The Athabascan dialects are usually harsh and difficult of enunciation. In reducing them to writing, sixty-three characters have to be called on to render the correct sounds.87 There is an oral literature of songs and chants, many of which have been preserved by the missionaries. The Hupas of California had extended their language and forced its adoption among the half-dozen neighboring tribes whom they had reduced to the condition of tributaries.88
ATHABASCAN LINGUISTIC STOCK
Apaches, in Arizona, Chihuahua, Durango, etc.
Ariquipas, in southern Arizona.
Atnahs, on Copper river, Alaska.
Beaver Indians, see Sarcees.
Chepewyans, north of the Chipeways.
Chiricahuas, in southern Arizona.
Coyoteros, in southern Arizona.
Hupas, in California, on Trinity river.
Janos, in Chihuahua, near Rio Grande.
Jicarillas, in northern New Mexico.
Kenais, on and near Kenai peninsula, Alaska.
Kuchins, on Yukon and Copper rivers, Alaska.
Lipans, near mouth of Rio Grande (properly, Ipa-ndé).
Loucheux, on lower Mackenzie river; most northern tribe.
Mescaleros, in New Mexico, W. of Rio Grande.
Montagnais, north of Chipeways.
Nahaunies, on Stickine and Talton rivers, Alaska.
Navajos, northern New Mexico and Arizona.
Sarcees, on upper Saskatchewan and at Alberta.
Sicaunies, on upper Peach river.
Slaves, on upper Mackenzie river.
Tacullies, head waters of the Fraser river, Brit. Col.
Tinné, synonym of Athabascan.
Tututenas, on Rogue river, Oregon.
Umpquas, Pacific coast near Salem, Oregon.
4. THE ALGONKINS
The whole of the north Atlantic coast, between Cape Fear and Cape Hatteras, was occupied at the discovery by the Algonkin stock. Their northern limit reached far into Labrador, where they were in immediate contact with the Eskimos, and along the southern shores of Hudson Bay, and its western littoral as far north as Churchill river. In this vicinity lived the Crees, one of the most important tribes, who retained the language of the stock in its purest form. West of them were the Ottawas and Chipeways, closely allied in dialect, and owners of most of the shores of lakes Michigan and Superior. Beyond these again, and separated from them by tribes of Dakota stock, were the Blackfeet, whose lands extended to the very summit of the Rockies. South of the St. Lawrence were the Abnakis or Eastlanders, under which general name were included the Micmacs, Echemins and others. The whole of the area of New England was occupied by Algonkins, whose near relatives were the Mohegans of the lower Hudson. These were in place and dialect near to the Lenâpés of the Delaware valley, and to the vagrant Shawnees; while the Nanticokes of Maryland, the Powhatans of Virginia and the Pampticokes of the Carolinas diverged more and more from the purity of the original language.
These and many other tribes scattered over this vast area were related, all speaking dialects manifestly from the same source. Where their ancient home was situated has been the subject of careful investigations, the result of which may be said to be that traditions, archæology and linguistic analysis combine to point to the north and the east, in other words, to some spot north of the St. Lawrence and east of Lake Ontario, as the original home of the stock.
The Algonkins may be taken as typical specimens of the American race. They are fully up to the average stature of the best developed European nations, muscular and symmetrical. The distinguished anthropologist Quetelet measured with great care six members of the Chipeway tribe, and pronounced them as equaling in all physical points the best specimens of the Belgians.89 Their skulls are generally dolichocephalic, but not uniformly so. We have in the collection of the Academy seventy-seven Algonkin crania, of which fifty-three are dolichocephalic, fourteen mesocephalic, and ten brachycephalic.90 The eyes are horizontal, the nose thin and prominent, the malar bones well marked, the lips thin. The color is a coppery brown, the hair black and straight, though I have seen a slight waviness in some who claim purity of blood. The hands and feet are small, the voice rich and strong. Physical endurance is very great, and under favorable circumstances the longevity is fully up to that of any other race.
The totemic system prevailed among the Algonkin tribes, with descent in the female line; but we do not find among them the same communal life as among the Iroquois. Only rarely do we encounter the “long house,” occupied by a number of kindred families. Among the Lenâpés, for example, this was entirely unknown, each married couple having its own residence. The gens was governed by a chief, who was in some cases selected by the heads of the other gentes. The tribe had as permanent ruler a “peace chief,” selected from a particular gens, also by the heads of the other gentes. His authority was not absolute, and, as usual, did not extend to any matter concerning the particular interests of any one gens. When war broke out, the peace chief had no concern in it, the campaign being placed in charge of a “war chief,” who had acquired a right to the position by his prominent prowess and skill.
While the Mohegans built large communal houses, the Lenâpés and most of the eastern Algonkins constructed small wattled huts with rounded tops, thatched with the leaves of the Indian corn or with sweet flags. These were built in groups and surrounded with palisades of stakes driven into the ground. In summer, light brush tents took the place of these. Agriculture was by no means neglected. The early explorers frequently refer to large fields of maize, squash and tobacco under cultivation by the natives. The manufacture of pottery was widespread, although it was heavy and coarse. Mats woven of bark and rushes, deer skins dressed with skill, feather garments, and utensils of wood and stone, are mentioned by the early voyagers. Copper was dug from veins in New Jersey and elsewhere and hammered into ornaments, arrowheads, knives and chisels. It was, however, treated as a stone, and the process of smelting it was unknown. The arrow and spear heads were preferably of quartz, jasper and chert, while the stone axes were of diorite, hard sandstone, and similar tough and close-grained material.91 An extensive commerce in these and similar articles was carried on with very distant points. The red pipe-stone was brought to the Atlantic coast from the Coteau des Prairies, and even the black slate highly ornamented pipes of the Haidah on Vancouver Island have been exhumed from graves of Lenâpé Indians.
Nowhere else north of Mexico was the system of picture writing developed so far as among the Algonkins, especially by the Lenâpés and the Chipeways. It had passed from the representative to the symbolic stage, and was extensively employed to preserve the national history and the rites of the secret societies. The figures were scratched or painted on pieces of bark or slabs of wood, and as the color of the paint was red, these were sometimes called “red sticks.” One such, the curious Walum Olum, or “Red Score,” of the Lenâpés, containing the traditional history of the tribe, I was fortunate enough to rescue from oblivion, and have published it with a translation.92 The contents of others relating to the history of the Chipeways (Ojibways) have also been partly preserved.
The religion of all the Algonkin tribes presented a distinct similarity. It was based on the worship of Light, especially in its concrete manifestations, as the sun and fire; of the Four Winds, as typical of the cardinal points, and as the rain bringers; and of the Totemic Animal. Their myths were numerous, the central figure being the national hero-god Manibozho or Michabo, often identified with the rabbit,