184 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



Missouri nations, for neither of these were agricultural, except the Quappas, at 

 the mouth of the Arkansas, more than fifteen hundred miles below them ; and 

 possibly the Osages, who were south of the mouth of the Missouri. At a later 

 period the Omahas and lowas occasionally constructed houses upon the Mandan 

 and Minnitaree model ;* but they were never Village Indians in any proper sense. 

 Finally, we must either suppose that the Minnitarees carried both agriculture and 

 the art of constructing a timber framed house to the Upper Missouri, and taught 

 them to the Mandans, or that the latter formerly resided as far south as the 

 Arkansas. The former is the most probable. 



The Mandan language is not accessible except for the most ordinary purposes. 

 When I visited the Mandan village there was but one person there who spoke both 

 Mandan and English. This was a half-blood Mandan, Joseph Kipp, a son of 

 the well-known interpreter James Kipp, to whom Catlin was indebted for his 

 means of communication with this people. I had no difficulty in procuring a 

 vocabulary ; but found it impossible to obtain their system of relationship complete. 

 The Mandans have very generally learned the Minnitaree language, as they now 

 live together, and the traders and trappers have done the same ; but neither the 

 one nor the other has learned the Mandan. For reasons beyond my control I 

 was unable to reach the Mandan through the Minnitaree. Enough, however, of 

 their system of relationship was obtained to establish the identity of its radical 

 characteristics with those of the common system. 



First Indicative Feature. My brother's son and daughter, Ego a male, are my 

 son and daughter. With Ego a female, they are the same. This last is a devia- 

 tion from the usual form. It shows that females have no aunt, the father's sister 

 being a mother. In this respect it agrees with the Cayuga and Mohawk, and also 

 with the Chocta and Creek. 



Second. My sister's son and daughter, Ego a male, are my nephew and niece. 

 Mr. Kipp was unable to recall the terms for these relationships, although assured 

 of their existence in the language, which was also confirmed by the presence of the 

 correlative uncle. With Ego a female, they are my son and daughter. 



Third. My father's brother is my father. 



Fourth. My father's brother's son and daughter are my brother and sister, elder 

 or younger. There is a double set of terms for these relationships, and probably 

 some inaccuracy in their use as given in the Table, since they make elder and 

 younger sister the same. 



Fifth. My father's sister is my aunt, Ego being a male ; but my mother, Ego 

 being a female. 



Sixth. My mother's brother is my uncle. 



Seventh. My mother's sister is my mother. 



Eighth. My mother's sister's son and daughter are my brother and sister, elder 

 or younger. 



Ninth. My grandfather's brother is my grandfather. 



1 This fact was communicated to the author by Rev. S. M. Irwin, who for the last thirty years 

 has been a missionary among the Omahas and lowas in Nebraska. 



