THEY HAVE NOT VANISHED: Indians of the Eastern U.S.

Far from vanishing, the Indian population of the Eastern seaboard has been replenishing itself and may soon be larger than it was at the time of the white man's arrival. The statistics and brief profiles provided in this state by state outline barely hint at the diversity among today's Indian population, which includes organized tribes like the Cherokees and Mohawks and largely assimilated communities in many states. It also poses without unraveling the many mysteries surrounding distinct peoples -- such as the Pooles of Pennsylvania and Haliwa of North Carolina (the name is an amalgam of Halifax and Warren counties) -- whose tribal cultures, languages and even names have been lost to history. Tamarin also identifies other groups such as the Jackson Whites of New York and the Melungeons of Tennessee and Kentucky who are known technically as ""social isolates"" and whose origins, Indian and otherwise, continue to challenge anthropologists. Almost any of these lesser known groups could be the basis of a fascinating study, and enigmatic sentences crop up everywhere amid routine data. (Our favorite conundrum: ""The Catawba are the only Eastern Indians whose religious beliefs are patterned after the Mormons of Utah."") A useful beginning for further reading and research. . . into the questions one can only wish Tamarin had answered more fully.