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Alphabetical Enumeration of Indian Tribes
Alphabetical Enumeration
An attempt is made, in the following Table, to locate the various bands of
Aborigines, ancient and modern, and to convey the best information
respecting their numbers our multifarious sources will warrant. Modern
writers have been, for several years, endeavoring to divide North America
into certain districts, each of which should include all the Indians
speaking the same or dialects of the same, language; but whoever has paid
any attention to the subject, must undoubtedly have been convinced that it
can never be done with any degree of accuracy. This has been undertaken in
reference to an approximation of the great question of the origin of this
people, from a comparison of the various languages used among them. An
unwritten language easily varied, and there can be no barrier to
innovation. A continual intermixing of tribes has gone on from the period
of their origin to the present time, judging from what we have daily seen;
and when any two tribes unite, speaking different languages, or dialects
of the same, a new dialect is produced by such amalgamation. Hence
the accumulation of vocabularies would be like the pursuit of an infinite
series in mathematics difference, however--in the one we recede from the
object in pursuit, while in the other we approach it. But I would not be
understood to speak disparagingly of this attempt at classification; for,
if it be unimportant in the main design, it will be of considerable
service to the student in Indian history on other accounts. Thus, the Uchees are said to speak a
primitive language and they ere districted in a small territory south of
the Cherokees; but some 200 years ago,--if they then existed as a tribe,
and their tradition be true,--they were bounded on the north by one of the
great lakes. And they are said to be descended from the Shawanees by
some of themselves. We know an important community of them is still in
existence in Florida. Have they created a new language in the course
of their wanderings? or have those from whom they separated done so?
Such are the difficulties we meet at every step of a classification. But a
dissertation upon these matters cannot now be attempted.
In the following analysis, the names of the tribes have
been generally given in the singular number, for the sake of brevity; and
the word Indians, after such names is omitted from the same cause.
Few abbreviations have been used;--
W.R. west of the Rocky Mountains;
m., miles;
r., river;
l., lake; and perhaps a few others.
From The Aboriginal Races of North
America,
By Samuel G. Drake,
1880
Index of Tribes or Nations
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