OF THE HUM Atf FAMILY. 189 



younger brother. This is the anomalous relationship in which the system of these 

 nations differs from that of all the remaining nations of the Ganowanian family. 1 



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. 



Tenth. The grandchildren of my brothers and sisters, and of my collateral 

 brothers and sisters, are, without distinction, my grandchildren. 



A third form of the relationship which subsists between the children of a brother 

 and sister is found among the Minnitarees and Crows. Among the Iroquois and 

 Dakotas, they are cousins, among the Missouri nations they are uncle and nephew 

 if males, and mother and daughter if females, as has been shown : but in the sys- 

 tem now under consideration they are son and father if males, and daughter and 

 mother if females. This form will reappear in the system of the Gulf and Prairie 

 nations. When more particularly indicated they are as follows : my father's 

 sister's son is my father, Ta-ta! ', and calls me his son ; my father's sister's daughter 

 is my mother, Ih'-lca, and calls me her son ; and reversed, my mother's brother's 

 son and daughter are my son and daughter; each of them calling me father. 



There is a term in Minnitaree for aunt, Ma-sa'-we, applied by a male to his 

 father's sister; but it is without a correlative, and of uncertain use. 



A sufficient number of the radical features of the common system are found in 

 the Minnitaree and Crow forms to establish beyond a doubt their original identity, 

 and that it was derived by them from the common source of the system. 



III. Gulf Nations. 



I. Gulf Nations Proper. 1. Choctiis. 2. Chickasas. 3. Creeks. (4. Seminoles, 

 not in the Table.) II. Cherokees. 1. Cherokees. 2. Mountain Cherokees. 



There were five principal nations east of the Mississippi, occupying the area 

 between the Gulf of Mexico and the Tennessee River, together with some parts to 

 the north and east of it, which collectively are here called the Gulf branch of the 

 Ganowanian family. They were the Choctas and Chickasas, who were immediate 

 subdivisions of the same people ; the Creeks ; the Seminoles, who were derived 

 from the Creeks ; and the Cherokees. The latter nation in strictness constitutes 

 an independent branch of the Dakotan stem upon the basis of language; but their 

 system of relationship justifies this connection. The dialects of the first two are 

 closely allied. The Creeks consist of five confederated nations, each having an 

 independent dialect, namely : the Mus-co'-kees or Creeks proper, the Hit' -che-tees, 

 the Yoo'-cJiees, the Ah-la-ba' -mas, and the Nat'-cJies. Between the Mus-co'-kee and 

 Seminole dialects the affinity is close ; but between the former and the Chocta the 

 dialectical variation is very great. Out of six hundred words in these dialects, 



1 There is a trace of this same form among the Blackfeet, but it is not the usual relationship. 



