Viewing page 6 of 20

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

7
namely, that the name bestowed upon objects by cognate tribes, is the expression of the same ideas. Thus, a horse is called by one tribe, a beast that bears burdens, by another, a beast with un-split, or solid hoofs. The compound phrases, in these examples, if bestowed by cognate, or remotely affiliated tribes, would denote no resemblance whatever in orthography, except in the single radix, or syllabic sign of the radix, bearing the abstract idea of "beast." 

Thus far explanatory. The present vocabulary is a republication of the list of words which was submitted in 1847 along with the "Inquiries respecting the History, Present Condition, and Future Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States." No additions whatever have been made to it, as that vocabulary, of 350 words, is already the basis of several recorded replies from various parts of the Union, but care has been taken to exhibit it in an analytical form, so as to denote the several classes of objects from which the selections are made, as well as the leading parts of speech recognized by the Indian grammar. 

It is believed that this arrangement will tend to facilitate its proper understanding. Replies are requested to be transmitted, at the earliest possible time, to the person charged with this duty in the Department of the Interior, in all cases, under cover to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. To those persons who occupy official positions on the frontiers, the request is made under the sanction of the Act of Congress instituting the general inquiry. To missionaries, teachers, interpreters, and to gentlemen of learning and leisure, who feel an interest in the internal policy of the government, the welfare of the tribes, or the general history of the dispersion of man over the globe, the appeal is believed to carry with it, considerations of a character which, morally, are believed to be, not less imperative, or elevated.

To facilitate the filling up of the vocabulary, it is printed on paper which will bear ink.*
H.R.S.
Washington, March 28, 1849.

_______

*It is requested that the syllables of Indian words be uniformly denoted, or separated by a dash or space. If this rule be observed, and the syllable spelled with the ordinary sounds of the English vowels, as modified by their juxtaposition to consonants, the very commonest attainment of every person who can read and write, its true sound an scarcely be mistaken. It has been found, in practice, that in the search after accuracy by new and refined systems of orthography, more is lost than gained; for which, two reasons may be mentioned.--1. That the Indian interpreters are not philologists; and 2, That though there be not an absolutely uniform system of enunciation and accent, throughout the dispersed and widely separated or even the contiguous, bands of a tribe, yet the attempt by plain persons to apply the principles of a novel mode of notation, however excellent, is rather suited to puzzle, than inform the interpreters.