tribes; the Delaware and Minsi of Pennsylvania and New Jersey; the Nanticokes
of Maryland; theSusquehannocks; the Powhattans of Virginia, and the Pamlicoes
of North Carolina.* The northern tribes of this great family are familiar in our
colonial history by the names of Mohegans or Pequods, Narragansets, Wampanoags
and Pawtuckets. The Delawares, less belligerent than those nations, occupy a
prominent place in the early annals of Pennsylvania, while the Powhattans hold
the same relative position to Virginia.
The Western group of Lenape includes the Menominees, the Miamis, the
Illinois, the Ottigamies or Foxes, the Sauks, Kickapoos and Shawnoes, together
with some subordinate tribes. They occupied a wide tract of country, extending
from the Cumberland river on the south to the Great Lakes.
It is only necessary to add, that these numerous and often remote nations
speak dialects of a single language, and that philologists have grouped them on
account of this affinity. In physical character there is also an obvious resemblance,
and their social habits are much alike; but these points will be considered more
in detail hereafter.
We may here add from Mr. Gallatin, that “it is difficult to ascertain whether
the name of Algonkins or Algoumekins, did belong to any particular tribe, or was
used as a generic appellation.” The tribes living on the Ottawa river were more
especially distinguished by the name of Algonquins.
T H E C H I P P EW A Y S .
This powerful nation roves in bands over an extensive tract of country,
embracing the whole of the Lakes Superior and Winnepeck, and the Lake of the
Woods. Their camps are also seen on Lake Pepin, on the Spirit Lake, on the
Assinaboin and Saskatchawan rivers, and at the Sault St. Marie. They are,
however, a thinly scattered people, whose numbers have been rapidly diminished
by war and the small pox, those two fatal enemies of Indian life.
Mr. Keating gives the following physical traits of this nation. “ The
Gallatin, Loco citât.