Part 28

"This name [Athapascans or Athabascans] has been applied to a class of tribes who are situated north of the great Churchill river, and north of the source of the fork of the Saskatchawine, extending westward till within about 150 miles of the Pacific Ocean. … The name is derived, arbitrarily, from Lake Athabasca, which is now more generally called the Lake of the Hills. Surrounding this lake extends the tribe of the Chippewyans, a people so-called by the Kenistenos and Chippewas, because they were found to be clothed, in some primary encounter, in the scanty garb of the fisher's skin. … We are informed by Mackenzie that the territory occupied by the Chippewyans extends between the parallels of 60° and 65° North and longitudes from 100° to 110° West."

_H. R. Schoolcraft, Information Respecting the Indian Tribes, part 5, page 172._

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"The Tinneh may be divided into four great families of nations; namely, the Chippewyans, or Athabascas, living between Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains; the Tacullies, or Carriers, of New Caledonia or North-western British America; the Kutchins, occupying both banks of the Upper Yukon and its tributaries, from near its mouth to the Mackenzie River, and the Kenai, inhabiting the interior from the lower Yukon to Copper River."

_H. H. Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States, chapter 2._

"The Indian tribes of Alaska and the adjacent region may be divided into two groups. …

1. Tinneh—Chippewyans of authors. … Father Petitot discusses the terms Athabaskans, Chippewayans, Montagnais, and Tinneh as applied to this group of Indians. … This great family includes a large number of American tribes extending from near the mouth of the Mackenzie south to the borders of Mexico. The Apaches and Navajos belong to it, and the family seems to intersect the continent of North America in a northerly and southerly direction, principally along the flanks of the Rocky Mountains. … The designation [Tinneh] proposed by Messrs. Ross and Gibbs has been accepted by most modern ethnologists. …

2. T'linkets, which family includes the Yakutats and other groups.

_W. H. Dall, Tribes of the Extreme Northwest (Contributions to North American Ethnology, volume 1)._

"Wherever found, the members of this group present a certain family resemblance. In appearance they are tall and strong, the forehead low with prominent superciliary ridges, the eyes slightly oblique, the nose prominent but wide toward the base, the mouth large, the hands and feet small. Their strength and endurance are often phenomenal, but in the North, at least, their longevity is slight, few living beyond fifty. Intellectually they rank below most of their neighbors, and nowhere do they appear as fosterers of the germs of civilization. Where, as among the Navajos, we find them having some repute for the mechanical arts, it turns out that this is owing to having captured and adopted the members of more gifted tribes. … Agriculture was not practised either in the north or south, the only exception being the Navajos, and with them the inspiration came from other stocks. … The most cultured of their bands were the Navajos, whose name is said to signify 'large cornfields,' from their extensive agriculture. When the Spaniards first met them in 1541 they were tillers of the soil, erected large granaries for their crops, irrigated their fields by artificial water courses or acequias, and lived in substantial dwellings, partly underground; but they had not then learned the art of weaving the celebrated 'Navajo blankets,' that being a later acquisition of their artisans."

_D. G. Brinton, The American Race, pages 69-72._

See, above, APACHE GROUP, and BLACKFEET.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Atsinas (Caddoes).

See Note, Appendix E.

See below: BLACKFEET.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Attacapan Family.

"Derivation: From a Choctaw word meaning 'man-eater.' Little is known of the tribe, the language of which forms the basis of the present family. The sole knowledge possessed by Gallatin was derived from a vocabulary and some scanty information furnished by Dr. John Sibley, who collected his material in the year 1805. Gallatin states that the tribe was reduced to 50 men. … Mr. Gatschet collected some 2,000 words and a considerable body of text. His vocabulary differs considerably from the one furnished by Dr. Sibley and published by Gallatin. … The above material seems to show that the Attacapa language is distinct from all others, except possibly the Chitimachan."

_J. W. Powell, Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, page 57._

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Aymaras.

See PERU.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Aztecs.

See below: MAYAS; also MEXICO: A. D. 1325-1502; and AZTEC AND MAYA PICTURE WRITING.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Bakairi.

See below: CARIBS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Balchitas.

See below: PAMPAS TRIBES.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Bannacks.

See below: SNOSHONEAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Barbudo.

See above: ANDESIANS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Baré.

See below: GUCK OR COCO GROUP.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Baure.

See above: ANDESIANS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Beothukan Family.

The Beothuk were a tribe, now extinct, which is believed to have occupied the whole of Newfoundland at the time of its discovery. What is known of the language of the Beothuk indicates no relationship to any other American tongue.

_J. W. Powell, Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, page 57._

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Biloxis.

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Blackfeet, or Siksikas.

See Note, Appendix E.

"The tribe that wandered the furthest from the primitive home of the stock [the Algonquian] were the Blackfeet, or Sisika, which word has this signification. It is derived from their earlier habitat in the valley of the Red river of the north, where the soil was dark and blackened their moccasins. Their bands include the Blood or Kenai and the Piegan Indians. Half a century ago they were at the head of a confederacy which embraced these and also the Sarcee (Tinné) and the Atsina (Caddo) nations, and numbered about 30,000 souls. They have an interesting mythology and an unusual knowledge of the constellations."

_D. G. Brinton, The American Race, page 79_.

SEE above: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY;

And, below: FLATHEADS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Blood, or Kenai Indians.

See above: BLACKFEET.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Botocudos.

See below: TUPI. GUARANI. TUPUYAS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Brulé:

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Caddoan Family.

See below: PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY;

See, also, TEXAS: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Cakchiquels.

See below: QUICHES, and MAYAS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Calusa.

See below: TUMUQUANAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Cambas, or Campo, or Campa.

See above: ANDESIANS; also, BOLIVIA: ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Cañares.

See ECUADOR.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Canas.

See PERU.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Canichanas.

See BOLIVIA: ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

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AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Caniengas.

See below: IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Cariay.

See below: GUCK OR COCO Group.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Caribs and their Kindred.

"The warlike and unyielding character of these people, so different from that of the pusillanimous nations around them, and the wide scope of their enterprises and wanderings, like those of the nomad tribes of the Old World, entitle them to distinguished attention. … The traditional accounts of their origin, though of course extremely vague, are yet capable of being verified to a great degree by geographical facts, and open one of the rich veins of curious inquiry and speculation which abound in the New World. They are said to have migrated from the remote valleys embosomed in the Apalachian mountains. The earliest accounts we have of them represent them with weapons in their hands, continually engaged in wars, winning their way and shifting their abode, until, in the course of time, they found themselves at the extremity of Florida. Here, abandoning the northern continent, they passed over to the Lucayos [Bahamas], and thence gradually, in the process of years, from island to island of that vast verdant chain, which links, as it were, the end of Florida to the coast of Paria, on the southern continent. The archipelago extending from Porto Rico to Tobago was their stronghold, and the island of Guadaloupe in a manner their citadel. Hence they made their expeditions, and spread the terror of their name through all the surrounding countries. Swarms of them landed upon the southern continent, and overran some parts of terra firma. Traces of them have been discovered far in the interior of that vast country through which flows the Oroonoko. The Dutch found colonies of them on the banks of the Ikouteka, which empties into the Surinam; along the Esquibi, the Maroni, and other rivers of Guayana; and in the country watered by the windings of the Cayenne."

_W. Irving, Life and Voyages of Columbus, book 6, chapter 3, (volume 1)._

"To this account [substantially as given above] of the origin of the Insular Charaibes, the generality of historians have given their assent; but there are doubts attending it that are not easily solved. If they migrated from Florida, the imperfect state and natural course of their navigation induce a belief that traces of them would have been found on those islands which are near to the Florida shore; let the natives of the Bahamas, when discovered by Columbus, were evidently a similar people to those of Hispaniola. Besides, it is sufficiently known that there existed anciently many numerous and powerful tribes of Charaibes on the southern peninsula, extending from the river Oronoko to Essequebe, and throughout the whole province of Surinam, even to Brazil, some of which still maintain their independency. … I incline therefore to the opinion of Martyr, and conclude that the islanders were rather a colony from the Charaibes of South America, than from any nation of the North. Rochefort admits that their own traditions referred constantly to Guiana."

_B. Edwards, History of British Colonies in the West Indies, book 1, chapter 2._

"The Carabisce, Carabeesi, Charaibes, Caribs, or Galibis, originally occupied [in Guiana] the principal rivers, but as the Dutch encroached upon their possessions they retired inland, and are now daily dwindling away. According to Mr. Hillhouse, they could formerly muster nearly 1,000 fighting men, but are now [1855] scarcely able to raise a tenth part of that number. … The smaller islands of the Caribbean Sea were formerly thickly populated by this tribe, but now not a trace of them remains."

_H. G. Dalton, History of British Guiana, volume 1, chapter 1._

_E. F. im Thurn, Among the Indians of Guiana, chapter 6._

"Recent researches have shown that the original home of the stock was south of the Amazon, and probably in the highlands at the head of the Tapajoz river. A tribe, the Bakairi, is still resident there, whose language is a pure and archaic form of the Carib tongue."

_D. G. Brinton, Races and Peoples, page 268._

"Related to the Caribs stand a long list of small tribes … all inhabitants of the great primeval forest in and near Guiana. They may have characteristic differences, but none worthy of mention are known. In bodily appearance, according to all accounts, these relatives of the Caribs are beautiful. In Georgetown the Arauacas [or Arawaks] are celebrated for their beauty. They are slender and graceful, and their features handsome and regular, the face having a Grecian profile, and the skin being of a reddish cast. A little farther inland we find the Macushi [or Macusis], with a lighter complexion and a Roman nose. These two types are repeated in other tribes, except in the Tarumi, who are decidedly ugly. In mental characteristics great similarity prevails."

_The Standard Natural History (J. S. Kingsley, editor), page 237._

"The Arawaks occupied on the continent the area of the modern Guiana, between the Corentyn and the Pomeroon rivers, and at one time all the West Indian Islands. From some of them they were early driven by the Caribs, and within 40 years of the date of Columbus' first voyage the Spanish had exterminated nearly all on the islands. Their course of migration had been from the interior of Brazil northward; their distant relations are still to be found between the headwaters of the Paraguay and Schingu rivers."

_D. G. Brinton, Races and Peoples, page 268-269._

"The Kapohn (Acawoios, Waikas, &c.) claim kindred with the Caribs. … The Acawoios, though resolute and determined, are less hasty and impetuous than the Caribs. … According to their tradition, one of their hordes removed [to the Upper Demerera] … from the Masaruni. The Parawianas, who originally dwelt on the Demerera, having been exterminated by the continual incursions of the Caribs, the Waika-Acawoios occupied their vacant territory. … The Macusis … are supposed by some to have formerly inhabited the banks of the Orinoco. … As they are industrious and unwarlike, they have been the prey of every savage tribe around them. The Wapisianas are supposed to have driven them northward and taken possession of their country. The Brazilians, as well as the Caribs, Acawoios, &c., have long been in the habit of enslaving them. … The Arecunas have been accustomed to descend from the higher lands and attack the Macusis. … This tribe is said to have formerly dwelt on the banks of the Uaupes or Ucayari, a tributary of the Rio Negro. … The Waraus appear to have been the most ancient inhabitants of the land. Very little, however, can be gleaned from them respecting their early history. … The Tivitivas, mentioned by Raleigh, were probably a branch of the Waraus, whom he calls Quarawetes."

_W. H. Brett, Indian Tribes of Guiana, part 2, chapter 13._

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AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Caripuna.

See below: GUCK OR COCO GROUP.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Cat Nation, or Eries.

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

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Catawbas, or Kataba.

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY; also, TIMUQUANAN.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Cayugas.

See below: IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Chancas.

See PERU.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Chapas, or Chapanecs.

See below: ZAPOTECS, ETC.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Cherokees.

"The Cherokee tribe has long been a puzzling factor to students of ethnology and North American languages. Whether to be considered an abnormal offshoot from one of the well-known Indian stocks or families of North America, or the remnant of some undetermined or almost extinct family which has merged into another, appear to be questions yet unsettled."

_C. Thomas, Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections of the United States (Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1883-4)_.

Facts which tend to identify the Cherokees with the ancient "mound-builders" of the Ohio Valley—the Alleghans or Talligewi of Indian tradition—are set forth by Professor Thomas in a later paper, on the Problem of the Ohio Mounds, published by the Bureau of Ethnology in 1889 [see above: ALLEGHANS] and in a little book published in 1890, entitled "The Cherokees in Pre-Columbian Times." "The Cherokee nation has probably occupied a more prominent place in the affairs and history of what is now the United States of America, since the date of the early European settlements, than any other tribe, nation, or confederacy of Indians, unless it be possible to except the powerful and warlike league of the Iroquois or Six Nations of New York. It is almost certain that they were visited at a very early period [1540] following the discovery of the American continent by that daring and enthusiastic Spaniard, Fernando de Soto. … At the time of the English settlement of the Carolinas the Cherokees occupied a diversified and well-watered region of country of large extent upon the waters of the Catawba, Broad, Saluda, Keowee, Tugaloo, Savannah, and Coosa rivers on the east and south, and several tributaries of the Tennessee on the north and west. … In subsequent years, through frequent and long continued conflicts with the ever advancing white settlements, and the successive treaties whereby the Cherokees gradually yielded portions of their domain, the location and names of their towns were continually changing until the final removal of the nation [1836-1839] west of the Mississippi. … This removal turned the Cherokees back in the calendar of progress and civilization at least a quarter of a century. The hardships and exposures of the journey, coupled with the fevers and malaria of a radically different climate, cost the lives of perhaps 10 per cent. of their total population. The animosities and turbulence born of the treaty of 1835 not only occasioned the loss of many lives, but rendered property insecure, and in consequence diminished the zeal and industry of the entire community in its accumulation. A brief period of comparative quiet, however, was again characterized by an advance toward a higher civilization. Five years after their removal we find from the report of their agent that they are again on the increase in population. … With the exception of occasional drawbacks—the result of civil feuds—the progress of the nation in education, industry and civilization continued until the outbreak of the rebellion. At this period, from the best attainable information, the Cherokees numbered 21,000 souls. The events of the war brought to them more of desolation and ruin than perhaps to any other community. Raided and sacked alternately, not only by the Confederates and Union forces, but by the vindictive ferocity and hate of their own factional divisions, their country became a blackened and desolate waste. … The war over, and the work of reconstruction commenced, found them numbering 14,000 impoverished, heart-broken, and revengeful people. … To-day their country is more prosperous than ever. They number 22,000, a greater population than they have had at any previous period, except perhaps just prior to the date of the treaty of 1835, when those east added to those west of the Mississippi are stated to have aggregated nearly 25,000 people. To-day they have 2,300 scholars attending 75 schools, established and supported by themselves at an annual expense to the nation of nearly $100,000. To-day, 13,000 of their people can read and 18,000 can speak the English language. To-day, 5,000 brick, frame and log-houses are occupied by them, and they have 64 churches with a membership of several thousand. They cultivate 100,000 acres of land and have an additional 150,000 fenced. … They have a constitutional form of government predicated upon that of the United States. As a rule their laws are wise and beneficent and are enforced with strictness and justice. … The present Cherokee population is of a composite character. Remnants of other nations or tribes [Delawares, Shawnees, Creeks, Natchez] have from time to time been absorbed and admitted to full participation in the benefits of Cherokee citizenship."

_C. C. Royce, The Cherokee Nation of Indians (Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1883-84)._

This elaborate paper by Mr. Royce is a narrative in detail of the official relations of the Cherokees with the colonial and federal governments, from their first treaty with South Carolina, in 1721, down to the treaty of April 27, 1868.—"As early as 1798 Barton compared the Cheroki language with that of the Iroquois and stated his belief that there was a connection between them. … Mr. Hale was the first to give formal expression to his belief in the affinity of the Cheroki to Iroquois. Recently extensive Cheroki vocabularies have come into possession of the Bureau of Ethnology, and a careful comparison of them with ample Iroquois material has been made by Mr Hewitt. The result is convincing proof of the relationship of the two languages."

_J. W. Powell, Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, page 77._

See Note, Appendix: E.

ALSO IN _S. G. Drake, The Aboriginal Races of North America, book 4, chapter 13-16._

See, above: ALLEGHANS.

See, also, for an account of the Cherokee War of 1759-1761, SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1759-1761; and for "Lord Dunmore's War," OHIO (VALLEY): A. D. 1774.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Cheyennes, or Sheyennes.

See above; ALGONQUIAN FAMILY

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AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Chibchas.

The most northerly group of the tribes of the Andes "are the Cundinamarca of the table lands of Bogota. At the time of the conquest the watershed of the Magdalena was occupied by the Chibcha, or, as they were called by the Spaniards, Muyscas. At that time the Chibcha were the most powerful of all the autochthonous tribes, had a long history behind them, were well advanced toward civilization, to which numerous antiquities bear witness. The Chibcha of to-day no longer speak the well-developed and musical language of their forefathers. It became extinct about 1730, and it can now only be inferred from existing dialects of it; these are the languages of the Turiero, a tribe dwelling north of Bogota, and of the Itoco Indians who live in the neighborhood of the celebrated Emerald mines of Muzo."

_The Standard Natural History (J. S. Kingsley, editor) volume 6, page 215_.

"As potters and goldsmiths they [the Chibcha] ranked among the finest on the continent."

_D. G. Brinton, Races and Peoples, page 272._

See, also, COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1536-1731.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Chicasas.

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

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Chichimecs.

See MEXICO: A. D. 1325-1502.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Chimakuan Family.

"The Chimakum are said to have been formerly one of the largest and most powerful tribes of Puget Sound. Their warlike habits early tended to diminish their numbers, and when visited by Gibbs in 1854 they counted only about 70 individuals. This small remnant occupied some 15 small lodges on Port Townsend Bay."

_J. W. Powell, Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, page 62._

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Chimarikan Family.

"According to Powers, this family was represented, so far as known, by two tribes in California, one the Chi-mál-a-kwe, living on New River, a branch of the Trinity, the other the Chimariko, residing upon the Trinity itself from Burnt Ranch up to the mouth of North Fork, California. The two tribes are said to have been as numerous formerly as the Hupa, by whom they were overcome and nearly exterminated. Upon the arrival of the Americans only 25 of the Chimalakwe were left."

_J. W. Powell, Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, page 63._