218 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



III. Atlantic Algonkins. 



1. Delawares. 2. Muusees. 3. Mohcgans. (4. Abenakis, not in the Table.) 

 5. Etcherains or Malisetes. 6. Micmacs. 



The eastern Algonkins were subdivided into a number of nations politically dis- 

 tinct ; but those properly so distinguished were, in reality, less numerous than the 

 early accounts represent. Distinctness of dialect furnishes a more reliable criterion 

 than the nominal independence of particular bands. Separate bands of the same 

 nation have not only received separate names, but a multiplicity of names have 

 been given to the same nation. Our Indian nations have rarely been known by 

 the names with which they designate themselves ; but usually by those conferred 

 upon them by contiguous nations. If classified by dialects the number having a 

 place in our colonial history would be greatly reduced. 



Between the St. Lawrence below Quebec, and Hudson's Bay, there was a scanty 

 Algonkin population, of which Mr. Gallatin has preserved the names of the 

 ScofRes, and the Sheshatapoosh. The country, however, was nearly destitute of 

 inhabitants. In Nova Scotia, and in the regions bordering the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence, and the islands adjacent, were the Micmacs ; upon the St. John's River, and 

 south of it, were the Etchcmins, now known as the Malisetes ; and between the 

 St. John's and the Kennebec were" the Abenakis. These three nations were dis- 

 tinct, each having an independent dialect. The New England Indians occupied 

 the remainder of New England, the eastern banks of Hudson River, and Long 

 Island. They were closely allied in blood and language. The principal nations 

 were the Narragansetts of Massachusetts, the Wampanoags of Rhode Island, the 

 Pequots of Connecticut, and the Mohegans of the Hudson. They were thinly 

 spread over these areas. Advancing southward the Delawares, of Avhom the Minsi 

 were a portion, and the Munsees occupied parts of New Jersey, Delaware, and 

 eastern Pennsylvania; whilst the Nantikokes occupied between Delaware and 

 Chesapeake Bay in eastern and southern Maryland. In Virginia upon the 

 Rappahannock and James Rivers, were the Powhattans and some minor bands. Still 

 further south, upon the shores of the Atlantic along Cape Hattcras Avcre the Pamp- 

 licos, and south of them the CheraAVS, of whom but little is known. They Avere 



from Friend Harvey, containing the Shawnee complete. This venerable and estimable gentleman, 

 as well as his family before him, had been an active friend of the Shawuees while they resided in 

 Ohio ; and be had followed them to their new home in Kansas, where he was then laboring with zeal 

 and perseverance for their spiritual and temporal welfare. His knowledge of the language, and the 

 familiar acquaintance of many Shawnees with the English, enabled him to trace out their system, 

 through all its complications, with precision and accuracy. He was the first to bring out the 

 anomalous feature of the Indian system which established the relationship of uncle and nephew 

 between the children of a brother and sister, which afterwards formed the basis upon which the Mis- 

 sissippi and Missouri nations were organized in separate groups. In 1859 I verified the work of 

 Friend Harvey at the Shawnee Reservation, and found it correct in every particular. In 1800 

 he went with me to the Reservations in southern Kansas, which gave me an excellent opportunity 

 to become acquainted with this philanthropist. I shall long retain the impression which the good- 

 ness of his character, and his noble and distinguished zeal for the welfare of the Indian family pro- 

 duced upon my mind. No better and no purer man than Friend Harvey lives upon the earth. 



