b INDIAN TRIBES. [Chap. I. 



upon to avenge him ; and the wayfarer, the hunter, 

 or the warrior is sure of a cordial welcome in the 

 distant lodge of the clansman whose face perhaps 

 he has never seen. It may be added that certain 

 privileges, highly prized as hereditary rights, some- 

 times reside in particular clans ; such as that of 

 furnishing a sachem to the tribe, or of performing 

 certain religious ceremonies or magic rites. 



The Indians east of the Mississippi may be di- 

 vided into three great families : the Iroquois, the 

 Algonquin, and the Mobilian, each speaking a lan- 

 guage of its own, varied by numerous dialectic 

 forms. To these families must be added a few 

 stragglers from the great western race of the Dah- 

 cotah, besides several distinct tribes of the south, 

 each of which has been regarded as speaking a 

 tongue peculiar to itself.^ The Mobilian group 

 (embraces the motley confederacy of the Creeks, 

 the crafty Choctaws, and the stanch and warlike 

 Chickasaws. Of these, and of the distinct tribes 

 dwelling in their vicinity, or within their limits, I 

 shall only observe that they offer, with many mod- 

 ifications, and under different aspects, the same 

 essential features which mark the Iroquois and 

 the Algon quins, the two great families of the 

 north.^ The latter, who were the conspicuous 



1 For an ample view of these divisions, see the Synopsis of Mr. Gal- 

 latin, Trans. Am. Ant. Soc. II. 



2 It appears from several passages in the writings of Adair, Hawkins, 

 and others, that the totem prevailed among the southern tribes. In a 

 conversation with the late Albert Gallatin, he informed me that he was 

 told by the chiefs of a Choctaw deputation, at Washington, that in their 

 tribe were eight totemic clans, divided into two classes, of four each. 

 It is very remarkable that the same number of clans, and the same di- 

 vision into classes, were to be found among the Five Nations or Iroquois. 



