134 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



moment's reflection ; and when he was taken through the second or more remote 

 collateral line, with a description of each person by the chain of consanguinity, he 

 was first bewildered and then confounded in the labyrinth of relationships. It was 

 necessary, in most cases, to explain to him the method of our own system; after 

 which the lineal and first collateral line, male and female, and the marriage rela- 

 tionship in this line, were easily and correctly obtained from the native through 

 him ; and also the first relationships in the second collateral line in its several 

 branches. But, on passing beyond these, another embarrassment was encountered 

 in the great and radical differences between the Indian system and our own, which 

 soon involved the interpreter in new difficulties more perplexing than the first. 

 Suffice it to state that it required patient and often repeated attempts to prosecute 

 the questions successfully to the end of the schedule ; and when the work was 

 finally completed it was impossible not to be suspicious of errors. The schedule, 

 however, is so framed as, from its very fulness, to be, in many respects, self-correc- 

 tive. It was also certain to develop the indicative relationships of the system 

 however defective it might prove to be in some of its details. The hindrances 

 here referred to were restricted to cases where white interpreters were necessarily 

 used. 



Another and the chief answer to the supposed question is found in the progress 

 made, within the last thirty years, in the acquisition of our language by a number 

 of natives in the greater part of the Indian nations represented in the table. 

 The need of our language as a means of commercial and political intercourse has 

 been seriously felt by them ; and, within the period named, it has produced great 

 changes amongst them in this respect. At the present time among the emigrant 

 Indian nations in Kansas, in the Indian territory occupied by the Cherokees, 

 Creeks, and Choctaws, in the territories of Nebraska and Dakota, and also among 

 the nations still resident in the older States, as the Iroquois in New York, the 

 Ojibwas on Lake Superior, and the Dakotas in Minnesota, there are many Indians, 

 particularly half-bloods, who speak our language fluently. Some of them are 

 educated men. The Indian has proved his linguistic capacities by the facility and 

 correctness with which he has learned to speak the English tongue. It is, also, 

 not at all uncommon to find an Indian versed in several aboriginal languages. To 

 this class of men I am chiefly indebted for a knowledge of their system of relation- 

 ship, and for that intelligent assistance which enabled me to trace out its minute 

 details. Knowing their own method of classification perfectly, and much better 

 than we do our own, they can, as a general rule, follow the branches of the several 

 collateral lines with readiness and precision. It will be seen, therefore, that with 

 a native sufficiently versed in English to understand the simple form used in the 

 schedule to describe each person, it was only necessary to describe correctly the 

 person whose relationship was sought to ascertain the relationship itself. In this 

 way the chain of consanguinity was followed step by step through the several 

 branches of each collateral line until the latter were merged in the lineal. With 

 a knowledge, on my own part, of the radical features of the Indian system, and 

 of the formulas of our own, there was no confusion of ideas between my interlocutor 

 and myself since we were able to understand each other fully. If, at times, he 



