APPENDIX. 383 
detached band of the same affinity ; and a hundred miles south of these, on the 
tJraqua river, was the tribe from which it derives its name, speakinsr also a cog- 
nate language. Here is a single chain, reaching from about latitude 65*^ to 43°, 
or more than half-way from Behring's Straits to the City of Mexico. It may, 
perhaps, hereafter, be carried still farther, as my researches did not extend much 
beyond the last-mentioned point. 
"I may also observe, that the Shoshonees, or Snake Indians, are found, first, 
on the head waters of the Columbia — then near the head of the California Gulf; 
and, again — under the dreaded name of Cumanches, pushing their incursions into 
the heart of Texas. 
" In the later history of this tribe — the Shoshonees proper — there is a fact worthy 
of notice. I was assured by trustworthy persons, long resident in that region, 
that the Snake Indians had formerly lived considerably north of the present posi- 
tion — occupying the territory now in the possession of the powerful Blackfeet 
confederacy — who have expelled them from their ancient hunting-grounds ; and, 
it was asserted, that there were old men now living among the Shoshonees, who 
had a better knowledge of the country, at present occupied by the Blackfeet In- 
dians, than any of the latter themselves, ily informants, (old fur-traders.) gave 
it as their belief, that all the tribes in that region were gradually advancino- toward 
the south. In this instance, the movement of the Blackfeet tribes is not wholly 
voluntary, as they are constantly harassed on the north by hostile bands of Crees 
and Sioux ; while the Shoshonees, in their southward progress, press before them 
the Uchis and Apaches, with whose ravages on the northern borders of Mexico 
you are, of course, well acquainted. 
" We are famUiar with a similar movement on the old Continent, and understand 
how it originates in the hardy valor of northern regions, forcing its way toward 
a more genial clunate and a more bountiful soil. We can also perceive how, 
among wandering tribes, like our Western Indians — ^by nature migratory, and 
bound by no ties of cultivation to the land which they occupy — this movement 
should be comparatively rapid ; and we can thus see how a large body (like the 
Blackfeet nation, for instance.) might, within a few generations, be urg-ed onward, 
step by step, from the northern sea to the Mexican plains. It has seemed to me 
that this fact might be of some importance, as serving to illustrate the history 
(given by Humboldt,) which the Aztecs had preserved of their migration, and with, 
which you must be familiar. I refer more particularly to their gradual proarress, 
(by stages, as it were.) making long halts from time to time, and again taking up 
their line of march toward the south. I have not this account before me now, 
but on reading it a few months ago, I thought I could trace in the epithets which 
they afnxed to their different encampments, (if we may apply this term to their 
halting-places,) some of the features of the country west of the Rocky Moun; 
tains. 
" It is evident that these deductions would be reduced to certainty, if we could 
discover some resemblance between any of the languages of Oregon and those of 
Mexico. Thus far. however, the comparison has not been attended with success. 
Of the ticenty distinct languages, spoken within the limits of Ancient Mexico, 
which have been reduced to writing by the Catholic Missionaries, I have been 
able to obtain grammars of only five. The collection which you aided me in ma- 
king in Mexico, is, indeed, the largest that I know of in this country. In Europe, 
however, all that has been pubhshed on these subjects, and many valuable manu- 
scripts, are preserved ; and. at some future day, an opportunity may offer of com- 
pleting the comparison." 
