534 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



tnj Mi: H". Ra\ 

 AN INDIAN HUNTER, WITH WAPITI SKULL. 



and, in any case, the whole question is not one 

 with which we are here greatly concerned. 



Having said thus much as to American 

 Indians in general (whose characteristic type of 

 countenance should become familiar from a 

 careful study of the portraits illustrating the 

 present and adjacent chapters), attention must 

 now be concentrated on those inhabiting the 

 northern half of the continent which forms their 

 home. And here a great difficulty presents 

 itself at the very outset. The number of tribes 

 is so great, and their physical differences are so 

 slight (indeed, as already mentioned, the differ- 

 ences are in most cases linguistic and cultural 

 rather than physical), that it is impossible to 

 desci-ibe them all within the limits at our disposal. 

 Fortunately, however, these almost countless tribes 

 may be grouped under a number of main linguistic 

 stocks, or families, as they are indifferently 

 called; and as a few of these are of much larger 

 size, and therefore of greater importance, than 

 the rest, it is on certain of the former that atten- 

 tion may be chiefly concentrated. Omitting, 

 then, all mention of many of the minor stocks 



which, by the way, are chiefly concentrated on a narrow strip of territory on the Pacific border 

 of the continent we have the following main stocks, with some of their more important tribal 

 divisions, viz. : 



1. Athabascan, or Athapascan, comprising the Kuchins, Chippewyans, Apaches, and 



Navajos. 



2. Alyonquian, including the Delawares, Abenakis, Chippewas or Ojibwas, Crees, Shawnees, 



Sac and Foxes, Blackfeet, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes. 



3. Iroquoian, represented by the Hurons, Eries, Mohawks, Tuscaroras, Senecas, Cayugas, 

 Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cherokis. 



4. Siouan, Avith the Dakotas, Asiniboins, Omahas, Crows, loAvas, Osages, Catawbas, and 

 Monakans. 



5. ShosUonean, comprising the PaAvnees, KiaAvas, Comanches, and Utas. 



0. Muskhogean, represented by the Creeks, Choctaws, Chicasas, Seminoles, and Apalachis. 



7. Pueblo, including the Zufii, Tegua, Jemez, and Hopi or Moki. 



To treat each of these seven main stocks with the same detail Avould obviously be waste 

 of space, seeing that in many respects several of them have more or less the same 

 customs and manners. Among the first six, the Siouan group is the one selected for special 

 consideration, mainly on the ground that it has 'been the subject of an elaborate study by 

 the officials of the United States Board of Ethnology. On the other hand, the Pueblo Indians, 

 as displaying a totally distinct grade of culture, and being the only North American aborigines 

 who build and inhabit houses, claim a special notice, which forms the concluding portion of 

 the present chapter. 



Commencing with the Athabascan and Algonquian stocks, we find that the various tribes 

 grouped under these headings originally occupied considerably more than half the total area of 

 North America. The Athabascan territory extended across the country from Southern Alaska, 

 across the lake and river from Avhich it takes its name, nearly to Port Nelson, on the western 

 shore of Hudson Bay; its northern boundary thus impinging on the southern frontier of the 

 Eskimo. From Port Nelson their southern boundary ran westwards to the Rocky Mountains, 



