190 SYSTEMS OP CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



compared by Mr. Gallatin, there were but ninety-three having some affinity. 1 All 

 of the Creek dialects, however, should be compared with each other, and with the 

 Chocta and Chickasa, to determine their mutual ethnic relations. As to the 

 Cherokees, they were the mountaineers of this area, and presumptively the most 

 ancient in the possession of the country. Like the Iroquois, they appear to have 

 been an advance band of the Dakotan stock. Their range included the highland 

 districts between South Carolina and the Mississippi. Up to the present time the 

 vocables of their language have not been identified with those of any existing 

 Indian speech. It still holds the rank of a stock language, spoken in two partially 

 defined dialects, the standard and the mountain Cherokee. 



In addition to these nations, the Catawbas inhabited the Gulf region, and also 

 the Natchez Indians. Remains of the former nation are still found in South Caro- 

 lina, and of the latter in the Nat-ekes of the Creek confederation. Between the 

 old Natchez and the Catawba dialects there are some affinities ; but how far the 

 present Natchez affiliates with the old or with any of the remaining Creek dialects 

 the writer is unable to state. When perfect vocabularies are obtained and com- 

 pared, it seems probable that all the original dialects of the Gulf region will be 

 resolved, at most, into two stock languages, the Creek and the Cherokee. 



These nations have been so well known historically from the earliest period 

 of European intercourse, that it is unnecessary to refer to their general history. 

 Since their removal to the Indian Territory, west of Arkansas, they have organized 

 elective civil governments, and have made considerable progress in agriculture and 

 civilization. They now number collectively seventy-three thousand five hundred. 2 



In the Table will be found the system of relationship of the Choctas, Chickasas, 

 Muscokee-Creeks, and Cherokees, which together exhibit with fulness and particu- 

 larity the plan of consanguinity and affinity of the Gulf nations. The several 

 forms which prevail among these nations possess the radical forms of the common 

 system, and also agree with each other in those respects in which they differ from 

 those before considered. Such discrepancies as exist are confined to subordinate 

 details. It will be sufficient to present one form, and the Chocta will be taken as 

 the standard. There are two schedules of the Chocta in the Table, one of which 

 was furnished by the Rev. Jonathan Edwards and Rev. Dr. Cyrus Byington, and 

 the other by the Rev. Charles C. Copeland. These veteran missionaries, who have 

 resided with this people, both in their old and new homes, from thirty to forty 

 years, were abundantly qualified to investigate and explain this complicated system 

 to its utmost limits. It was also a fortunate circumstance that this, one of the 

 most difficult forms of the system, fell into their hands for its elucidation, since the 

 existence as well as verification of its peculiar features was of some importance. 



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

 son and daughter. With Ego a female, they are my grandson and granddaughter. 

 This last is a derivation from the typical form, but it agrees with the Minnitaree. 



1 Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., II, Intro, cxi. 



1 Cherokees, 26,000; Creeks, 25,000 ; Seminoles, 1500- Choctas, 16,000; Chickasas, 5000. (School- 

 craft's Hist. Cond. and Pur. Indian Tribes, I, 523.) 



