210 SYSTEMS OF C N S ANG TJINIT Y AND AFFINITY 



Shawnces south of the Ohio, who dwelt upon the east bank of the Mississippi, and 

 upon the numerous rivers which traverse the present States of Wisconsin and 

 Illinois, and the western parts of Indiana. All of these nations spoke dialects of 

 the Algonkin language, and were more nearly allied to each other, and nearer to 

 the Great Lake nations, than they were to the Atlantic Algonkins. The reasons 

 for placing the Shiyans 1 among the number will be elsewhere assigned. It is 

 proposed to call them collectively the Mississippi Nations. At the time Father 

 Marquette descended the Mississippi, in 1673 it is probable, from the Algonkin 

 names upon his map, that some of these nations had establishments upon the west 

 side of the river, from which the Dakotas were then gradually effecting their 

 displacement. Moreover, there are reasons for supposing that the original home 

 country of the Dakotas upon the head waters of the Mississippi, was wrested 

 from the Algonkins, and that the Shiyans, and perhaps the Arapahoes, were the 

 nations displaced. 



1. Miamis. 2. Illinois. (1. Weas. 2. Piankeshaws. 3. Kaskaskias. 4. 

 Peorias.) 



The first group of the Mississippi Nations, consisting of the five above named, 

 were subdivisions of the same people. This is at least certain with respect to 

 all except the Miamis, whose dialect shows considerable divergence. During the 

 colonial period they were so regarded both by the French and English. 2 They were 

 sometimes styled, collectively, the " Illinois Confederacy." 3 It is a matter of doubt 

 whether there ever was a distinct nation of Illinois Indians, as distinguished from 

 the four bands named. None such exists at the present time, and we have 

 no account of their extirpation. It was probably a general name for these 

 nations or bands, which was laid aside after they became distinct under recognized 

 names. This is not inconsistent with La Salle's account of the destruction of a 

 large portion of the Illinois by the Iroquois. For these reasons these four nations are 

 called collectively the Illinois. The Peorias and Kaskaskias were immediate sub- 

 divisions of the same people. In like manner, the Miamis, Weas, and Pianke- 

 shaws, as appears by the official records of the last century, were regarded as imme- 

 diate subdivisions -of one original nation. 4 A comparison of the terms of relationship 

 in the Table "will show the present relation of these dialects to each other. 



In their system of consanguinity and affinity these nations, all of which are 

 represented in the Table, agree very closely with each other. It will be sufficient 

 to present one form, and that of the Miamis, who are the most numerous, will be 

 adopted as the standard. These nations occupied the triangle between the Illi- 

 nois, the Mississippi, and the Ohio Rivers, and were spread along the Wabash and 

 the Miami into the western part of Indiana. 5 



1 From the Dakota Shi-ya. (Cheyennes.. 



Enumeration of Indian Nations made in 1736, Colonial History of New York, IX, 1057. 



8 Review of the Trade and Affairs of the Indians of the Northern District in 1767, by Sir William 

 Johnson, Col. Hist. New York, IX, 966. 



Ib., IX, 891, and X, 248. 



8 Harvey, in his History of the Shawnees, quotes the speech of Little Turtle, a Miami chief, in which 



