n,
1848; the author was an accurate and trustworthy observer. Some
writers have placed these tribes in the Dakota group because of
the large number of Dakota words in their language; but these
are probably borrowed words, like the numerous French words in
English.]

[Footnote 36: See Francis Parkman's paper, "The Discovery of
the Rocky Mountains," _Atlantic Monthly_, June, 1888. I hope
the appearance of this article, two years ago, indicates that
we have not much longer to wait for the next of that
magnificent series of volumes on the history of the French in
North America.]

[Footnote 37: _North American Indians_, vol. ii., Appendix A.]

[Footnote 38: Smith's _Generall Historie of Virginia, New
England and the Summer Isles_, p. 1, London, 1626.]

[Sidenote: Pawnees, etc.]

The third group in this western region consists of the Pawnees and
Arickarees,[39] of the Platte valley in Nebraska, with a few kindred
tribes farther to the south.

[Footnote 39: For the history and ethnology of these
interesting tribes, see three learned papers by J. B. Dunbar,
in _Magazine of American History_, vol. iv. pp. 241-281; vol.
v. pp. 321-342; vol. viii. pp. 734-756; also Grinnell's _Pawnee
Hero Stories and Folk-Tales_, New York, 1889.]

[Sidenote: Maskoki family.]

Of the three groups eastward of the Mississippi we may first mention the
Maskoki, or Muskhogees, consisting of the Choctaws, Chickasaws,
Seminoles, and others, with the Creek confederacy.[40] These tribes were
intelligent and powerful, with a culture well advanced toward the end of
the lower period of barbarism.

[Footnote 40: These tribes of the Gulf region were formerly
grouped, along with others not akin to them, as "Mobilians."
The Cherokees were supposed to belong to the Maskoki family,
but they have lately been declared an intrusive offshoot from
the Iroquois stock. The remnants of another alien tribe, the
once famous Natchez, were adopted into the Creek confederacy.
For a full account of these tribes, see Gatschet, _A Migration
Legend of the Creek Indians_, vol. i., Philadelphia, 1884.]

[Sidenote: Algonquin family of tribes.]

The Algonquin family, bordering at its southern limits upon the Maskoki,
had a vast range