[CAMPBELL] AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGY 69 
foundland, so well set forth by the Rev.’ Dr. Patterson, and the Blackfoot 
of the far west. Yet Father Morice, in his enumeration of the many 
tribes of the Dénés called by Mr. Pilling of Washington, Athapascans, 
tribes that extend from the Eskimo area far into Mexico, includes among 
them the Sarcees who form part of the Blackfoot confederacy. So, in 
ancient times, the Delawares,.who are pure Algonquins, were adopted 
into the league of the Iroquois. It has been found that the Aztec lan- 
guage of Mexico does not stand alone, in spite of its peculiar # syllable, 
but, with the Nicaraguan dialects, takes those of Sonora and_ the 
Shoshonese or Paduca family farther north into its alliance, while the 
Pueblo forms of speech are not alien to it. Classification looks in the 
direction of establishing the relations of all our aboriginal languages with 
two or at most three linguistic stems. Two of these are now certainly 
known. 
In matters of dress, shelter and conveyance, implement and orna- 
ment, manners and customs, the Indian whatever his original derivation, 
has adapted himself to the condition of his American home, and has 
copied from his fellow what he has deemed most appropriate to it. In 
some of the Pacific States, in Mexico and in Central and South America, 
Some tribes go entirely naked, a fact in itself suggestive of a South Sea 
origin, as is the meagre attire of some of the aborigines of British Colum- 
bia. But tribes of the same origin, forced into inclement regions and 
into the society of clothed savages, speedily adopted garments of the 
skins of wild beasts with the fashion of which their own ancestors were 
altogether unacquainted, The coronet of large bird feathers, according 
to all analogy, was of Polynesian origin, and appears in all its integrity 
on the head of Powhatan in Captain John Smith’s history, but it caught 
the fancy of some of the Dakota tribes, as worn by Blackfeet or other 
Algonquins, and Catlin shows how the Crows availed themselves of it to 
the advantage of their personal appearance. The bark of the birch tree 
is a Siberian product, and has long been used in that northern country 
for the coating of summer houses, the building of canoes, the manufac- 
ture of boxes and baskets and for writing purposes, as well as for the 
protection of dead bodies buried in mounds. Many tribes that came to 
America never saw Siberia nor a birch tree, but they were quick to per- 
ceive the superiority of the light birch canoe over the heavy dug-out, and 
the adaptability of its material to the above mentioned ends, thus becom- 
ing copyists of those whose education had been Siberian. Indians as 
diverse in origin and character as the Dénés and Dakotas, the Crees and 
Blackfeet, who inhabit prairies and plains, have become quite accustomed 
to the use of the horse. With the exception of some coast tribes that are 
simply fishers, a few of which venture to attack the whale, all our Indians 
are hunters, although in the original abodes of many of them game must 
have been scarce and small. 
