Upon the occasion of my visit to their reservation, I was accompanied by two Indians respectively of the Seneca and Cayuga tribes, both of whom spoke English intelligibly. I asked the Seneca what was the dialect they had chosen to be their language when the Iroquois were assembled together. He replied, that it was the Cayuga, because they believed it was the original language which had been spoken by all of them, and the six nations at the Grand River had learnt it sufficiently to enable them to understand what was said when they met at the Council house, but, for all ordinary purposes, and amongst themselves, each nation spoke its own dialect. With reference to this subject of variations in language, it is evident that amongst the North American Indians, who are scattered over such a large extent of country, the differences in the spoken tongues of the tribes must, in many instances, be caused by the fact of there being no written language, and of their being divided into races, kept apart by wars. It is therefore to be expected that great changes would occur within comparatively short intervals of time. With tribes originally belonging to one nation, these would rapidly become formed into dialects according to the manner in which the tribes moved into other hunting grounds, and became settled into distinct tribal groups. But after making all due allowances for these conditions, it still remains difficult to understand how so great a number of languages have become established amongst a comparatively small population. At no time, since the discovery of America, have the total numbers of Indians within the regions now forming the United States, exceeded five hundred thousand men, women and children. In 1829, it was estimated that the Indian population slightly exceeded three hundred and thirteen thousand. In 1850, according to the census, the total numbers were four hundred thousand.[44] The most remarkable fact with regard to the Iroquois tribes is that, after having had one original language, they should have become unintelligible to each other, although they lived in close proximity. Their territories were within the limits now occupied by the State of New York. With the Dakotas and Chippewas, whose territories are adjacent, the conditions are different, for these languages have no relation with each other, and the most careful researches have failed to trace any connection between them. The Chippewa dialect belongs to the group of languages classified as Algonquin. Dialects belonging to that original stock are spoken by the Chippewas, Ottawas, Illinois, Shawnees, and all the New England tribes. The Dakota language is at present known to be spoken in thirteen principal dialects, and several sub-divisions. The Iroquois is exclusively confined to the six dialects spoken by the six nations assembled in their reservations.