208 SYSTEMS or CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



lady. The third, that of the Cree of the Woods, was procured at the same time 

 and place, from Mrs. Ohlson, a half-blood Cree from Pembina. AfterAvards a second 

 Cree of the Lowlands was obtained at Red River Settlement. Besides these, I 

 received, in the year 1862, a second schedule of the Cree of the Prairie, from the 

 Rev. E. A. Watkins, of Devon, on the Siskatchewan River. These verifications of 

 the details as well as existence of the system were more ample than usual. The 

 Cree language, as well as system of relationship, affiliates very closely with the 

 dialects and systems of the remaining Gichigamian nations. 



First Indicative Feature. My brother's son and daughter. Ego a male, are my 

 step-son and step-daughter. With Ego a female, they are my nephew and niece. 



Second. My sister's son and daughter, Ego a male, are my nephew and niece. 

 With Ego a female, they are my step-son and step-daughter. 



Third. My father's brother is my step-father. 



Fourth. My father's brother's son and daughter are my brother and sister, elder 

 or younger. 



Fifth. My father's sister is my aunt. 



Sixth. My mother's brother is my uncle. 



Seventh. My mother's sister is my mother. 



Eighth. My mother's sister's son and daughter are my brother and sister, elder 

 or younger. 



Ninth. My grandfather's brother is my grandfather. 



Tenth. The grandchildren of my brothers and sisters, and the grandchildren of 

 my collateral brothers and sisters, and of my male and female cousins, are severally 

 my grandchildren. 



Among the Crees the relationship of cousin is also found applied by the children 

 of a brother and sister to each other. The relationships of step-brother and step- 

 sister are not found in the Cree applied as in the Ojibwa. In this respect it retains 

 the original form of the system. 



For the purpose of illustrating the degree of nearness in the vocables for common 

 objects in the dialects of the Great Lake nations, and their relation to the West- 

 ern Algonkin, a short comparative table is inserted below, compiled from unpub- 

 lished vocabularies of the author.^ 



II. Mississippi Nations. L Miamis. 2. Illinois: (L Weas. 2. Piankeshaws. 

 3. Kaskaskias. 4. Peorias.) 3. Sawks and Foxes. 4. Kikapoos. 5. Menominees. 

 6. Shiyans. 7. ShaAvnees. 



The occupation of the vast prairie area in the interior of the continent, by the 

 Indian nations, Avas a modern event. It is perfectly certain, as Avell as obvious 

 from the nature of these plains, that they were incapable of human habitation 

 until after the aborigines had come into possession of the horse, and had learned 

 to rear him as a domestic animal. Before that event they were confined to the 

 banks of the great rivers that traversed the prairies, leaving the remainder of these 

 immense regions an imbroken solitude, in the exclusive possession of the herds of 

 wild animals who grazed their inexhaustible pastures. East of the Mississippi the 



' See table at bottom of next page. 



