182 



SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



The dialects of the Dakota and Missouri nations, and of the Winnebagoes and 

 Mandans, all belong to the same stock language. A sufficient number of vocables 

 are common to render this certain upon bare inspection. At the same time the 

 Minnitaree and Crow dialects contain a large number of words for common objects 

 which are found in the dialects of the former nations. The connection of the 

 latter nations with the Mandans, which is known to have been intimate for more 

 than two hundred years, might explain the presence of some of these words in the 

 Minnitaree and Crow dialects, particularly the words for the numerals ; but the 

 number of vocables for common objects renders it extremely probable, not to say 

 certain, that all of these dialects belong to the same stock language. The sub- 

 joined comparative vocabulary, taken in connection with the terms of relationship 

 in the Table, shows the degree of the correspondence in a list of forty ordinary 

 words.^ It also discloses a sensible family resemblance between these dialects and 

 those of the Gulf nations, with the exc3ption of the Cherokee. 



(] 804-1805) at three hundred and fifty fighting men, which would give a total of about eighteen hun- 

 dred (Travels, London edition, 1814, p. 96), and by Catlin in 1832 at two thousand. (North Ameri- 

 can Indians, I, 287.) In their personal appearance they are still among the best specimens of the 

 American Indian. 



Comparative Yocabulary. 



