f the clan. Murder was rarely expiated in any other way than
by the death of the murderer; the nearest male relative of the deceased
was the executioner; but this being done, as under the authority of the
clan, there was no further retaliation. If the injury was committed by
some one of another clan, it was not the injured party, but the clan to
which he belonged, that asked for reparation. This was rarely refused
by the clan of the offender; but in case of refusal, the injured clan
had a right to do itself justice, either by killing the offender, in
case of murder, or inflicting some other punishment for lesser
offences. This species of private war, was, by the Creeks, called, 'to
take up the sticks;' because, the punishment generally consisted in
beating the offender. At the time of the annual corn-feast, the sticks
were laid down, and could not be again taken up for the same offence.
But it seems that originally there had been a superiority among some of
the clans. That of the Wind, had the right to take up the sticks four
times, that of the Bear twice, for the same offence; whilst those of
the Tiger, of the Wolf, of the Bird, of the Root, and of two more whose
names I do not know, could raise them but once. It is obvious that the
object of the unknown legislation, was to prevent or soften the effects
of private revenge, by transferring the power and duty from the blood
relatives to a more impartial body. The father and his brothers, by the
same mother, never could belong to the same clan, as their son or
nephew, whilst the perpetual changes, arising from intermarriages with
women of a different clan, prevented their degenerating into distinct
tribes; and checked the natural tendency towards a subdivision of the
nation into independent communities. The institution may be considered
as the foundation of the internal policy, and the basis of the social
state of the Indians."

[Footnote A: Stephen Ruddell's manuscript account of the Shawanoes, in
possession of the author.]

[Footnote B: John Johnston.]

[Footnote C: Mitchell.]

One mode of ascertaining the origin of the Indian tribes, and of
determining their relation to each other, as well as to other races of
mankind, is the study of their language. This has, at different times,
engaged the attention of several able philologists, who have done much
to analyze the Indian languages, and to arrange in systematic order,
the numerous dialects of this erratic people. Th