In 1780, the secretary of the French legation in Philadelphia,
Francois Marbois, submitted to various members of the
Continental Congress a list of questions concerning the thirteen
American states.  Joseph Jones, a member of the Virginia
delegation, believed Jefferson the most capable person to answer
these queries for the state of Virginia and put Marbois's
questionnaire in his hands. The answers composed by Jefferson to
twenty-three queries make up his "Notes on the State of
Virginia," which has been called the "most important scientific
and political book written by an American before 1785."  Among
the queries submitted by Marbois was one asking for a
description of the Indians in the state (Query XI). Jefferson
long had an interest in the Indian population of his native
Virginia and his response to Query XI constitutes an impressive
description of Indian tribes, their number, history and
geographical location, as well as their languages. As part of
this response Jefferson describes in detail his explorat