T H E A L G O N Q U IN - L E N A P E .
The Algonkin and Lenape nations are grouped by philologists under the
collective name of Algonquin-Lenapes; yet we observe some physical differences
in people of this great family, and they were still more separated by those
perpetual hostilities which every where characterise the American tribes.
When the Europeans first became acquainted with the Algonquin-Lenape
nations, they possessed a vast tract of North America, extending from Labrador
and Hudson’s Bay on the north, to the country of the Florida tribes on the south,
while the Mississippi and Atlantic bounded them west and east. It is well known,
however, that at the present day many of these tribes inhabit west of the
Mississippi, while to the east of that river they are in a geat measure superseded
by the white population. It is necessary to remark, however, that in the midst
of the Algonquins, and surrounded by them on every side, lived the Iroquois or
Five nations.
It will be observed in the course of this work, that I possess an extensive
series of the crania of this widely extended nation, and it may therefore be
admissible to give a brief enumeration of the principal communities of which it is
composed, arranged in a geographical manner: and I take this occasion to
acknowledge that these facts are chiefly derived from the published labors of Mr.
Gallatin*
The Northern group of the Algonquin-Lenape embraces the Knistenaux or
Crees, the Chippeways, the Ottawas, the Potawatomies, the Missasaugas, and the
Algonquins proper. All these nations speak dialects so nearly allied, that they may
be rather considered as dialects of the same than as distinct languages. The
Knistenaux language is less allied to the general type than any of the others, but
even here the affinity is very obvious. The Northeastern group included the
Micmaks, the Etchemins and the Abenakis, which tribes inhabited the seacoast,
and some extent of inland country, from Labrador to the present statfe of Maine.
Among the southernmost of these communities, was the Penobscots, of whom some
degraded remains are yet existing.
The Eastern or Atlantic group, embraces the New England Indians, or in
other words those between the Abenakis and Hudson river; the Long Island