not the distance so great, they would not want the spirit to do it.* We must, therefore, take our meaus and sources of information as we find them, and make the best use of them in our power.

The idea that the languages of the Indians are all constructed merely on the same model, occurred to me early in the course of the studies which I was directed by the committee to pursue. It will be found distinctly expressed in my correspondence with Mr. Heckewelder. Since that time my inquiries have been principally directed to ascertaining the correctness of this opinion. I beg the committee will be pleased to follow me in the account which I am going to give of the further researches that I have made.

1. I had beard much of the excellent work which I have before mentioned, the Mithridates, but had not been able to procure a copy of it. At last, the late lamented Professor Ebeling, of Hamburgh, had the goodness to send me the two volumes which relate to American languages, and I have since been so fortunate as to procure a complete copy of the work. There for the first time I had abundant materials to work upon. Thanks to the Germans and Russians, our masters, to whose able and indefatigable exertions the general science of languages is peculiarly indebted for the great progress that it has lately made!

In this invaluable book I have found a delineation of the grammatical character of thirty-four American languages, and the Lord's prayer in fifty-nine different idioms or dialects of the savages of this country, with explanations more or less full, according to the means which the author had of giving them. Among all the examples which Professor Vater has given of those different languages, I have not found one that did not appear to me to partake more or less of the polysyn

* Baron William Von Humboldt, surrounded with the honours and dignities of his country, made a journey into the mountains of Biscay, and resided there some months, for the sole purpose of studying the Basque language.

thetic forms, and I observed those forms to be more and more apparent in proportion as the construction of the language was better known and more fully explained. As this book is before the world, I need only refer to it for the proof of what I have advanced.

2. Among the languages of the grammatical forms of which Professor Vater had it not in his power to give a sufficient delineation, is the Iroquois, or language of the five confederated nations. The grammars and dictionaries which the Society of the United Brethren has kindly communicated, have proved it to be also polysynthetic.

3. The description which Professor Vater gives of the language of the Aruwaks, a nation of Indians who inhabit Guayana, near Surinam,* shews it sufficiently to be of the same character; this has morever been confirmed by an excellent grammar and dictionary of that language, composed by the Reverend Theodore Schultz, of Schoeneck, near Nazareth, in this state, who long resided among them. These works are now deposited in our Society's library by the kindness of the author.

4. The language of the Chippeways, which Professor Vater once thought to be almost entirely destitute of grammatical forms,† has been proved by the Reverend Mr. Dencke,‡ to be constructed on the same model with the Delaware, of which it is a dialect, and which is itself one of the richest languages on this continent.

5. Being desirous of ascertaining the character of the Southern or Floridian languages, (as yet so little known to us,) I took the liberty of addressing some questions on the subject to the Reverend Mr. Daniel S. Butrick, a minister of the Moravian persuasion, who resides among the Cherokees.§ I had soon the pleasure

* Mithridates, vol. III. part ii p. 667.

f Untersuchungen über Amerikas Bevölkerung, p. 192. Correspondence with Mr. Heckewelder, p. 427.

Not Cheerakes, as Adair, Barton, and others, have fancifully called

to receive an answer from him, in which he gives such a description of the Cherokee language as leaves no doubt of its being polysynthetic in the highest degree. Among other things he informs me that the pronouns and the verbs have three plural numbers; the general plural, we, speaking without restriction; the particular plural, we, speaking of a particular company or description of men, and the dual. He gives instances of these three plurals, as well as of several other polysynthetic forms. The verbs are as rich as those of the Chippeway and Delaware. I hope the committee will derive much interesting information from the continuation of this correspondence.

In one of my letters to Mr. Heckewelder, I was led to suppose that the Abbé Molina had mistaken the particular plural in the Araucanian language for the dual.* I am now rather inclined to believe that the Araucanian has the three plurals, and that the Abbé only spoke of two, not wishing to swell too much a work which was not exclusively devoted to language. It is a fact well worth ascertaining.

6. I have obtained similar information respecting the Chickasaw, (another southern language,) from two interpreters of that nation, with whom I had lately an opportunity of conversing. They furnished me with numerous examples, by which I was convinced that that language, as well as that of the Choctaws, is highly polysynthetic. It possesses also three plurals, and I believe the Choctaw has them likewise.‡

them. They call themselves Chelokees, (their language wanting the R,) with the second syllable long and accented. I have been so informed

by Indians of that nation with whom I have conversed.

*Correspondence with Mr. Heckewelder, p. 435.

+ Ibbar you Klittubbey, otherwise called Martin Colbert, and Killpa trick Carter. They both are intelligent men, well skilled in the Chickasaw and Choctaw languages.

The Tarascan language, (a Mexican dialect,) possesses analogous

plural forms in the construction of its verbs; as for example:

Inspeni, to give in general.

Insuani, to give to many.

Inscuni, ta give to one person.

7. I was very anxious to get correct information concerning the Wyandot or Huron language, of which Lord Monboddo and others had given such a strange character, and which was only known to me from Father Sagard's imperfect dictionary, when I fortunately became acquainted with Messrs. Isaac Walker and Robert Armstrong, both interpreters of that nation, to whom the language has been familiar from their infancy. I shewed them the dictionary of Father Sagard, in which, amidst its numerous errors and mistakes, which they easily discovered and pointed out, they gladly recognised the language of their nation. It did not appear to them to have undergone any material change in the period of two hundred years since that book was written, which sufficiently contradicts the good father's assertion in his preface, that that language is so constantly changing, that after a lapse of time it appears almost entirely new. They were greatly astonished, when I shewed them that part of the preface in which the author says: that the Huron is une langue presque sans règles, et tellement imparfait, qu'un plus habile lui (Sagard) se trouveroit bien empèché, non pas de le critiquer, mas de mieux faire,* notwithstanding that, I cannot express the pleasure which they receive from that little book. By the help of it, after I had become a little familiar with their pronunciation, I ventured to ask them some questions in the Huron, several of which I had the satisfaction to find they understood and answered. The language appeared to me to be sweet and harmonious; the accent is in general placed on the last syllable and sometimes on the penultima; they often articulate double consonants like the Italians; they have the nasal vowels of the French, but them in a more delicate manner, not unpronounce

que

"A language almost without rules, and so very imperfect, that a person of greater abilities than himself, would be much at a loss, not to criticise his work, but to do better" This is always the language of those whose minds cannot comprehend or explain the polysynthetic forms. See above, p. 13.

like that of the Creoles of the French West Indies; upon the whole I think I may say that there is a great deal of music in the Idiom. One of the interpreters, at my request, recited slowly and with emphasis part of a speech, by which I acquired a pretty clear idea of the modulation of the language.

On the subject of its grammatical forms, I obtained from those gentlemen all the satisfaction that I could require. They gave me several examples of simple and compound verbs, with their various forms, by which I was fully satisfied that the Huron is constructed on the same plan with the other North-American languages, and is equally rich and copious. I observed with pleasure that it possesses also the three plurals.

Thus all the inquiries and researches that I have been able to make, since this branch of science was specially referred to me for investigation by the Historical Committee, have led to the same result. It has not yet been in my power to find one single well-ascertained exception to the general principal of construction, which seems to pervade the American Indian languages. I have found them all, whenever I have had sufficient data to ascertain their character, of the class which I have denominated polysynthetic, merely for the sake of designation, and without meaning to affix any other importance to the name. For I am well convinced that the science is not yet ripe for a complete and correct classification of all existing idioms and dialects; when that is the case we must expect that the Lineus of languages will appear, and give to each class its proper and fixed denomination.

The committee will not suppose that my labours are at an end. I consider them only begun. The greatest part of the time which I have devoted to this subject has hitherto been spent in preparatory studies, which will enable me, in future, to pursue this investigation with greater effect. By means of the extensive correspondence which I have secured, in Europe, as well as