ASIATIC TRIBKS OP NORTH AMEaiOA. 181 



running and wrestling, and in this respect present a marked contrast 

 to neighbouring Asiatic and American tribes. They are equally 

 noted for manual dexterity and mechanical skill, with capabilities 

 for self improvement, as the present civilization of the Cherokees 

 and Choctaws attests, and as is evident from the fact that the highly 

 civilized Japanese are nearly related to the Koriaks. A Choctaw 

 tradition, reported by Catlin, states that, a long time ago, the 

 Choctaws " commenced moving from the country where they then 

 lived, which was a great distance to the west of the great river and 

 the mountains of snow, and they were a great many years on their 

 way." It is worthy of note that the Tuhuktukis ( 1 Tchuktchi) are 

 mentioned as members of the Cherokee confederacy. 



In treating of the Choctaw language I find it necessary to compare 

 ts dialects with those of the Peninsular family in general, owing to 

 the pancity of my collection of Koriak and Tchuktchi terms, and to 

 the fact stated by Di\ Latham, that of the Peninsular languages the 

 grammatical structure of only one of them, the Japanese, is known. 

 The same writer adds that " the Peninsular languages have a general 

 glossarial connection with each other," and " in the opinion of the 

 present writer, the Peninsular languages agree in the general fact of 

 being more closely akin to those of America than any other." The 

 Choctaw word for man hatak is the Japanese otoko, and the Muskogee 

 chauheh is the Loo Choo chu. The Choctaw tike, tekchi woman is 

 the Loo Choo tackki. Boat is peni in Choctaw, axidifune in Japanese ; 

 and bone is foni in Choctaw and fone in Japanese. The two 

 Tchuktchi terms for father, annaka and attaka, are represented by 

 the Choctaw unke and the Cherokee chatokta. The Cherokee agcmla 

 and the Choctaw kullo, fish, ai^e equally derived from the Tchuktchi 

 ikhalik. The Tchuktchi name for god is istla and the Choctaw 

 hoshtcMi, while the Muskogee god, efeekeesa, is not unlike the 

 Japanese jebisu. The Tchuktchi aganak woman is the Cherokee 

 ageyung ; the Tchuktchi unako to-morrow, the Choctaw onaha ; the 

 Tchuktchi nouna, water, the Cherokee omma. But I must refer to 

 the accompanying vocabulary for the lexical evidence thus introduced. 

 In regard to grammatical forms, absence of gender characterizes 

 the Clioctaw and Peninsular languages, and the same may almost be 

 said in regard to number. Case is marked in both groups by post 

 positions. The form of the genitive is worthy of special note. In 

 the case of each the possessor, with an affix originally representing 



