APPENDIX 3?, 



Washington, D. C, August 30, 18C0. 



Sir: Having received instructions from you to arrange the several lists ot Indian 

 words which yon have collected in your recent explorations, in a form suitable tor the 

 purposes of comparison, I accordingly submit the accompanying comparative vocabu- 

 lary which I have drawn up, together with a statement relative thereto. 



The vocabularies furnish specimens of the languages of the Utes or Utah*, the 

 Shoshonees or Snakes, the Pl-utes, and the Washoes, together with a few numerally, of 

 the I-at language. 



The result of an examination and comparison of these languages shows quite a 

 similarity between the Ute or Utah, the Shoshonee, and the Pi-ute; while the Washoe 

 is apparently quite distinct in its characteristics. 



The few I-at numerals which are given are insufficient for the purposes of classi- 

 fication. 



The resemblance of the first three languages to each other seems quite sufficient 

 to warrant the conclusion that they have a common origin, and that the corresponding 

 tribes should be placed in the same primary ethnological group. 



This classification is based entirely on the resemblance of language, shown by the 

 vocabulary; it is possible, however, that tribes living in contact with each other may 

 acquire a similarity of language by the adoption of members of one tribe into the 

 other. Captives taken and absorbed into the tribe must necessarily have an influence 

 upon the language. A minute examination of the construction of the language, and 

 particularly of the declination of the verbs, would be a more accurate method of com- 

 parison, but would require more material than we at present possess. 



In the ethnological classification of Indian tribes given by Schoolcraft, he ap- 

 plies the name of Shoshonee to the fifth primary group, located, according to his report, 

 -in the Rocky Mountains, the higher Red River, and the hill countiy of Texas; and 

 embracing the Shoshonees or Snakes, the Bannocks or Boot-diggers, and the Comanches 



