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This letter and schedule will be forwarded by the Smithsonian 

 Institution of Washington to the principal diplomatic and consular 

 officers of the United States in foreign countries, to the United 

 States army officers at the several military posts, and also to the 

 principal missionaries of the English and American Boards, it 

 being the intention of the Institution to give to them a wide distri- 

 bution over Asia, Africa, the Islands of the Pacific, Mexico, and 

 South America, as well as within our own territories. Such sche- 

 dules as are returned will be printed over the names of the per- 

 sons by whom they are prepared, and proper acknowledgments 

 rendered. While these schedules are making their distant visita- 

 tions, the work will be continued among the American Indians, 

 with a view to settle the question whether the system is universal 

 among them. 



It remains to make some explanations of this schedule, which, 

 although it has a formidable appearance, is not intrinsically diffi- 

 cult. The word " My" is the starting point; the point occupied 

 by "myself," the questioner; and the relationship sought is that 

 which the person at the opposite end bears to me : thus, "my 

 father's brother's son's wife" is "my sister-in-law." A difficulty 

 somewhat embarrassing at first, arises from the fact that the re- 

 lationship is very diflFerent in some cases where the questioner is 

 a male, from what it is where the questioner is a female : thus, 

 " My father's brother's son's son" is my son, if I am a man, but 

 he is my nephew, if I am a woman. To meet this peculiarity the 

 question is put twice, once "said by a male," and once "said by 

 a female." It will assist materially in working the schedule to 

 keep in mind the last relationship written down, as we naturally 

 follow the chain of kindred step by step, the last degree indicating 

 the one to succeed. 



All languages describe relationships by using the possessive form 

 of the noun, as " father's sister's son," but most of them have a 

 special word for the same relationship, as " cousin." It is neces- 

 sary, in tke present case, to have the special word or term, and 

 also that it should be spelled with English letters, even though the 

 language has alphabetic characters, and that the word be also 

 translated into equivalent English. Unless both of these condi- 



