Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/40



entering into the details of their past history, it is necessary that the writer should give a brief account of the present position and numbers of the Ojibways, and the connection existing between them and other tribes of the American Indians residing in their vicinity, within the limits of the United States, Canada, and the British possessions.

Reliable and learned authors who have made the aboriginal race of America an object of deep study and research, have arrived at the conclusion, that the numerous tribes into which they are divided, belong not to the same primitive family or generic stock, but are to be ranged under several well-defined heads or types. The well-marked and total difference found existing between their several languages, has been the principal and guiding rule (29)