, 
 in the indicative, in a manner analogous to the conjugation of 
 the subjunctive ; such as, 
 
 To be or stay there , 
 to go , 
 
 to be , or do, so , 
 to say , 
 
 achpin, achpiya; 
 aan, aano ; 
 
 lissin, lissiye : 
 luen, lueya; 
 
 where I stay, epia, epianne, &c. 
 
 where I go, eyaya, eyayanne, &c. 
 
 as I am, ox do, elsiya, elsiyanne, &c. 
 
 what, (ox as) Isay, eloweya, eloweyanne, &c. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 193 
 
 But those forms are generally conjugated in all their moods 
 as the primitive verb. This appears to be the case with the 
 causative form, generally designated by the conversion of the 
 infinitive termination into owen, or sheen ; and also in verbs 
 compounded with prepositions. Thus the verb witeen, from 
 aan ‘to go,’ and witschi, ‘with,’ (Zeisberger, page 246) is con- 
 jugated as its primitive. 
 
 N'da, 
 
 K’da, 
 
 en, 
 
 1 N’daneen, &c. 
 
 N’vvitt, 
 
 K’witt, 
 
 witt eu, 
 
 N'witteneeu, &c. 
 
 The Muskhogee pronouns in the singular and in the first 
 person plural of the objective case have a great affinity with 
 those of the Choctaw. In the specimens of its transitions, it 
 will be seen that a common termination ist occurs throughout, 
 the meaning of which is not understood. The objective case 
 of the pronoun precedes, and the nominative case follows, the 
 root of the verb. In other respects they would not materially 
 differ from the Choctaw system, were it not that the Muskhogee 
 appears to want distinctive signs for the dual and plural of the 
 second person. They substitute for those, with some varied 
 terminations, the words hokolyn, from holcko, which means 
 ‘ two,’ and homulgyon from omuiga, ‘ a multitude.’ When those 
 two substitutes occur together, and are united with the verb 
 and its two pronouns, they appear rather as three distinct 
 words, than as a concentrated transition. 
 
 The Cherokee transitions are less complex than those of 
 the Delaware, though not so simple as in the Choctaw. The 
 two pronouns in the nominative and objective case always 
 precede the root of the verb, leaving no doubt that the inflec- 
 tions of person, number, and case are those of the pronoun, and 
 not at all of the verb. The usual sign of the plural, te, pre- 
 fixed, uniformly indicates that the objective pronoun is in the 
 plural. The pronouns themselves are principally the same 
 as those used as possessive, either entire or in an abbreviated 
 form. St is the sign of the dual, and ts of the plural for both, 
 particularly in the second person. Awgin designates ‘him’ and 
 ‘ me,’ and gin, ‘ thee ’ and ‘ me,’ both in the transitions, and as 
 possessive when united to the noun. The signs ski, skiya, skina, 
 distinguish the second person in the nominative case, according 
 to certain fixed rules. But that, by which the pronouns, in 
 the nominative and in the objective case, are distinguished from 
 each other, is not apparent in every instance, 
 vol. ii. 25 
 
194 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OP THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 In the conjugations, of the language of Chili, the pronouns 
 in an abbreviated form are always placed after the verb. 
 They vary according to the mood, and, both in the indicative 
 and subjunctive, amount to nine, distinguishing the singular, 
 dual, and plural in each person, as follows : 
 
 Indicative. 
 
 Singular, 
 
 Dual, 
 
 Plural, 
 
 1 First Person. 
 
 Second Person. 
 
 n, 
 
 ymi, 
 
 y u > 
 
 ymu, 
 
 1 in 
 
 yinn, 
 
 Third Person. 
 
 y> 
 
 yg u . 
 
 yg n - 
 
 All these pronouns are preserved in the transitions, and 
 occupy the same place as in the simple conjugation ; and the 
 other pronoun is expressed by the insertion of a particle, which 
 is not derived from any pronoun. Those transitions are, in 
 conformity to the genius of the language, classed according to 
 the person in whom the action terminates. The first transition 
 is that in which the action passes from any one person to the 
 same individual person, and consists therefore of the reflected 
 verbs. The second transition is that, in which the action 
 passes from any of the three persons to the third person. The 
 last four transitions are those, in which the action terminates in 
 the first, or in the second person. 
 
 In the first two transitions, the nine pronouns contained in 
 the table represent the nominative case ; and the pronoun in 
 the objective case is represented by the insertion of u for the 
 first transition, and of vi for the second, immediately before the 
 termination expressive of the acting pronoun. In the second 
 transition, the terminations egu, and egn are respectively added 
 at the end of the word, when the pronoun in the third person, 
 in whom the action terminates, is either in the dual or plural 
 number. 
 
 In the last four transitions, the nine pronouns contained in 
 the table represent the objective case, or that in which the 
 action terminates. The particles e and mo, the first always 
 placed before one of the said nine pronouns, the second some- 
 times substituted for it, in other cases added as a termination of 
 one of the nine pronouns, represent the pronoun in the nomina- 
 tive case. But the various positions of these two particles, e 
 and mo, are not sufficient to distinguish in every case, whether 
 that pronoun is in the singular or plural, or indeed to which 
 person it belongs ; and when the action passes from the first 
 person, in the dual or plural number, to the second person, it 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 195 
 
 is necessary, in order to prevent confusion, to resort to a form 
 derived from the first transition. 
 
 Some cases remain, in which the same form expresses two 
 or more distinct combinations of the pronouns in the nomina- 
 tive and objective case; such as I-thee and he-thee ; thou-me 
 and he-me. The confusion falls generally as usual on the 
 third person: and, upon the whole, the plan is inferior to that 
 of the Choctaw, both in simplicity and precision. 
 
 The simple conjugations and the transitions of the Sioux 
 consist altogether of combinations of the pronouns with the 
 root of the verb. They always precede it; but the general 
 sign of the plural, pee, is affixed as a final termination when- 
 ever either of the pronouns or both are in the plural number. 
 It seems, that in the two first persons singular the objective case 
 of the pronoun is distinguished from the nominative, and the 
 plural from the singular in the nominative of the first and in 
 the objective case of the third person : ‘ I,’ wah ; ‘me,’ mah\ 
 ‘ we,’ ‘ us,’ oan ; ‘ them,’ weetsha ‘ thou,’ £ ye,’ eeah ; ‘ thee,’ 
 1 you,’ nee. The plan is extremely simple ; but the apparent 
 want of distinction between the nominative and objective case, 
 in the plural of the first, and in the plural and singular of the 
 second person, produces ambiguity in some instances. Thus 
 nee tsheeng pee means equally, ‘he loves you,’ ‘ they love thee,’ 
 
 ‘ they love you ’ ; and oan tsheeng pee, ‘ we love thee,’ ‘ we love 
 you,’ ‘he loves us.’ We have however too few paradigms of 
 the verbs of the Sioux languages to form a definitive opinion. 
 
 The information respecting the Iroquois languages is still 
 more incomplete. We have no paradigms of their transitions. 
 It appears from those of the simple conjugation of the Ononda- 
 go, given by Zeisberger, that it is founded, both in the active 
 and passive voice, on pronominal inflections, that the pronouns 
 are always prefixed to the root of the verb, and that there are 
 several varieties of pronouns for each person. This last fea- 
 ture is peculiar to the languages of that family ; and it seems 
 probable, that the selection depends on the termination of the 
 verb. 
 
 Egede’s Grammar of the Eskitnau, which is said to give full 
 information respecting that language, could not be obtained ; 
 and the paradigm inserted in his account of Greenland is only 
 the present indicative of the verb “ I wash.” It is, however, 
 
 * Apparently abbreviated from weetshashiah, ‘ man.’ 
 
196 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 certain, that the separate pronouns are distinguished from each 
 other in the three numbers ; that they are used in an abbre- 
 viated form in the simple conjugations and in the transitions ; 
 and that they are always affixed to the verb, as well as to the 
 noun. The objective case of the personal is said to be identic 
 with the possessive pronoun. 
 
 
 Separate. 
 
 Abbreviations. 
 
 
 wash self, selves, 
 
 wash him. 
 
 /, 
 
 unga, 
 
 Nomin. 
 
 nga, 
 
 guk, 
 
 Object., Possess, 
 ga, ra, 
 
 /, 
 
 ermikp unga, 
 “ oguk, 
 
 ermikp ara, 
 “ arpuk, 
 
 we two, 
 
 uaguk, 
 
 puk, guk, vuk, 
 
 we two, 
 
 we , 
 
 uagut, 
 
 gut, 
 
 put, gut, vut, 
 
 we, 
 
 “ ogut, 
 
 “ arput, 
 
 thou , 
 
 iblit, 
 
 iliptik. 
 
 tit, 
 
 et, it, t, 
 
 thou, 
 
 “ otit, 
 
 “ et, 
 
 ye tioo 
 
 tik, 
 
 tik, sik, 
 
 ye tioo, 
 
 “ otili, 
 
 “ artik, 
 
 ye, 
 
 ilipse, 
 
 se, 
 
 till, se, 
 
 ye, 
 
 “ ose, 
 
 “ arse, 
 
 he, 
 
 una, 
 
 k, au, 
 
 ne, me, a, at, 
 
 he, 
 
 “ ok, 
 
 “ a > 
 
 they, 
 
 okko, 
 
 uk, ut, 
 
 aet, 
 
 they, 
 
 “ ut, 
 
 “ aek. 
 
 It appears from all the information we possess on the subject, 
 that all the inflections of person and number, which are found 
 in the Indian languages, connected with the verb, are in reality, 
 as from their nature they might be expected to be in primitive 
 oral inflected languages, the inflections of the pronoun and not 
 of the verb. If, considering the limits of this essay, more 
 space has been allowed to this branch of the subject than may 
 appear necessary, it is because it was the only one, respecting 
 which the materials within our reach were sufficiently ample, 
 for the double purpose of reducing it to rules, and of instituting 
 a comparison between the several modes which nations, that 
 had adopted the same principle, have pursued in the applica- 
 tion of that principle. It must also be recollected, that nine 
 tenths, at least, of the several hundred inflections found in the 
 conjugations of some verbs are due to those pronominal com- 
 binations ; and that, as a preliminary process, they must be fully 
 understood, and the noun and verb be disentangled from those 
 accessaries, before any progress can be made in the acquire- 
 ment of the language. It is undoubtedly for that reason, that 
 both Eliot and Zeisberger have allotted so great a portion of 
 their Grammars to that object. 
 
 There can be no doubt that, even in those languages which 
 appear most complex, the power of analogy in the human 
 mind is such as necessarily to produce a sufficient degree of 
 uniformity for common purposes ; and that accordingly all those 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 197 
 
 multiplied inflections are in every instance reducible to rules, 
 subject to more or less exceptions, according as the plan has in 
 its progress become more or less complex. Many of these 
 exceptions may be traced to euphony, and become also subject 
 to the rules which it imposes. One instance will be given, 
 which will explain the apparent anomalies of some of the 
 Delaware inflections. 
 
 It seems that the surd or vocal sound belonging to the ab- 
 breviated pronouns, and which Mr. Heckewelder expresses by 
 an apostrophe, («’, k[, w’, or ne, kc, we ; in Chippeway ni, 
 ki, o ,) is essential to them, or cannot coalesce with a vowel. 
 Whenever therefore a vowel is the first letter of a verb, the 
 expletive consonant d is inserted between the characteristic of 
 the pronoun and the verb. The rule does not apply to the 
 sound u or o, but extends to the cases where the verb begins 
 with I. 
 
 Achpin, 5 to stay ’ ; n’dappi, k'dappi, ‘ I stay,’ ‘ thou stayest.’ 
 
 Acm, ‘to go ’ ; n’da, k’dct, &c. Ahoalan, ‘ to love ’ ; 
 n'dahoala, k’dahoaia, &c. 
 
 Lissin, ‘to be so ’ ; n’delsi, &c. Lauchsin ‘ to live ’ ; n’cZe- 
 lauchsin, &c. 
 
 Ltien, ‘ to say ’ ; n’dellowe, &c. 
 
 But tvulamalsi makes n’wZamalsi, and walhaton makes n’o- 
 hcilton. The rule appears to extend to the Chippeway. 
 Ishkodai, ‘ fire ’ ; ni t&hkdaim, ‘ my fire ’ ; ossin , ‘ a stone ’ ; 
 nin t/ossineen, ‘ my stone ’ ; ais, ‘a shell’; nin (Zaisim, ‘my 
 shell.’ (Schoolcraft.) But there are exceptions ; os, ‘ father ’ ; 
 nos, ‘ my father,’ and not ni dos. 
 
 The various means adopted by the several Indian nations in 
 order to effect the same object, that of concentrating in a 
 single word the two pronouns and the verb, and the different 
 character which the first steps once taken have impressed on 
 the several languages respectively, seem to deserve attention, 
 inasmuch as the investigation may throw some light on the his- 
 tory of the formation of languages. It must be admitted that 
 the cumbersome apparatus, with which, in order to attain such a 
 simple object, some of those languages have been overwhelmed, 
 is calculated to excite wonder rather than admiration. Their 
 system of transitions, with its multiplied inflections, appears to 
 me to be the most defective part of the Algonkin-Lenape lan- 
 
198 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 guages. Their merit seems to consist in their innumerable 
 analogical and most convenient derivatives;* in the happy 
 manner by which, through the insertion of a single particle, 
 not only tenses and our common moods, but almost every 
 possible modification of the action, is specially expressed ; in 
 the flexibility of the several parts of speech, which has 
 enabled the Indian to enrich his language with so many graphic 
 compound words, and, almost at will, to create new words, 
 perfectly intelligible to the hearer, for every new object or 
 idea. Thus, for instance, the horse is called by the Chippe- 
 ways, paibaizhikogazhi, and by the Delawares, nanayanges. 
 Both are compound significative words ; the literal meaning of 
 the first being “ the animal with united (solid) hoofs,” of the 
 second, “the animal that carries on its back.” 
 
 The several Indian languages seem to differ Considerably 
 in their respective powers and methods of compounding words. 
 Our information on that subject is as yet very imperfect for 
 most of them. But the designation of the several modifica- 
 tions of which the action is susceptible, by particles prefixed, 
 affixed, or inserted, either significative, arbitrary, or the mean- 
 ing of which is lost, appears to be a feature common to all. 
 An illustration of this principle is found in the formation of 
 the tenses, of the passive voice, and of the negative form in 
 various languages. It will be seen by the tables in the Appen- 
 dix, that the number of tenses is not the same in all. All 
 indeed have a present, a preterite, and a future ; but we find in 
 some a pluperfect, in others a double future, sometimes referring 
 to the nearer or greater length of time which may elapse be- 
 fore the action takes place, sometimes implying respectively, 
 as in the English will and shall, a voluntary act or an obligation. 
 In some of the languages, that of Chili for instance, there are 
 tenses, the nice shades of distinction between which may not 
 be precisely understood by foreigners. A peculiarity common 
 to many is the use of the present for the preterite. In the 
 Cherokee, a form derived from the participle has been resorted 
 to, in order to designate with precision the present (“ I tying ” 
 meaning I do now tie ”). In the language of Chili, an insu- 
 lated tense, unconnected with the regular general system, has 
 been added for the same purpose. 
 
 * See, for instance, the derivatives of ivulik, ‘ good,’ in Du Ponceau’s 
 and Heckewelder’s Correspondence, pp. 394, 395. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 199 
 
 Referring to the Grammatical Notices and to the Tables for 
 further details, vve insert here only the most general modes of 
 formation. 
 
 The preterite is formed in the Delaware by affixing the ter- 
 mination eep, neep, ep, or hump ; in the Eskimau by affixing 
 sok ; in the Choctaw by affixing kamo or chamo, tuk or tok, 
 each of which terminations designates a different modification ; 
 in the Onondago, by affixing ochre, ochqua, nha, &c., vary- 
 ing according to the termination of the verb ; in the Sioux by 
 affixing kong ; in the language of Chili, by inserting vu. 
 
 The future is formed in the Delaware by affixing tsh, or 
 ktsh\ in the Eskimau, by affixing savok ; in the Choctaw, by 
 affixing chi, or he, according as the action is to take place im- 
 mediately or at some remote time ; in the Onondago, by 
 prefixing n, or na, the first if the act is voluntary, the last if 
 ordered ; in the Sioux, by affixing ktay ; in Chilian by insert- 
 ing a. 
 
 The negative form is made in the Delaware, by affixing wi 
 and prefixing generally the negative atta, or matta ; in the 
 Choctaw, by prefixing ik, or ok ; in the Eskimau, by inserting 
 ngil ; in the Muskhogee, by affixing kost (?) ; in the Cherokee, 
 by prefixing tlah ; in the Chilian, by inserting la. 
 
 The passive voice is formed in the Delaware, by affixing xi, 
 or gussi ; in the Cherokee, by affixing gung ; in the language 
 of Chili, by inserting ge ; in the Choctaw by inserting ull in 
 the body of the verb and using the objective case of the 
 pronoun (‘ thou tiest,’ ish tokch ; ‘ thou art tied,’ chit tull 
 okch ) ; in the Muskhogee, by affixing agy, and also using the 
 objective case of the pronoun. In the Onondago, a distinct 
 set of pronouns is substituted in the passive voice. Active 
 wagerio, wascherio, waharrie, ‘ I, thou, he, beat, 5 passive ; 
 junkerio, jetserio, thuwarrie, ‘I am, thou art, he is beaten.’ 
 
 The collocation of those particles is in each language respec- 
 tively very uniform, and may be understood by the following 
 examples. 
 
 neg. pr. verb . pas. neg. plur . pret. 
 
 Delaware, Matta n’penda xi-wi-wun-ap ; ‘ we were not heard.’ 
 
 verb. neg. pas. pret.pl. pron. 
 
 Chili, Elu-la-ge-vu-ygn ; ‘ we were not given.’ 
 
 The indicative and subjunctive moods alone have as yet 
 been mentioned. Of the imperative, it may be sufficient here 
 
200 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OP THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 to observe that its second person singular is, in many of the 
 Indian languages, if not the root, at least one of the most 
 simple forms of the verb. In others the present of the indica- 
 tive, and sometimes the infinitive, are amongst the simplest 
 forms. In the Choctaw, tolcche, which is the root of the verb 
 “ to tie,” is equally the third person singular of the present of 
 the indicative, the second person singular of- the imperative, 
 and the infinitive. But if the third person of the present in- 
 dicative appears in that and several other languages in a more 
 simple form than the two first persons of the same tense, it is 
 only owing to the common omission of the pronoun of that 
 third person. The infinitive seems to be less used in the In- 
 dian languages than in those of Europe ; but they are, in 
 general, rich in participles, present, past, and future, active and 
 passive, and susceptible of modifications which render their 
 use extensively applicable and of great utility. 
 
 If we take the word “ mood,” in its most extensive sense, it 
 will be found that their number far exceeds, in the Indian 
 that in the European languages. By affixing, prefixing, or 
 inserting an arbitrary particle, or rather an abbreviated noun, 
 verb, adverb, preposition, or conjunction, the verb is made to 
 designate the specific modification of the action. Whether 
 that new form should be considered as a mood of the same 
 verb, or as a derivative, is not very important. But it is a 
 matter of regret, that our information on that most interesting 
 view of the Indian languages, and generally respecting all that 
 relates to derivative and compounded words, though sufficient 
 to show the extent to which those several processes are car- 
 ried, is too limited to enable us to exhibit the subject in a 
 condensed and perspicuous form. The appended grammatical 
 notices embrace the substance of what could be collected in 
 that respect ; and reference must be had for further details, 
 particularly concerning the Algonkin-Lenape languages, to the 
 works of the American philologist, from whose writings extracts- 
 have been made. A very incomplete and desultory enumera- 
 tion may convey some idea of those multiplied forms. 
 
 Nouns have varied terminations indicative of resemblance, 
 locality, analogy, fellowship ; diminutive and derogative forms, 
 and others implying beauty or increase ; annexed inseparable 
 prepositions, meaning, in, under, on, at, about, near, towards, 
 through, &c. And substantives coalesce with adjectives so as 
 to express in a single word almost every qualification of which 
 any object is susceptible. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 201 
 
 Independent of causative, reflected, and reciprocal verbal 
 forms, the following are found : 
 
 ‘ He is used, continues, intends, is about, is finishing, is at lib- 
 erty to do a certain act.’ * I see far off, near, one I know,’ &c. 
 ‘ It rains hard, by showers, steadily.’ £ The action is, has been, 
 or may be done, ill, better, in a different manner, quickly, at- 
 tentively, rarely, probably, jointly, repeatedly,’ &c., with vari- 
 ous other modifications expressive of doubt, likeness, denial, 
 various degrees of assertion, &c. # 
 
 Words compounded by the union of two verbs, or of a 
 verb and a noun, are in general use. The manner of com- 
 pounding words, by uniting in a single one the abbreviations, 
 sometimes a single syllable, or even letter, of five, six or more 
 words, belongs equally to the Eskimau and to the Algonkin, 
 and extends, if not universally, probably to many other langua-- 
 ges. Some examples will be found in the Grammatical Notices, 
 and amongst these, one of seventeen syllables in the Chero- 
 kee : wi-ni-taw-ti-ge-gi-na-li-skaw-lung-ta-naw-ne-li-ti-se-sti ; 
 which means, “ They will by that time have nearly finished 
 granting (favors) from a distance to thee and me.” But this 
 and similar words are not in common use, and only show to 
 what extent words may be compounded in conformity with the 
 analogies of the language, so as to be perfectly intelligible to 
 an Indian. 
 
 That flexibility which has brought into common use the 
 conversion of every part of speech into another, and which 
 has produced that multiplicity of forms, of derivatives, and of 
 compounded words, and that perpetual concentration of com- 
 plex ideas in a single word, is not only the most striking com- 
 mon characteristic of the Indian languages, but must, it is 
 believed, have in some respects imparted to them greater pow- 
 ers than seem to belong to those of Europe. Some most 
 respectable philologists have indeed seen in those features the 
 proof of an ancient civilization. Even the learned authors of 
 
 * Even in the Cheppeyan language (Athapasca), of which we have 
 only the specimen of two pages in Mr. Du Ponceau’s collection, we 
 find the following forms : bainaysnie, ‘ 1 have some recollection ’ ; bain- 
 asnie, ‘ I recollect ’ ; subainasnie, ‘I do remember.’ When I asked 
 Mr. Boudinot to give me, amongst other verbal forms, the Cherokee 
 word for we two are tied , he immediately answered ; there are two 
 forms. ‘We two are tied together,’ agehnahlung ; ‘we are both tied, 
 but each separately,’ dagenahlung. (Note, that Mr. Boudinot uses d, 
 where Mr. Worcester writes t.) 
 
 vol. ii. 26 
 
202 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 the Mithridates wonder “ how such people can have performed 
 such philological work, which can only have been the result of 
 profound and abstract meditations.” And it is remarkable that 
 this assertion is in part founded on the multiplied inflections of 
 the transitions of the verb. “ What is most extraordinary is 
 the prodigious number of forms expressing the accusative case 
 of pronouns governed by the verb.”* 
 
 May not our early impressions have associated in our minds 
 a general, though vague notion of inflected languages, with an 
 advanced state of civilization ? The admiration felt for the 
 great writers of Rome and Greece, the real superiority in many 
 respects of their languages over those of Modern Europe, the 
 origin of these in the invasions of barbarous nations and in the 
 ages of darkness which followed, have given us the habit of 
 associating inflected languages with knowledge and civilization, 
 and those destitute of those forms with barbarism and ignorance. 
 Yet the undeniable merits of the classical languages will be 
 found, on reflection, to consist in their perfection, in the manner 
 in which the principle has been applied, rather than the princi- 
 ple itself. 
 
 It is not certainly in the multiplied inflections used in the transi- 
 tions of some of the Indian languages that we find proofs of pro- 
 found meditations. All those inflections, however varied, never 
 contain, independent of the root of the verb, any other ideas, 
 but those of two pronouns, respectively agent and object of the 
 action. In whatever manner the ideas contained in ‘ I love 
 thee,’ ‘ you love me ,’ may be expressed, the accessaries embraced 
 by the word or words are never any thing more or less than 
 ‘ I thee,’ ‘ you me ,’ &c. The fact that, although the object in 
 view was, in every known Indian language without exception, 
 to concentrate in a single word those pronouns with the verb, 
 yet the means used for that purpose are not the same in any 
 two of them, shows that none of them was the result of philo- 
 sophical researches and preconcerted design. And, in those 
 which abound most in inflections of that description, nothing 
 more has been done, in that respect, than to effect, by a most 
 complex process and with a cumbersome and unnecessary 
 machinery, that which, in almost every other language, has 
 been as well if not better performed through the most simple 
 means. Those transitions, in their complexness and in the still 
 
 * Mithridates. — Esquimaux, 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 203 
 
 visible amalgamation of the abbreviated pronouns with the verb, 
 bear in fact the impress of primitive and unpolished languages. 
 
 But even taking into consideration the most happy features 
 of the Indian languages, the fact, that they were universally 
 spoken by the American nations, whether uncivilized or semi- 
 civilized, does not, so long as we remain unacquainted with their 
 origin, justify either of the assertions, that men in the early 
 stages of society necessarily must, or, on the contrary, that 
 they could not have adopted such forms. The only natural 
 and legitimate inference, since the fact is indubitable, is, that 
 compounded and inflected words were one of the modes which 
 naturally might be, and which in this instance was actually, 
 resorted to by man, in order to communicate his ideas in an 
 intelligible manner. 
 
 There are strong reasons for believing, not only that this, 
 though perhaps nowhere carried to the same extent as in 
 America, was a process early adopted, by other nations ; but 
 that all that belongs to the grammar, to the character, and to 
 the general structure of every ancient language must have had 
 its origin in the earliest stages of the social state, and before 
 man could have attained a high degree of knowledge, and made 
 any great progress in all that constitutes civilization. It must 
 indeed be admitted, that those reasons cannot, from the nature 
 of the question, amount to absolute proof; and the following 
 remarks are intended only as suggesting subjects of inquiry. 
 
 There are in Africa, in Asia, in Polynesia, numerous nations, 
 of whose languages we know little more than what may be 
 inferred from meagre vocabularies. An investigation of their 
 grammatical forms would throw great light on the subject. In 
 the mean while, it deserves notice, that the great philologist 
 Vater could point out but two languages that, on account of the 
 multiplicity of their forms, had a character, if not similar, at 
 least analogous to those of America. These were the Congo 
 and the Basque. The first is spoken by a barbarous nation of 
 Africa. The other is now universally admitted to be a remark- 
 able relic of a most ancient and primitive language, formed in 
 the most early ages of the world.* 
 
 * Without admitting the antediluvian pretensions of Cantabrian 
 writers, it is at least obvious that the Basque was the ancient Iberian, 
 the Aquitanian of Caesar, and that, before the progress of the Teutonic, 
 Phoenician, and Latin nations, Western Europe was occupied in the north 
 by the Celts, in the south by the Iberians. Their respective languages 
 
204 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 The modem languages of Western Europe were formed at a 
 time when writing had long been in general use; and it is diffi- 
 cult, if not impossible, to discriminate between what might be 
 considered as the natural progress of language, and the effect 
 produced by the mixture of distinct idioms, and by the respec- 
 tive influence of each. It is obviously impossible to have any 
 evidence of the oral languages of antiquity, before they had 
 been reduced to writing. We cannot ascend higher than the 
 most ancient works which have been preserved. 
 
 We cannot assert positively, that the Pentateuch and the 
 Iliad were the first books ever written in Hebrew and in Greek. 
 But there is the highest degree of probability that both of them 
 were composed and written at an epoch so near the time when 
 writing had been first introduced amongst the Jews and the 
 Greeks respectively, that that invention could, as yet, have 
 produced but little effect on the language of either. We may 
 therefore justly consider those two works, as the nearest possi- 
 ble approximation to the oral language of those two people 
 prior to the discovery of the alphabet. If we find in them the 
 same grammatical forms, and substantially the same structure of 
 language, as in the following ages of Hebraic and Greek litera- 
 ture, it affords a strong presumption, tbat those forms and all 
 that essentially constitutes the character of a language had 
 their origin prior to the invention of writing, and in a very 
 early stage of society. 
 
 Those two languages belong to two distinct and dissimilar 
 families. In one of them we find a system of compounded 
 words and of inflections, much less extensive than that of the 
 American nations, but, I suspect, much more perfect, and as 
 superior, as the Greeks even of the Homeric times, were to 
 our Indians. In the Hebrew, we discover, besides several other 
 correspondences,* * transitions, or the combination in a single 
 word of the two pronouns with the verb. Thus, although the 
 application of the principles differs widely in the several lan- 
 guages, still the modes adopted were originally of a similar 
 character. This may be adduced as an additional proof of the 
 common origin of mankind. It proves, at all events, that the 
 
 prove the more ancient origin of the Iberians, or, to speak more cor- 
 rectly, that they had separated from the common stock and migrated 
 westwardly at an earlier date. 
 
 * The use, for instance, of the present tense for the preterite, and the 
 resort to the participle for designating the present time with precision. 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 205 
 
 same modes of communicating ideas were in use among very 
 different nations, at the most early times of which we have any 
 knowledge. 
 
 A further proof of the very early use of inflected forms is 
 afforded by the fact, that we find them amongst all those nations, 
 from the Ganges to the Atlantic ocean, which indubitably belong 
 to the same stock. They must therefore have had their origin 
 at an epoch prior to the separation of those nations, and which 
 ascends much higher than the invention of writing, or historical 
 times. 
 
 Though not belonging to our Indians, it may be observed, 
 that the invention of the substantive verb, and its use as an 
 auxiliary verb, are also of great antiquity, since they are common 
 to all those nations. The infinitive to be, in the Latin and' Sla- 
 vonian, and, as I am informed, in the Sanscrit, means also to eat. 
 In the Delaware language, the verb pomrnauchsin means £ to 
 walk ’ and 1 to live.’ 
 
 Amongst those nations, there are two, which do not appear 
 to have ever been subdued, since they occupied their present 
 seats, and whose languages, apparently unmixed with any other, 
 must have been the result of their own natural progress. The 
 transient dominion of Charlemagne and of his successors was 
 that of a Teutonic, over another kindred tribe ; and the Latin 
 did not penetrate beyond the Rhine. The variations along the 
 eastern boundary of Germany, which divides it from the 
 Slavonic nations, have only affected particular districts in its 
 immediate vicinity. The heart of Germany and the adjacent 
 kindred northern nations have been and remained Teutonic, 
 without any foreign mixture, from the most remote antiquity to 
 the present time. Although the Tartars had imposed a tribute 
 on Russia, they made no permanent settlement in the country ; 
 and their language cannot have had any marked influence on 
 the Slavonian. 
 
 The Gothic translation of the Gospels by Ulphilas was made 
 in the fourth century, and is the oldest specimen we have of 
 the Teutonic languages. I have seen no other specimen of it 
 than “ Our Lord’s Prayer,” in the “ Mithridates ” ; but, if I am 
 correctly informed, the language of that translation exhibits the 
 same, and even a greater variety of inflections and of grammati- 
 cal forms, than are found in the modern German, or in any of 
 the other languages of the same family. The grammars of the 
 ancient Anglo-Saxon corroborate the fact. All that relates to 
 
206 
 
 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 the German must be left to the great philologists of that nation. 
 But, generally speaking, it would seem, as if the progress of 
 language, in a more advanced state of civilization, had a ten- 
 
 O O • / 
 
 dency towards lessening inflections and rendering it more ana- 
 lytical.* 
 
 The introduction of the alphabet in Russia and her conver- 
 sion to Christianity belong to the tenth century ; and we have 
 translations of the Bible and of various church hooks, written in 
 the ancient Slavonic, almost immediately after those events took 
 place. They are therefore the true representation of that 
 which till then had been only an oral language. There again 
 we find inflections, less numerous perhaps in the verbs, but 
 more so in the cases of nouns, of which there are seven. 
 
 These various facts, combined, sustain the opinion, that the 
 grammatical forms, found in polished languages, had their origin 
 at a very remote epoch, and that, having impressed a distinct 
 character upon each, they have not been materially changed by 
 the introduction of writing and by the progress of knowledge. 
 Although the early formation of languages must ever remain a 
 subject of conjecture, we may yet say, that there is nothing 
 inconsistent in that opinion with the manner in which we may 
 rationally suppose that they were formed. After names had 
 been given to visible objects and to most common actions, the 
 foundation being laid in nouns and verbs, the necessity, for an 
 intelligible communication of ideas, of expressing the relations 
 existing between things and actions and the modifications to 
 which they were subject, must have given rise to some expe- 
 dient for that purpose. Since there were several means for 
 effecting the object, the modes resorted to by different people 
 have varied. But whatever mode might be adopted, the neces- 
 sity for such expedient was the same in the earliest stages of 
 society as at this day. Grammatical forms were as necessary, 
 for the most common purposes, and when the knowledge of 
 man and his sphere of ideas were most limited, as in the most 
 
 * In the English, in the French and other languages of Latin origin, 
 the substitution of the principle of position, for that of inflection, is suf- 
 ficiently visible. The most general and conspicuous effect has been the 
 annihilation, save only in the pronouns, of the inflections denoting the 
 case of the noun governed by the verb. As these have been preserved 
 in the Slavonian languages, it may be inferred, that the mixture of idioms 
 has had a great share in producing that effect. May not the changes in 
 the modern Greek be partly ascribed to the influence of the Italian ? 
 
SECT. VI.] 
 
 INDIAN LANGUAGES. 
 
 207 
 
 advanced state of civilization. Notwithstanding the great 
 progress of knowledge during the last four centuries, though 
 new words have been introduced and others become obsolete, 
 though languages have been polished and adorned, the gram- 
 matical forms remain the same as they were four hundred years 
 ago, and have been found sufficient for the communication of 
 new ideas and of all that may have been added to our knowl- 
 edge. The most uneducated men, those who in Europe speak 
 only patois of the written language, deviate from the established 
 rules of grammar, but use grammatical forms to the same extent 
 as the best masters of the language. It seems indeed obvious, 
 that the tendency of a written language is to give it stability, 
 rather than to change its nature ; and I believe that experience 
 shows, that the changes have everywhere applied much more 
 to words than to grammar. 
 
 Although we cannot say, why or how it happened, that the 
 relations existing between things and actions, the qualifications 
 of the things, and the modifications of the action were expressed, 
 in some languages by new words invented for that special pur- 
 pose, and in others by changes of termination, insertion of 
 abbreviated particles or words compounded in different ways, 
 we easily understand how the principle, which was once intro- 
 duced, must gradually have extended its influence over the 
 whole language. Analogy is sufficient to explain all the phe- 
 nomena, after an innovation suggested by necessity had been 
 generally adopted ; and there is no difficulty in conceiving, how 
 a peculiar character was thus impressed on each language from 
 its earliest formation. 
 
 Every innovation in language must, in the first instance, have 
 been the work of some one individual, to whom it was suggested 
 by the necessity of finding some new means in order to render 
 himself intelligible. After names, till then inflexible, had been 
 given to visible objects, and to the generality of actions, the 
 man, who first thought of expressing the qualification or modifi- 
 cation of either, or their relation, by a mere variation in the 
 word, was an inventor. It is very natural to suppose, that that 
 variation consisted at first in blending together two words, either 
 entire or abbreviated. But, whatever the process may have 
 been, the inventors were not philosophers. The invention was 
 suggested by necessity, adopted on account of its convenience 
 and utility, and extended to similar cases by analogy. The 
 inventors, and those who adopted the innovation, were equally 
 
208 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 
 
 unaware of its ultimate and extensive consequences, and of the 
 character it would impress on the whole language. It may be 
 doubted, whether the utmost sagacity of men could have anti- 
 cipated those effects, and whether a more perfect language 
 could, even at this day, be formed by the most learned philolo- 
 gists, than any that has been produced by what may be called 
 natural causes. 
 
 If, from all the facts which we can collect, it appears that 
 inflections and compounded words have been, amongst the 
 natural and common means, resorted to in the most ancient 
 times by other nations, for an intelligible and full communication 
 of their ideas ; if it is also natural to suppose, that, where not 
 regulated by writing and eminent writers, the application of the 
 principle may have become superabundant and excessive ; there 
 is not, it seems, sufficient reason for inferring from the peculiar 
 character of the languages of the Indians, that they had their 
 origin in a state of society, differing from that which was found 
 to exist in North America, when discovered by the Europeans. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 905 A512T v. 2 1836 441072