Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/137

 SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 101 shortly be published. In the mean while, some of its principal features have been disclosed in their spelling-book, or may be deduced from the appended verbal forms and annotations, sup- plied by Mr. Alfred Wright, but in which he was (I believe) assisted by the Missionaries. Similar in its general structure to the other Indian languages which have been examined, its system of inflexions is more simple and uniform than any other ; and the mode of compounding words in many respects more similar to that used in our own languages. It appears therefore to be the least difficult to be acquired by an Euro- pean ; which accounts for its having been adopted by the French as a general medium of intercourse with all the other adjacent Indian tribes. The annexed vocabularies were ex- tracted partly from the Missionaries' spelling-book,* chiefly from the copious one transmitted by Mr. Wright. The affinities between the Choctaw and the Muskhogee were such as to make it a matter of doubt, whether they should not be considered as belonging to the same family. The ap- pended vocabularies of both are copious, yet not perhaps sufficient to decide the question. The short comparative one of the two languages shows in one view the most striking of those affinities. I think them sufficient to prove a common origin ; but, in compliance with received opinions, they have been arranged in the vocabulary as forming two families. The four great southern nations, according to the estimates of the War Department which have been quoted and are in that quarter very correct, consist now of sixty-seven thousand souls viz. the Cherokees 15,000 the Choctaws. 18,500) 94 nnn theChicasas . . 5,500 £ * ' ^' UUU 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 forty millions of acres, exclusively of what be obtained.
 * 1) First edition. A copy of the second improved edition could not