This, the first edition of this well known atlas, contains, among other maps, an ethnographic map of North America, made in 1845. It is based, as is stated, upon material derived from Gallatin, Humboldt, Clavigero, Hervas, Vater, and others. So far as the eastern part of the United States is concerned it is largely a duplication of Gallatin’s map of 1836, while in the western region a certain amount of new material is incorporated.
1852. In the edition of 1852 the ethnographic map bears date of 1851. Its eastern portion is substantially a copy of the earlier edition, but its western half is materially changed, chiefly in accordance with the knowledge supplied by Hall in 1848.
Map number 72 of the last edition of Berghaus by no means marks an advance upon the edition of 1852. Apparently the number of families is much reduced, but it is very difficult to interpret the meaning of the author, who has attempted on the same map to indicate linguistic divisions and tribal habitats with the result that confusion is made worse confounded.
1853. Gallatin (Albert).
Classification of the Indian Languages;
a letter inclosing a table of
generic Indian Families of
languages. In Information respecting the
History, Condition, and Prospects
of the Indian Tribes of the United
States, by Henry E. Schoolcraft.
Philadelphia, 1853, vol. 3.
This short paper by Gallatin consists of a letter addressed to W. Medill, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, requesting his cooperation in an endeavor to obtain vocabularies to assist in a more complete study of the grammar and structure of the languages of the Indians of North America. It is accompanied by a “Synopsis of Indian Tribes,” giving the families and tribes so far as known. In the main the classification is a repetition of that of 1848, but it differs from that in a number of particulars. Two of the families of 1848 do not appear in this paper, viz, Arapaho and Kinai. Queen Charlotte Island, employed as a family name in 1848, is placed under the Wakash family, while the Skittagete language, upon which the name Queen Charlotte Island was based in 1848, is here given as a family designation for the language spoken at “Sitka, bet. 52 and 59 lat.” The following families appear which are not contained in the list of 1848:
1. Cumanches. 2. Gros Ventres. 3. Kaskaias. 4. Kiaways. 5. Natchitoches. 6. Pani, Towiacks. 7. Ugaljachmatzi.
1853. Gibbs (George).
Observations on some of the Indian dialects
of northern California. In
Information respecting the
History, Condition, and Prospects of the
Indian tribes of the United
States, by Henry E. Schoolcraft.
Philadelphia, 1853, vol. 3.
The “Observations” are introductory to a series of vocabularies collected in northern California, and treat of the method employed in collecting them and of the difficulties encountered. They also contain notes on the tribes speaking the several languages as well as on the area covered. There is comparatively little of a classificatory nature, though in one instance the name Quoratem is proposed as a proper one for the family “should it be held one.”