nes is in the vast majority of
cases quite impossible.

Imperfect and defective as the terms of the treaties frequently are as
regards the definition of tribal boundaries, they are by far the most
accurate and important of the means at our command for fixing boundary
lines upon the present map. By their aid the territorial possessions of
a considerable number of tribes have been determined with desirable
precision, and such areas definitely established have served as checks
upon the boundaries of other tribes, concerning the location and extent
of whose possessions little is known.

For establishing the boundaries of such tribes as are not mentioned in
treaties, and of those whose territorial possessions are not given with
sufficient minuteness, early historical accounts are all important. Such
accounts, of course, rarely indicate the territorial possessions of the
tribes with great precision. In many cases, however, the sites of
villages are accurately given. In others the source of information
concerning a tribe is contained in a general statement of the occupancy
of certain valleys or mountain ranges or areas at the heads of certain
rivers, no limiting lines whatever being assigned. In others, still, the
notice of a tribe is limited to a brief mention of the presence in a
certain locality of hunting or war parties.

Data of this loose character would of course be worthless in an attempt
to fix boundary lines in accordance with the ideas of the modern
surveyor. The relative positions of the families and the relative size
of the areas occupied by them, however, and not their exact boundaries,
are the chief concern in a linguistic map, and for the purpose of
establishing these, and, in a rough way, the boundaries of the territory
held by the tribes composing them, these data are very important, and
when compared with one another and corrected by more definite data, when
such are at hand, they have usually been found to be sufficient for the
purpose.

SUMMARY OF DEDUCTIONS.

In conclusion, the more important deductions derivable from the data
upon which the linguistic map is based, or that are suggested by it, may
be summarized as follows:

First, the North American Indian tribes, instead of speaking related
dialects, originating in a single parent language, in reality speak many
languages belonging to distinct families, which have no apparent unity
of origin.

Second, the Indian population