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INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

THE Indian Nations, partly on account of their geographical position, partly in reference to the materials which have been obtained, will be arranged under the following heads, viz.

1. Those who are altogether north of the United States, but not including those families which are partly in the British Possessions and partly in the United States.

2. The Algonkin-Lenape and Iroquois Nations.

3. The Southern Indians east of the Mississippi, and those on the western side of that river south of the Arkansas.

4. The tribes between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean. But of those west of the Rocky Mountains an imperfect general notice only can be given, as I have been disappointed in the expectation of obtaining vocabularies or recent correct information from that quarter.

SECTION I.

INDIAN TRIBES NORTH OF THE UNITED STATES.

THESE embrace only the two great families of the Eskimaux and of the Athapascas, and some small tribes, bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and situated north of the 52d degree of north latitude.

ESKIMAUX.

The name of Eskimaux, given to the Indians of this family, is derived from the Algonkin word "Eskimantick," "Eaters of raw fish." They are the sole native inhabitants of the shores of all the seas, bays, inlets, and islands of America, north of the sixtieth degree of north latitude, from the eastern coast of Greenland, in longitude 21°, to the Straits of Behring, in longitude 167° west.

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On the Atlantic, the eastern Eskimaux extend also along the coast of Labrador, south of the sixtieth degree of latitude, to the Straits of Belleisle and within the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, almost as far south as north latitude 50°.

The western division of the nation extends without interruption, along the shores of the Pacific, from the Straits of Behring, as far south as the extremity of the Peninsula of Alaska, in north latitude 57°; and may be thence traced eastwardly, under the names of Konagen and Tshugazzi (Tchougatches), till they disappear entirely in the vicinity of Behring's Bay and Mount St. Elias, in lat. 60°, and long. about 140°. A tribe belonging to this division, inhabits the western shores of the Straits of Behring, or that north eastern extremity of Asia, which lies north of the river Anadir. It is known under the name of "sedentary Tchuktchi," and is as yet the only well ascertained instance of an Asiatic tribe, belonging to the same race as any of the nations of North America.

The identity of language, along such an extent of coast, contrasted with the great diversity found amongst small and adjacent tribes as we proceed farther south, is a remarkable phenomenon. The distance in a straight line, either from the Eskimaux seen by Captain Clavering on the eastern coast of Greenland, or from the Straits of Belleisle, to the Straits of Behring, or to the southwestern extremity of the Peninsula of Alaska, exceeds three thousand six hundred miles. But as the Eskimaux communicate with each other only by water and along the seashore, it will be found that the distance, between those of the Straits of Belleisle, and the Konagen who inhabit the island of Kadjak, or Kodiak, (north latitude 58°, west longitude 1520,) proceeding along the seashore, is not less than five thousand four hundred miles, without making any allowance for the sinuosities, bays, and inlets of the coast.

But the Eskimaux, who, though they hunt during their short summer, draw their principal means of subsistence from the sea, are rarely found farther from its shores than about one hundred miles. On Mackenzie's River, the mouth of which is in latitude 69° 40′, the boundary between them and the Loucheux, their next inland neighbours, is in latitude 67°, 27", but no Eskimaux huts are found south of 68° 15"; and their distance from the sea is still less on the Copper Mine River. They thus form a narrow belt surrounding the whole northern coast of America, from the 50th degree of north latitude on the Atlantic to the 60th on the Pacific.

The dividing line between the eastern and western Eskimaux has been ascertained with considerable precision by Captain Franklin. It is found, on the Arctic Ocean, at the northern termination of the Rocky or Stony Mountains, in about 140° of west longitude, where the western resort annually, for the purpose of bartering with the eastern Eskimaux iron tools and other articles of Russian manufacture, for seal skins, oil, and furs. That intercourse is of recent date, and the western speak a dialect so different from that of the eastern, that at first they had great difficulty in understanding each other. The dialects of the several tribes of the western division, though obviously belonging to the same stock, differ also more from each other than those of the eastern Eskimaux. The actual identity of dialect amongst these, and between very distant tribes which have no communication together, is astonishing. Augustus, a Hudson-Bay Eskimaux, of the vicinity of Churchill, (latitude 59°, longitude 95°,) who was the interpreter of Captain Franklin, could converse with all the Eskimaux met with during his two expeditions. Of those found west of Mackenzie's River in 137° west longitude, Captain Franklin observes, that their habits were similar in every respect to those of the tribes described by Captain Parry," (north parts of Hudson's Bay,) " and their dialects differed so little from that used by Augustus, that he had no difficulty in understanding them." The distance, in that case was in a straight line twelve hundred miles, and more than twenty-five hundred around the seashore.

As now informed, we may distinguish at least three dialects or languages amongst those eastern Eskimaux, viz. 1. that of the inhabitants of the northern and western shores of Hudson's Bay, which dialect extends westwardly beyond Mackenzie's River, as has been just now stated; 2. that of Greenland, respecting which it must be observed, that the inhabitants of the western have no intercourse with those lately discovered on the eastern coast, and that these may have a different dialect; 3. that of the coast of Labrador, to which it is not improbable that the language of the Eskimaux of Hudson's Straits may be nearly allied.

Captain Parry's vocabulary, taken at Winter Island in latitude 67, is the most recent, complete, and authentic we have of the language of the Eskimaux of Hudson's Bay, and has accordingly been selected in preference to those of Dobbs and of John Long.

Not having had access to Egede's Grammar and Dictionary of the Greenlandish Language, a specimen only could be given, taken from his and from Crantz's accounts of Greenland. There is not, it is believed, any extant vocabulary of the dialect of the western coast of Labrador. It differs so far from that of Greenland, that the Moravian missionaries were obliged to make a new translation of the Gospels for the use of the Labrador Eskimaux, that previously made for those of Greenland not being sufficiently intelligible to the other tribe. An examination of both has however enabled the learned authors of the "Mithridates" to ascertain the great affinity of the two dialects, in reference both to words and to grammatical forms.

Iceland was discovered and settled by the Norwegians in the latter end of the ninth century. I was informed by Mr. Thorkelson, a learned native of Iceland, and Librarian of the Royal Library of Copenhagen, that it appeared by ancient manuscript Icelandic chronicles, that the island was found already inhabited by a barbarous race, which was exterminated by the invaders. Whether they were Eskimaux cannot be ascertained, Had they been of Norman origin, they would have probably been preserved.

Greenland was discovered by the Norwegians or Icelanders, about one hundred years later than Iceland. Fur colonies were planted shortly after on the eastern and western coast, with which an intercourse was continued, both from Iceland and Norway, till the beginning of the fifteenth century, when it ceased, from causes which have been but imperfectly explained. Unsuccessful attempts were several times made to renew it, and the eastern coast was found inaccessible from the permanent and enormous accumulation of ice on its shores. It was only in 1721, that the Danish government sent a new colony to West Greenland. The ruins of the ancient settlement, but no traces of the descendants of the first colonists, were found. The country was then altogether occupied by Eskimaux, of whom, or any other native inhabitants, no very distinct account is given in the ancient relations.* The southern part of the eastern coast continues to be blocked up by ice. But Captain Scoresby was able in 1822 to approach its northern part from about 69° to 73° of north latitude; and

If the account, that the Europeans were for the first time assailed by the nations in the year 1386, is correct, it seems to indicate, that the progress of the Eskimaux, in that quarter, was from west to east,

Captain Clavering, the ensuing year, met with a tribe of Eskimaux in about 74° of north latitude. It appears almost incredible that they should have reached that spot, either by a land journey of eight hundred miles across Greenland, or the same distance along the frozen and inaccessible shores between Cape Farewell and the open sea in 69° of latitude. It is much more probable that, at a former period, the southern part of the eastern coast was free of ice, in which case we need not resort to the hypothesis, which places the old colony of East Greenland west of Cape Farewell.

In the year 1001, an Icelander, driven by a storm, discovered land far southwest of Cape Farewell, where a colony was soon after sent from Greenland. The country was called Vinland; and, if we can rely on the assertion, that the sun remained eight hours visible during the shortest day of the year, must have been Newfoundland. There, positive mention is made of Indians, who from the description and the name of Skroellings, or dwarfs, given to them by the Normans, must have been Eskimaux.

No mention is made of this European colony after the year 1121, when a bishop is said to have sailed from Greenland to Vinland. But it seems that, to a very late date, there existed in Newfoundland another race of Indians, extremely intractable, seen occasionally on the eastern seashore at the Bay Des Exploits, but residing, as was supposed, in the interior part of the island. These are said to be now extinct; and it is not known, whether any vocabulary of their language, which might indicate their origin, has ever been obtained.

Whatever may have been the origin of the Eskimaux, it would seem probable that the small tribe of the present Sedentary Tchuktchi on the eastern extremity of Asia, is a colony of the Western American Eskimaux. The language does not extend in Asia beyond that tribe. That of their immediate neighbours, the "Reindeer" or "Wandering Tchuktchi," is totally different, and belongs to the Kouriak family.

The vocabulary of the western American Eskimaux which has been selected, is that of Kotzebue's Sound immediately north of Behring's Straits, taken by Captain Beechy. That of the Tchuktchi, extracted from Krusenstern, was taken by Koscheloff; and a specimen has been added of the language of the island of Kadjak opposite to the Peninsula of Alaska, extracted from Klaproth's " Asia Polyglotta."

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