that none of those tribes understood the language of any of the others; and that they communicated together partly by what is called the "language of signs," partly through the medium of the Crow, which was not the native language of either of them. Their number has been estimated at only fourteen hundred souls by the Indian Department, and, including other small bands mentioned by Lewis and Clarke on uncertain information, cannot well exceed three thousand.

The Wakash or Nootka Sound Indians are the most southern tribe on the shores of the Pacific, of which we have been able to give a vocabulary. With the exception of a few words collected in the Straits of Fuca, and of some of the Chinook language at the mouth of the river Columbia, we have not a single one along the coast, till we come to the Ellenes and the Ruslenes of the Spanish missions of New California. Mackenzie has given a short one of an inland tribe, the Atnahs, who, in 52° 30′ north latitude, are bounded on the north by the Tacullies, and extend thence southwarldy down Frazer's River towards the Straits of Fuca. It is also a language distinct, so far as we are now informed, from any other. But of all the tribes inhabiting the territory west of the Rocky Mountains between the forty-second and the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, we have, besides a few Shoshonee words collected by Dr. Say, no other vocabulary but that of the Salish or Flat Heads, which belongs to Mr. Duponceau's collection. This is a small tribe, computed at two hundred warriors, waging an unequal war with the Black Feet, and residing towards the sources of one of the branches of the Columbia River, which must be either the most southern branch of Clarke's River, or the most northern branch of Lewis's River. It will be perceived that, with that single exception, our deficiency embraces all the Indian tribes living on the Columbia River and all its numerous tributary streams. Messrs. Lewis and Clarke had brought with them copious vocabularies of all the Indian tribes along the line of their route. These had been placed by Mr. Jefferson in the hands of the late Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton for arrangement and publication, but could not be found after his death. The country has now been for many years occupied. by the British traders; and for the present we must look to

that quarter for information. A long list of the tribes, together with an estimate of their numbers, is annexed to the account of Lewis and Clarke's expedition, to which we must refer the reader. Captain Lewis was of opinion, that along his route there were three distinct families of languages on the waters of the Columbia River; that of the mountains, that of the Columbia plains, and that of the seashore. According to his estimate of the population, which was almost entirely derived from Indian accounts, those on the waters of Columbia River amounted to eighty thousand souls. A more recent statement reduces the number to five thousand six hundred warriors. It is probable that they have been overrated in the one, and underrated in the other estimate. Considering the nature of the country and the means of subsistence which it affords, it is probable that they can hardly amount to fifty thousand souls. This however, as well as any estimate of the population of the Eskimaux, of the Athapascas, and generally of the tribes north of the United States, can only be founded on conjecture. That of the Indians within the territory of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, is, with few exceptions, as correct as the nature of the case will admit. With this observation we submit the following recapitulation. Eskimaux, Athapascas, Atnahs, and tribes on the Pacific

as far south as Fuca's Straits

60,000

Indians of Columbia River, and the seashore of Pacific from 420 to 49° north latitude

50,000

Algonkin-Lenape; in British dominions 20,000

40,000

60,000

7,000

Choctaws and Chicasas

Muskhogees and Seminoles

Cherokees

Uchees, Natches, small Lousiana tribes

Sioux, including Assiniboins (7,000) in British Dominions 50,000

Pawnees 9,500; Panis or Towa-ash 1500

Black Feet and Rapid Indians

Chiennes

24,000

26,000

15,000

4,000

11,000

33,000

2,000

Kaskaias, Kiawas, Bald Heads, and other small erratic bands 3,000

345,000

SECTION V.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

THE Rocky Mountains are the great line of demarcation, in reference both to climate and to the means of subsistence which the country in its natural state affords to its inhabitants. The difference between the climate of the Atlantic shores of North America and the opposite European coast, is well known. It consists less in that of the summer heat, which, though greater on the American than on the European side of that ocean, does not vary essentially under the same latitudes, than in the intensity of the cold in the American winters. This is such as to make a difference equivalent to one of more than ten degrees of latitude. Neither the Alleghany Mountains, nor the less elevated transversal chain which seems to extend from the river Saguenay to the sources of the Saskachawin, produce any sensible change in that respect. The comparative observations, made at several military posts, show on the contrary, that the excess both of heat and cold respectively is greater, in the valley of the Mississippi and the adjacent prairies, than on the shores of the Atlantic. * It may be said generally, that, with variations arising from local causes, the same climate prevails from the seacoast to the Rocky Mountains. But the country lying west of that chain, and more particularly that portion which lies along the Pacific, enjoys a climate similar to that of Western Europe.

Since it is also ascertained, that the climate of Pekin is the same with that of Philadelphia, and that the temperature both in summer and winter of the eastern coast of Asia, north of the Torrid Zone, corresponds generally with that of the eastern coast of North America, under the same latitudes, it appears certain that this difference of climate arises from the respective exposure of the seacoasts. Those which face the west enjoy. a much more temperate climate than those which have an eastern exposure. In order to account for such a general result, we must seek for an equally general cause. Apart from the

* This may perhaps be accounted for, by the winds, which, whether from the south or from the north, sweep that immense valley, without being intercepted by any sufficient transversal chain of mountains.

variations produced by a different configuration of the surface of the earth, and by the difference in the general course of the great chains of mountains in the two hemispheres, the most probable general cause will be found in the great prevalence of the western winds throughout the Northern Temperate Zone. The fact is fully ascertained, and is the cause of a difference amounting to about one third in the length of the passages between Europe and America. Those winds reach the western coasts of both, after having crossed the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean, and with a temperature corresponding with that of the sea. The same winds, on the eastern coasts of Asia and of America, are land winds, and bring with them, especially in winter, when they come from the northwest, the temperature of the country where they originated.

If the trade-winds of the Torrid produce a counter-current in the atmosphere of the Temperate Zone, the rotatory motion of the earth and the effect of the solar heat may be assigned as the primary cause of the difference of climate to which we allude. Whatever that cause may be, there cannot be any expectation of a permanent change in that respect. It is not indeed perceived, how cultivation could make any sensible alteration; and it is ascertained that the absence of trees produces none.* But the difference between the forest and the prairie country had a greater influence on the means of subsistence and the habits of the Indians, than even that of climate.

The whole country, east of the Alleghany Mountains, was covered with a dense and uninterrupted forest, when the European settlers landed in America. South of the fortieth degree of latitude, it extends in the same manner, as far west as the Mississippi, without any other considerable exception, than a tract called "the Barrens," situated in the vicinity of the river of that name in the State of Kentucky. But, between that latitude and Lake Erie, some intervals of land destitute of wood, and called "Prairies," begin to appear, as you approach the Scioto, and even more eastwardly in the vicinity of the Lake. These prairies gradually increase in size and in number as you proceed westwardly, and are nearly equal in extent to the forest land, in the northern part of the State of Illinois

It would seem that the climate of Rome was formerly colder in winter than now. The account given of that of Paris by the Emperor Julian would nearly answer for the present time.

and of the adjacent country on the north. North of the Lakes, the forest continues uninterrupted, at least in their vicinity, as far west as Lake Winnipek. Beyond the Mississippi, the prairies continue to encroach rapidly on the woodland, until at last an immense plain, bounded on the west by the Rocky Mountains, extends from the vicinity of the Arctic Sea to the Gulf of Mexico, leaving only narrow strips of wooded land along the banks of the rivers and water-courses. The forest makes again its appearance in the Rocky Mountains, in the secondary ridges, and in the intervening valleys. Beyond the mountains vast prairies are again found, extending as far west as the northern continuation of the Californian chain of mountains, and known by the name of Columbia Plains. Their extent to the north is not known, but southwardly, and assuming a different character, they reach the Gulf of California. Α great portion of the Mexican dominions is equally destitute of trees. The tract of land, contained between the Pacific and the Californian chain, does not exceed one hundred and fifty miles in breadth, and is well timbered.

But there is a vast difference, in the means of subsistence they afford to the Indians, between the Columbia Plains and the Prairies of the Missouri. These are the native country of the bisons, or buffaloes, as they are universally called in America, and through which they range, from the fifty-fifth degree of latitude to the sources of the rivers that empty into the Gulf of Mexico between the Mississippi and the Rio Norte. The buffaloes constitute the principal article of food of the erratic tribes, as well as of the cultivating Indians whom we have designated by the name of Missouris; and their undiminished numbers prove, that the Indian population has not quite reached the extent, of which, in that state of nature, was susceptible. The Columbia Plains, on the contrary, are as destitute of game as of trees. The buffalo has never penetrated there; the principal and cheapest article of food of the European and American traders was, at least till very lately, horse flesh;* and dogs were a luxury. The Indians who did

it

The horse is not a native of America. The wild herds of Texas are entirely of Spanish origin. They have been obtained by the Indians either directly or by internal exchanges among themselves, and are now abundant in a domesticated state on both sides of the Rocky Mountains, as far north as they can subsist without the aid of food supplied by man.