volume 1, part 1.

"The Uchees and the Natches, who are both incorporated in the [Muskhogee or Creek] confederacy, speak two distinct languages altogether different from the Muskhogee. The Natches, a residue of the well-known nation of that name, came from the banks of the Mississippi, and joined the Creeks less than one hundred years ago. The original seats of the Uchees were east of the Coosa and probably of the Chatahoochee; and they consider themselves as the most ancient inhabitants of the country. They may have been the same nation which is called Apalaches in the accounts of De Soto's expedition. ... The four great Southern nations, according to the estimates of the War Department ... consist now [1836] of 67,000 souls, viz.: The Cherokees, 15,000; the Choctaws (18,500), the Chicasas (5,500), 24,000; the Muskhogees, Seminoles, and Hitchittees, 26,000; the Uchees, Alibamons, Coosadas, and Natches, 2,000. The territory west of the Mississippi, given or offered to them by the United States in exchange for their lands east of that river, contains 40,000,000 acres, exclusively of what may be allotted to the Chicasas."

_A. Gallatin, Synopsis of the Indian Tribes (Archæologia Americana, volume 2), section 3._

See below: SEMINOLES.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Musquito, or Mosquito Indians.

"That portion of Honduras known as the Musquito Coast derived its name, not from the abundance of those troublesome insects, but from a native tribe who at the discovery occupied the shore near Blewfield Lagoon. They are an intelligent people, short in stature, unusually dark in color, with finely cut features, and small straight noses--not at all negroid, except where there has been an admixture of blood. They number about 6,000, many of whom have been partly civilized by the efforts of missionaries, who have reduced the language to writing and published in it a number of works. The Tunglas are one of the sub-tribes of the Musquitos."

_D. G. Brinton, The American Race, page 162._

See, also, NICARAGUA: A. D., 1850.

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AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Nahuas.

See MEXICO, ANCIENT: THE MAYA AND NAHUA PEOPLES.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Nanticokes.

See above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Napo.

See above: ANDESIANS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Narragansetts.

See above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY; also RHODE ISLAND: A. D. 1636; and NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1637; 1674-1675; 1675; and 1676-1678.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Natchesan Family.

When the French first entered the lower Mississippi valley, they found the Natchez [Na'htchi] occupying a region of country that now surrounds the city which bears their name. "By the persevering curiosity of Gallatin, it is established that the Natchez were distinguished from the tribes around them less by their customs and the degree of their civilization than by their language, which, as far as comparisons have been instituted, has no etymological affinity with any other whatever. Here again the imagination too readily invents theories; and the tradition has been widely received that the dominion of the Natchez once extended even to the Wabash. History knows them only as a feeble and inconsiderable nation, who in the 18th century attached themselves to the confederacy of the Creeks."

_G. Bancroft, History of the United States (Author's last revision), volume 2, page 97._

"Chateaubriand, in his charming romances, and some of the early French writers, who often drew upon their fancy for their facts, have thrown an interest around the Natchez, as a semi-civilized and noble race, that has passed into history. We find no traces of civilization in their architecture, or in their social life and customs. Their religion was brutal and bloody, indicating an Aztec origin. They were perfidious and cruel, and if they were at all superior to the neighboring tribes it was probably due to the district they occupied--the most beautiful, healthy and productive in the valley of the Mississippi--and the influence of its attractions in substituting permanent for temporary occupation. The residence of the grand chief was merely a spacious cabin, of one apartment, with a mat of basket work for his bed and a log for his pillow. ... Their government was an absolute despotism. The supreme chief was master of their labor, their property, and their lives. ... The Natchez consisted exclusively of two classes--the Blood Royal and its connexions, and the common people, the Mich-i-mioki-quipe, or Stinkards. The two classes understood each other, but spoke a different dialect. Their customs of war, their treatment of prisoners, their ceremonies of marriage, their feasts and fasts, their sorceries and witchcraft, differed very little from other savages. Father Charlevoix, who visited Natchez in 1721, saw no evidences of civilization. Their villages consisted of a few cabins, or rather ovens, without windows and roofed with matting. The house of the Sun was larger, plastered with mud, and a narrow bench for a seat and bed. No other furniture in the mansion of this grand dignitary, who has been described by imaginative writers as the peer of Montezuma!"

_J. F. H. Claiborne, Mississippi, volume 1, chapter 4._

In 1729, the Natchez, maddened by insolent oppressions, planned and executed a general massacre of the French within their territory. As a consequence, the tribe was virtually exterminated within the following two years.

_C. Gayarre, Louisiana, its Colonial History and Romance, 2d series, lecture 3 and 5._

"The Na'htchi, according to Gallatin, a residue of the well-known nation of that name, came from the banks of the Mississippi, and joined the Creek less than one hundred years ago. The seashore from Mobile to the Mississippi was then inhabited by several small tribes, of which the Na'htchi was the principal. Before 1730 the tribe lived in the vicinity of Natchez, Miss., along St. Catherine Creek. After their dispersion by the French in 1730 most of the remainder joined the Chicasa and afterwards the Upper Creek. They are now in Creek and Cherokee Nations, Indian Territory. The linguistic relations of the language spoken by the Taensa tribe have long been in doubt, and it is possible they will ever remain so."

_J. W. Powell, Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, page 96._

See LOUISIANA: A. D. 1719-1750. See, also, above: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Natchitoches;

See Note, Appendix E. See TEXAS: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Nausets.

See above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Navajos.

See above: ATHAPASCAN FAMILY, and APACHE GROUP.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Neutral Nation.

See above: HURONS, &c.; and IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY: THEIR CONQUESTS, &c.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Nez Percés, or Sahaptins.

"The Sahaptins or Nez Percés [the Shahaptian Family in Major Powell's classification], with their affiliated tribes, occupied the middle and upper valley of the Columbia and its affluents, and also the passes of the mountains. They were in contiguity with the Shoshones and the Algonkin Blackfeet, thus holding an important position, intermediate between the eastern and the Pacific tribes. Having the commercial instinct of the latter, they made good use of it."

_D. G. Brinton, The American Race, page 107._

ALSO IN _J. W. Powell, Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, page 106._

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Niniquiquilas.

See below: PAMPAS TRIBES.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Nipmucs, or Nipnets.

See above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY; also, NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1674-1675; 1675; and 1676-1678 (KING PHILIP'S WAR).

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Nootkas.

See below: WAKASHAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Nottoways.

See above: IROQUOIS TRIBES OF THE SOUTH.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Nyantics.

See above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Ogalalas.

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Ojibwas, or Chippewas.

"The Ojibways, with their kindred, the Pottawattamies, and their friends the Ottawas,--the latter of whom were fugitives from the eastward, whence they had fled from the wrath of the Iroquois,--were banded into a sort of confederacy. They were closely allied in blood, language, manners and character. The Ojibways, by far the most numerous of the three, occupied the basin of Lake Superior, and extensive adjacent regions. In their boundaries, the career of Iroquois conquest found at length a check. The fugitive Wyandots sought refuge in the Ojibway hunting grounds; and tradition relates that, at the outlet of Lake Superior, an Iroquois war-party once encountered a disastrous repulse. In their mode of life, they were far more rude than the Iroquois, or even the southern Algonquin tribes."

_F. Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, chapter 1._

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"The name of the tribe appears to be recent. It is not met with in the older writers. The French, who were the earliest to meet them, in their tribal seat at the falls or Sault de Ste Marie, named them Saulteur, from this circumstance. M'Kenzie uses the term 'Jibway,' as the equivalent of this term, in his voyages. They are referred to, with little difference in the orthography, in General Washington's report, in 1754, of his trip to Le Bœuf, on Lake Erie; but are first recognized, among our treaty-tribes, in the general treaty of Greenville, of 1794, in which, with the Ottawas they ceded the island of Michilimackinac, and certain dependencies, conceded by them at former periods to the French. ... The Chippewas are conceded, by writers on American philology ... to speak one of the purest forms of the Algonquin."

_H. R. Schoolcraft, Information respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes, part 5, p. 142._

ALSO IN _G. Copway, The Ojibway Nation._ _J. G. Kohl, Kitchi-gami_.

See, also, PONTIAC'S WAR: and above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Omahas.

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY, and PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Oneidas.

See above: IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY.

Onondagas.

See above: IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Orejones.

See below: PAMPAS TRIBES.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Osages.

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY, and PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Otoes, or Ottoes.

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY, and PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Otomis.

"According to Aztec tradition, the Otomis were the earliest owners of the soil of Central Mexico. Their language was at the conquest one of the most widely distributed of any in this portion of the continent. Its central regions were the States of Queretaro and Guanajuato. ... The Otomis are below the average stature, of dark color, the skull markedly dolichocephalic, the nose short and flattened, the eyes slightly oblique."

_D. G. Brinton, The American Race, page 135._

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Ottawas.

See above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY, and OJIBWAS. See, also, PONTIAC'S WAR.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES Pacaguara.

See above: ANDESIANS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Pacamora.

See above: ANDESIANS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Pamlicoes.

See above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Pampas Tribes.

"The chief tribe of the Pampas Indians was entitled Querandis by the Spaniards, although they called themselves Pehuelches [or Puelts--that is, the Eastern]. Various segments of these, under different names, occupied the immense tract of ground, between the river Parana and the republic of Chili. The Querandis ... were the great opponents to settlement of the Spaniards in Buenos Ayres. ... The Ancas or Aracaunos Indians [see CHILE] resided on the west of the Pampas near Chili, and from time to time assisted the Querandis in transporting stolen cattle across the Cordilleras. The southern part of the Pampas was occupied by the Balchitas, Uhilches, Telmelches, and others, all of whom were branches of the original Quelches horde. The Guarani Indians were the most famous of the South American races. ... Of the Guayanas horde there were several tribes--independent of each other, and speaking different idioms, although having the same title of race. Their territory extended from the river Guarai, one of the affluents into the Uruguay, for many leagues northwards, and stretched over to the Parana opposite the city of Corpus Christi. They were some of the most vigorous opponents of the Spanish invaders. ... The Nalicurgas Indians, who lived up to near 21° South latitude were reputed to dwell in caves, to be very limited in number, and to go entirely naked. The Gausarapos, or Guuchies dwelt in the marshy districts near where the river Gausarapo, or Guuchie, has its source. This stream enters from the east into the Paraguay at 19° 16' 30" South latitude. ... The Cuatos lived inside of a lake to the west of the river Paraguay, and constituted a very small tribe. ... The Orejones dwelt on the eastern brows of the mountains of Santa Lucia or San Fernando--close to the western side of Paraguay river. ... Another tribe, the Niniquiquilas, had likewise the names of Potreros, Simanos, Barcenos, and Lathanos. They occupied a forest which began at about 19° South latitude, some leagues backward from the river Paraguay, and separated the Gran Chaco from the province of Los Chiquitos in Peru. ... The Guanas Indians were divided into eight separate segments, for each of which there was a particular and different name. They lived between 20° and 22° of South latitude in the Gran Chaco to the west of Paraguay, and they were not known to the Spaniards till the latter crossed the last-named river in 1673. ... The Albaias and Payaguas Indians ... in former times, were the chief tribes of the Paraguay territory. ... The Albaias were styled Machicuis and Enimgas by other authors. At the time of the Spaniards' arrival here, the Albaias occupied the Gran Chaco side of the river Paraguay from 20° to 22° South latitude. Here they entered into a treaty offensive and defensive with the Payaguas. ... The joined forces of Albaias and Payaguas had managed to extend their territory in 1673 down to 24° 7' South on the eastern side of Paraguay river. ... The Albaias were a very tall and muscular race of people. ... The Payagua Indians, before and up to, as well as after, the period of the conquest, were sailors, and domineered over the river Paraguay. ... The Guaicarus lived on the Chaco side of Paraguay river and subsisted entirely by hunting. From the barbarous custom which their women had of inducing abortion to avoid the pain or trouble of child-bearing, they became exterminated soon after the conquest. ... The Tobas, who have also the titles of Natecœt and Yncanabaite, were among the best fighters of the Indians. They occupy the Gran Chaco, chiefly on the banks of the river Vermejo, and between that and the Pilcomayo. Of these there are some remains in the present day. ... The Mocovis are likewise still to be found in the Chaco. ... The Abipones, who were also styled Ecusgina and Quiabanabaite, lived in the Chaco, so low down as 28° South. This was the tribe with whom the Jesuits incorporated, when they erected the city of San Geronimo, in the Gran Chaco, and nearly opposite Goya, in 1748."

_T. J. Hutchinson, The Parana, chapter 6-7._

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"The Abipones inhabit [in the 18th century] the province Chaco, the centre of all Paraguay; they have no fixed abodes, nor any boundaries, except what fear of their neighbours has established. They roam extensively in every direction, whenever the opportunity of attacking their enemies, or the necessity of avoiding them renders a journey advisable. The northern shore of the Rio Grande or Bermejo, which the Indians call Iñatè, was their native land in the last century [the 17th]. Thence they removed, to avoid the war carried on against Chaco by the Spaniards ... and, migrating towards the south, took possession of a valley formerly held by the Calchaquis. ... From what region their ancestors came there is no room for conjecture."

_M. Dobrizhoffer, Account of the Abipones, volume 2, chapter 1._

"The Abipones are in general above the middle stature, and of a robust constitution. In summer they go quite naked; but in winter cover themselves with skins. ... They paint themselves all over with different colours."

_Father Charlevoix, History of Paraguay,