OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 133 



violation of good manners for an Indian to speak to another Indian by his name. 

 If I ask one to tell me his name he will probably comply with my request after a 

 moment's hesitation, because, as an American, the question is not singular from 

 me ; but, even then, if he has a companion with him, the latter will at once relieve 

 him from embarrassment by answering in his place. 1 In repeated instances I have 

 verified this peculiarity in widely separated localities. This reserve in the use 

 of personal names has tended to prevent the relaxation of the usage of addressing 

 by kin, whilst, at the same time, it has contributed powerfully to the knowledge 

 and maintenance of the system. It may also be stated, as a summary of the causes 

 which have contributed to its perpetuation, that it is taught to each in childhood, 

 and practised by all through life. Amongst the numerous and widely scattered 

 nations represented in the table the system of consanguinity and affinity therein 

 unfolded is, at this moment, in constant practical daily use. 



To the second question the answer is equally plain. Thirty years ago it would 

 have been impossible to work out this system of relationship, in its details, in any 

 considerable number of the languages named, from the want of a medium of com- 

 munication. There are nations still on the Pacific side of the continent whose 

 languages are not sufficiently opened to render them accessible, except for the 

 most common purposes. The same difficulty, also, exists with respect to some 

 of the nations of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and of the Upper Missouri. The 

 trapper and the trader who spend their lives in the mountains, or at the posts 

 of the Fur Companies, usually acquire so much only of each language as is 

 necessary to their vocation, although there are instances among this class of men 

 where particular languages have been fully acquired after a residence of twenty or 

 thirty years in the Indian country ; as in the case of Robert Meldrum, of the Crow 

 language, of Alexander Culbertson, of the Blackfoot, and of James Kipp, of the 

 Mandan. Even the Missionaries do not acquire the complete range of an Indian 

 language until after a residence of fifteen or twenty years among the people 

 expended in its constant study and use. The difficulty of filling up one of the 

 schedules was by no means inconsiderable when perfectly competent white inter- 

 preters were employed. The schedule used contains two hundred and thirty-four 

 distinct questions, all of which were necessary to develop the system without passing 

 beyond the third collateral line except to elicit the indicative relationships. To 

 follow it through without confusion of mind is next to impossible, except by 

 persons accustomed to investigation. With a white interpreter the first obstacle 

 was the want of a systematic knowledge of our own method of arranging and 

 describing kindred. He had, perhaps, never had occasion to give the subject a 



1 Indian names are single, and in almost all cases significant. When a nation is subdivided into 

 tribes, the names are tribal property, and are kept distinct. Thus, the Wolf Tribe of the Senecas have 

 a class of names which have been handed down from generation to generation, and are so well known 

 that among the Iroquois the tribe of the person can generally be determined from his or her name. 

 As their names are single, the connection of brothers and sisters could not be inferred from them, nor 

 that of father and son. Many of the nations have a distinct set of names for childhood, another for 

 maturity, and still another for old age, which are successively changed. 



