Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/338

 (No. III.) NOTE BY THE PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. [Sec jmgc 15.] Since the printing of this volume was commenced, two sources of infor- mation respecting the Indian tribes inhabiting the northwest coast of Amer- ica, from lat. 48° to lat. 59°, have been consulted, viz. the manuscript journal of Capt. William Bryant, now of Springfield, Massachusetts, kept on that coast during the years 1820-7, embracing vocabularies of several dialects, originally communicated through George Bancroft, Esq., and now in the hands of the Committee; and a "Report of an Exploring Tour" amongst the same tribes, made in 1829, by the Rev. J. S. Green, an' American Missionary, and published in the Missionary Herald, Vols, xxvi., xxvii. (Boston, 1830-1.) Capt. Bryant enumerates twenty tribes within those limits, inhabiting the numerous islands, and the coast near the sea ; but, if considered according to the difference ot language, they compose only four grand divisions. Commencing on the north, from lat. 59° to lat. 55°, there are found ten or more petty tribes that speak the Sitka language, viz. the Chilcart, one of the most numerous and powerful of these tribes ; the Sitka, on the island called by the Russians Baranoff, and by the English King George Illd.'s Island ; the Hoodsunhoo, at Hood's Bay ; the Ark and Kake, on Prince Frederick's Sound ; the Eelikinoo, in Chatham's Straits ; the Kooyou, near Cape Decision; the Hemiega, on Prince of Wales' Island; the Stickeen, and Tumgarsc. Mr. Green reckons the whole number of those who speak the Sitka lan- guage to be G500. He describes this language as soft and musical. It is well known that the Russians have a settlement on Sitka Island, at Norfolk Sound, called New Archangel, where a governor resides, whose jurisdiction extends over all the Russian settlements in that quarter. New Archangel was originally founded by Baranoff, a Russian governor, in 1800, but, being soon after destroyed by the Indians, it was rebuilt by Lisiansky, the Russian navigator, in 1805. It was visited by Kotzebue in 1824. Mr. Green found here two ecclesiastics of the Greek Church. The second division includes those Indians who speak the Nass language. Of these, three tribes only are mentioned, viz. the Mass, on Observatory Inlet, lat. 55° ; the Shebasha, a powerful tribe inhabiting the numerous islands in Pitt's Archipelago ; and the Millbank Indians, on Millbank Sound. This language is described as excessively harsh, and difficult to be written, from the multitude of strong guttural sounds. It is spoken, according to Mr. Green, by about 5500 Indians. The third division comprises the tribes on Queen Charlotte's Island, and others speaking the same language. These are the Cumshewar, the Massit, and the Skiddegat or Skittigeet, which inhabit different parts of Queen Char- lotte's Island ; the Kecsarn, and the Kigarnee. The language spoken by these tribes, of which Mr. Sturgis has furnished a specimen, is partially known to most of the Indians on that coast, and is generally used by the traders as a medium of intercourse with them. Skiddegat, the principal Indian village on Queen Charlotte's Island, is in lat. 53°. It has been much visited by American traders, together with other places on this coast, for furs ; but the trade has declined, and almost ceased, of late years. A fourth language was found by Capt. Bryant on the northwest extremity of Quadra and Vancouver's Island, in lat. 51°, which he terms Newettce or Kooitty, and of which he has preserved a specimen. An interesting account of the manners and habits of these various tribes is furnished by the same gentleman, in his journal; but our limits forbid us availing ourselves of it at the present time.