PREFACE. ix 



they have devoted their time and their great abilities, are worthy of admiration. 

 Their contributions to history, to ethnology, to philology, to geography, and to 

 religious literature, form a lasting monument to their fame. The renown which 

 encircles their names falls as a wreath of honor upon the name of their country. 



I am also indebted to S. B. Treat, D. D., Secretary of the American Board of 

 Commissioners for Foreign Missions; to Hon. Walter Lowrie, Secretary of the 

 Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church ; to J. G. Warren, D. D., Secretary 

 of the American Baptist Missionary Union; and to Rev. Philip Peltz, Secretary of the 

 Board of Missions of the American Dutch Reformed Church, for their co-operation, 

 and for the facilities which they afforded me during a protracted correspondence 

 with the missionaries of their respective boards. 



In an especial manner I am indebted to the Smithsonian Institution for efficient 

 co-operation in procuring materials for this work. 



To the late Hon. Lewis -Cass, Secretary of State of the United States, and to his 

 immediate successor, Hon. William H. Seward, I am also under very great obliga- 

 tions for commending this investigation to the diplomatic and consular representa- 

 tives of the United States in foreign -countries ; and for government facilities 

 whilst conducting with them an equally extended correspondence. 



Among many others whom I ought to mention I must not omit the names of my 

 friends J. H. Mcllvaine, D. D., of the College of New Jersey, who has been 

 familiar with the nature and objects of this research from its commencement, and 

 from whom I have received many important suggestions ; Chester Dewey, D. D., 

 of the University of Rochester, now an octogenarian, but with undiminished relish 

 for knowledge in all its forms, whose friendly advice it has been my frequent 

 privilege to accept ; and Samuel P. Ely, Esq., of Marquette, at whose hospitable 

 home on Lake Superior the plan for the prosecution of this investigation was 

 formed. 



There is still another class 01 persons to whom my obligations are by no means 

 the least, and they arc the native American Indians of many different nations, both 

 men and women, who from natural kindness of heart, and to gratify the wishes of a 

 stranger, have given me their time and attention for hours, and even days together, 

 in what to them must have been a tedious and unrelished labor. Without the 

 information obtained from them it would have been entirely impossible to present 

 the system of relationship of the Indian family. 



