7. INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS, OR PICTURE WRITING, LANGUAGES, AND HISTORY.
XX.
Pictographic Mode of Communicating Ideas among the Northwestern Indians, observed during the Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi in 1820, in a Letter to the Secretary of War. By Hon. Lewis Cass.
Detroit, February 2, 1821.
Sir: An incident occurred upon my recent tour to the Northwest, so rare in itself, and which so clearly shows the facility with which communications may be opened between savage nations, without the intervention of letters, that I have thought it not improper to communicate it to you.
The Chippewas and Sioux are hereditary enemies, and Charlevoix says they were at war when the French first reached the Mississippi. I endeavored, when among them, to learn the cause which first excited them to war, and the time when it commenced. But they can give no rational account. An intelligent Chippewa chief informed me that the disputed boundary between them was a subject of little importance, and that the question respecting it could be easily adjusted. He appeared to think that they fought because their fathers fought before them. This war has been waged with various success, and, in its prosecution, instances of courage and self-devotion have occurred, within a few years, which would not have disgraced the pages of Grecian or of Roman history. Some years since, mutually weary of hostilities, the chiefs of both nations met and agreed upon a truce. But the Sioux, disregarding the solemn compact which they had formed, and actuated by some sudden impulse, attacked the Chippewas, and murdered a number of them. The old Chippewa chief who descended the Mississippi with us was present upon this occasion, and his life was saved by the intrepidity and generous self-devotion of a Sioux chief. This man entreated, remonstrated, and threatened. He urged his countrymen, by every motive, to abstain from any violation of their faith, and, when he found his remonstrances useless, he attached himself to this Chippewa chief, and avowed his determination of saving or perishing with him. Awed by his intrepidity, the Sioux finally agreed that he should ransom the Chippewa, and he accordingly applied to this object all the property he owned. He then accompanied the Chippewa on his journey until he considered him safe from any parties of the Sioux who might be disposed to follow him.
I subjoin an extract from the journal of Mr. Doty, an intelligent young gentleman who was with the expedition. This extract has already been published, but it may have escaped your observation, and the incident which it describes is so heroic in itself, and so illustrative of the Indian character, that I cannot resist the temptation of transmitting it to you.
Extract from Mr. Doty's Journal.—"The Indians of the upper country consider those of the Fond du Lac as very stupid and dull, being but little given to war. They count the Sioux their enemies, but have heretofore made few war excursions.
"Having been frequently reprimanded by some of the more vigilant Indians of the north, and charged with cowardice, and an utter disregard for the event of the war, thirteen men of this tribe, last season, determined to retrieve the character of their nation by making an excursion against the Sioux. Accordingly, without consulting the other Indians, they secretly departed, and penetrated far into the Sioux country. Unexpectedly, at night, they came upon a party of the Sioux, amounting to near one hundred men, and immediately began to prepare for battle. They encamped a short distance from the Sioux, and, during the night, dug holes in the ground into which they might retreat and fight to the last extremity. They appointed one of their number (the youngest) to take a station at a distance and witness the struggle, and instructed him, when they were all slain, to make his escape to their own land, and state the circumstances under which they had fallen.
"Early in the morning, they attacked the Sioux in their camp, who, immediately sallying out upon them, forced them back to the last place of retreat they had resolved upon. They fought desperately. More than twice their own number were killed before they lost their lives. Eight of them were tomahawked in the holes to which they had retreated; the other four fell on the field! The THIRTEENTH returned home, according to the directions be had received, and related the foregoing circumstances to his tribe. They mourned their death; but, delighted with the bravery of their friends, unexampled in modern times, they were happy in their grief.
"This account I received of the very Indian who was of the party and had escaped."
The Sioux are much more numerous than the Chippewas, and would have overpowered them long since had the operations of the former been consentaneous. But they are divided into so many different bands, and are scattered over such an extensive country, that their efforts have no regular combination.
Believing it equally consistent with humanity and sound policy that these border contests should not be suffered to continue; satisfied that you would approve of any plan of pacification which might be adopted, and feeling that the Indians have a full portion of moral and physical evils, without adding to them the calamities of a war which had no definite object, and no probable termination; on our arrival at Sandy Lake, I proposed to the Chippewa chiefs that a deputation should accompany us to the mouth of the St. Peter's, with a view to establish a permanent peace between them and the Sioux. The Chippewas readily acceded to this proposition, and ten of their principal men descended the Mississippi with us.
The computed distance from Sandy Lake to the St. Peter's is six hundred miles, and, as I have already had the honor to inform you, a considerable proportion of the country has been the theatre of hostile enterprises. The Mississippi here traverses the immense plains which extend to the Missouri, and which present to the eye a spectacle at once interesting and fatiguing. Scarcely the slightest variation in the surface occurs, and they are entirely destitute of timber. In this debatable land, the game is very abundant; buffaloes, elks, and deer range unharmed, and unconscious of harm. The mutual hostilities of the Chippewas and Sioux render it dangerous for either, unless in strong parties, to visit this portion of the country. The consequence has been a great increase of all the animals whose flesh is used for food, or whose fur is valuable for market. We found herds of buffaloes quietly feeding upon the plains. There is little difficulty in approaching sufficiently near to kill them. With an eagerness which is natural to all hunters, and with an improvidence which always attends these excursions, the animal is frequently killed without any necessity, and no other part of them is preserved but the tongue.
There is something extremely novel and interesting in this pursuit. The immense plains, extending as far as the eye can reach, are spotted here and there with droves of buffaloes. The distance and the absence of known objects render it difficult to estimate the size or the number of these animals. The hunters approach cautiously, keeping to the leeward, lest the buffaloes, whose scent is very acute, should observe them. The moment a gun is fired, the buffaloes scatter and scour the field in every direction. Unwieldy as they appear, they move with considerable celerity. It is difficult to divert them from their course, and the attempt is always hazardous. One of our party barely escaped with his life from this act of temerity. The hunters, who are stationed upon different parts of the plain, fire as the animals pass them. The repeated discharge of guns in every direction, the shouts of those who are engaged in the pursuit, and the sight of the buffaloes at full speed on every side, give an animation to the scene which is rarely equalled.
The droves which we saw were comparatively small. Some of the party whom we found at St. Peter's, and who arrived at that place by land from the Council Bluffs, estimated one of the droves which they saw to contain two thousand buffaloes.
As we approached this part of the country, our Chippewa friends became cautious and observing. The flag of the United States was flying upon all our canoes, and, thanks to the character which our country acquired by the events of the last war, I found in our progress through the whole Indian country, after we had once left the great line of communication, that this flag was a passport which rendered our journey safe. We consequently felt assured that no wandering party of the Sioux would attack even their enemies, while under our protection. But the Chippewas could not appreciate the influence which the American flag would have upon other nations, nor is it probable that they estimated with much accuracy the motives which induced us to assume the character of an umpire.
The Chippewas landed occasionally to examine whether any of the Sioux had recently visited that quarter. In one of these excursions, a Chippewa found in a conspicuous place, a piece of birch bark, made flat by being fastened between two sticks at each end, and about eighteen inches long by fifteen broad. This bark contained the answer of the Sioux nation to the proposition which had been made by the Chippewas for the termination of hostilities. So sanguinary has been the contest between these tribes, that no personal communication could take place. Neither the sanctity of the office, nor the importance of the message, could protect the ambassadors of either party from the vengeance of each other. Some time preceding, the Chippewas, anxious for the restoration of peace, had sent a number of their young men into these plains with a similar piece of bark, upon which they had represented their desire. The bark had been left hanging to a tree in an exposed situation, and had been found and taken away by a party of the Sioux.
The propositions had been examined and discussed in the Sioux villages, and the bark which we found contained their answer. The Chippewa who had prepared the bark for his tribe was with us, and on our arrival at St. Peter's, finding it was lost, I requested him to make another. He did so, and produced what I have no doubt was a perfect fac-simile. We brought with us both of these projets, and they are now in the hands of Capt. Douglass. He will be able to give a more intelligible description of them than I can from recollection, and they could not be in the possession of one more competent to the task.
The Chippewas explained to us with great facility the intention of the Sioux, and apparently with as much readiness as if some common character had been established between them.
The junction of the St. Peter's with the Mississippi, where a principal part of the Sioux reside, was represented, and also the American fort, with a sentinel on duty, and the flag flying. The principal Sioux chief is named the Six, alluding, I believe, to the bands or villages under his influence. To show that he was not present at the deliberations upon the subject of peace, he was represented upon a smaller piece of bark, which was attached to the other. To identify him, he was drawn with six heads and a large medal. Another Sioux chief stood in the foreground, holding the pipe of peace in his right hand, and his weapons in his left. Even we could not misunderstand that. Like our own eagle with the olive-branch and arrows, he was desirous of peace, but prepared for war.
The Sioux party contained fifty-nine warriors, and this number was indicated by fifty-nine guns, which were drawn upon one corner of the bark. The only subject which occasioned any difficulty in the interpretation of the Chippewas, was owing to an incident, of which they were ignorant. The encampment of our troops had been removed from the low grounds upon the St. Peter's, to a high hill upon the Mississippi; two forts were therefore drawn upon the bark, and the solution of this enigma could not be discovered till our arrival at St. Peter's.
The effect of the discovery of this bark upon the minds of the Chippewas was visible and immediate. Their doubts and apprehensions appeared to be removed, and during the residue of the journey, their conduct and feelings were completely changed.
The Chippewa bark was drawn in the same general manner, and Sandy Lake, the principal place of their residence, was represented with much accuracy. To remove any doubt respecting it, a view was given of the old northwest establishment, situated upon its shore, and now in the possession of the American Fur Company. No proportion was preserved in their attempt at delineation. One mile of the Mississippi, including the mouth of the St. Peter's, occupied as much space as the whole distance to Sandy Lake; nor was there anything to show that one part was nearer to the spectator than another; yet the object of each party was completely obtained. Speaking languages radically different from each, for the Sioux constitute one of three grand divisions into which the early French writers have arranged the aborigines of our country, while the Chippewas are a branch of what they call Algonquins, and without any conventional character established between them, these tribes thus opened a communication upon the most important subject which could occupy their attention. Propositions leading to a peace were made and accepted, and the simplicity of the mode could only be equalled by the distinctness of the representations, and by the ease with which they were understood.
An incident like this, of rare occurrence at this day, and throwing some light upon the mode of communication before the invention of letters, I thought it not improper to communicate to you. It is only necessary to add, that on our arrival at St. Peter's, we found Col. Leavenworth had been as attentive and indefatigable upon this subject, as upon every other which fell within the sphere of his command.
During the preceding winter, he had visited a tribe of the Chippewas upon this pacific mission, and had, with the aid of the agent, Mr. Talliafero, prepared the minds of both tribes for a permanent peace. The Sioux and Chippewas met in council, at which we all attended, and smoked the pipe of peace together. They then, as they say in their figurative language, buried the tomahawk so deep that it could never be dug up again, and our Chippeway friends departed well satisfied with the result of their mission.
I trust that Mr. Bolvin, the agent at Prairie du Chien, has been able before this to communicate to you a successful account of the negotiation which I instructed him to open between the Sacs and Foxes, forming one party, and the Sioux. Hostilities were carried on between these tribes, which, I presume, he has been able to terminate.
We discovered a remarkable coincidence, as well in the sound as in the application, between a word in the Sioux language and one in our own. The circumstance is so singular that I deem it worthy of notice. The Sioux call the Falls of St. Anthony Ha ha, and the pronunciation is in every respect similar to the same words in the English language. I could not learn that this word was used for any other purpose, and I believe it is confined in its application to that place alone.[ [267] The traveller in ascending the Mississippi turns a projecting point, and these falls suddenly appear before him at a short distance. Every man, savage or civilized, must be struck with the magnificent spectacle which opens to his view. There is an assemblage of objects which, added to the solitary grandeur of the scene, to the height of the cataract, and to the eternal roar of its waters, inspire the spectator with awe and admiration.
In his Anecdotes of Painting, it is stated by Horace Walpole, that "on the invention of fosses for boundaries, the common people called them Ha Ha's! to express their surprise on finding a sudden and unperceived check to their walk." I believe the word is yet used in this manner in England. It is certainly not a little remarkable that the same word should be thus applied by one of the most civilized and by one of the most barbarous people, to objects which, although not the same, were yet calculated to excite the admiration of the observer.
Nothing can show more clearly how fallacious are those deductions of comparative etymology, which are founded upon a few words carefully gleaned here and there from languages having no common origin, and which are used by people who have neither connection nor intercourse. The common descent of two nations can never be traced by the accidental consonance of a few syllables or words, and the attempt must lead us into the regions of fancy.
The Sioux language is probably one of the most barren which is spoken by any of our aboriginal tribes. Colonel Leavenworth, who made considerable proficiency in it, calculated, I believe, that the number of words did not exceed one thousand. They use more gestures in their conversation than any Indians I have seen, and this is a necessary result of the poverty of their language.
I am well aware, that the subject of this letter is not within the ordinary sphere of official communications. But I rely for your indulgence upon the interest which you have shown to procure and disseminate a full knowledge of every subject connected with the internal condition of our country.
I am preparing a memoir upon the present state of the Indians, agreeably to the intimation in my letter of September last. I shall finish and transmit it to you as soon as my other duties will permit.
Very respectfully, sir,
I have, &c.,
LEWIS CASS.
Hon. John C. Calhoun,
Secretary of War.
XXI.
Inquiries respecting the History of the Indians of the United States. By Lewis Cass.
These queries were published at Detroit in separate pamphlets, about the era of 1822, and communicated to persons in the Indian country supposed to be capable of furnishing the desired information. The results became the topic of several critical disquisitions, which appeared in the pages of the North American Review in 1825 and 1826; disquisitions the spirit and tone of which created, as the reader who is posted up on the topic will remember, a sensation among philological and philosophical readers.
Whether we are most to admire the bold tone of inquiry assumed by Gen. Cass, the acumen displayed in the discussions, the eloquence of the language, or the general soundness of the positions taken, is the only question left for decision. Certainly, nobody can arise from the perusal of these papers without becoming wiser or better informed on the subjects discussed. The mere luxury of high-toned and eloquent language is a gratification to the inquirer. But he cannot close these investigations into a subject of deep historical and philological interest without feeling established in the principles of historic truth, or warmed in his literary ardor.
Prominent among the topics of the initial discussion, was the work of John Dunn Hunter, a singular adventurer in the Indian country, or, perhaps, an early captive, who, after wandering to the Atlantic cities, where his harmless inefficiency of character gained no favorable attention, found his way to London, where the booksellers concocted a book of travels from him, in which the United States is unscrupulously traduced for its treatment of the Indians. The scathing which this person and his book received arises from its having fallen in the way of the business journeys of the critic to visit some of the principal scenes referred to; and among others, the residence of John Dunn, of Missouri, after whom he professed to be named, who utterly denied all knowledge of the man or of his purported adventures.
The question of the authenticity of the Indian traditions of Mr. Heckewelder, derived from a single tribe, and that tribe telling stories to salve up its own disastrous history, and the mere literary capacities of the man to put his materials in order, is propounded and examined in connection with the contemporary traditions and languages of other tribes. These traditions had been communicated to the Pennsylvania Historical Society, in 1816, and were published under the special auspices of Mr. Duponceau, in 1819. From the internal evidence of the letters themselves, the critic pronounces them to be reproductions of Mr. Duponceau himself; and it is an evidence of the aptness of this deduction to be told that Mr. Gallatin admitted (vide my Personal Memoirs, p. 623), that the letters of Mr. Heckewelder had all been rewritten previous to publication. It could no longer be a subject of admiration to philologists, that from such imperfect sources of information, that distinguished scholar should have pronounced the opinion that the Delaware language rather exceeds than falls short of the Greek and Latin in the affluence of syntactical forms and capacities of expression. Trans. Hist. and Lit. Com., Am. Philo. Soc., vol. i. p. 415.
XXII.
A Letter on the Origin of the Indian Race of America, and the Principles of their Mode of uttering Ideas; addressed to John Johnston, Esq., late of St. Mary's Falls, Michigan. By Dr. J. McDonnell, of Belfast, Ireland.
Belfast, April 16, 1817.
My Dear J.: I feel always as if I am guilty of some great crime, in not writing to you.
An account came to Sir Joseph Banks, of very curious rocks, with odd stripes and colors, having been seen, this last war, by sailors on the lakes, I think on Lake Superior.[ [268] Pray keep up your thoughts to the geography of rocks. I got some lately from Bombay, exactly ditto with our Causeway.[ [269]
I shall ever regret the not having seen your daughter. I think it likely that mingling the European blood and character with the Indian might bring out some superior traits of character. Lest my letter should altogether fail of presenting any useful point, I must put some questions to you that would be worth something if answered.
A man has published, in 1816, an octavo volume in Trenton (United States), the author's name Boudinot, to explain some things about the Indian nations, and, among other things, he fancies some resemblance between their languages and Hebrew. Baron Von Humboldt, a Prussian, was in Spanish America lately, and he found the natives had Hebrew opinions and usages, evidently things borrowed from Jewish doctrines. I don't want you to inquire much about their being of this extraction, but observe, for me, whether their languages have no pronouns, as one author, Colden, stated fifty years ago; and whether they are defective in the prepositions, as this Boudinot states; and whether those near you have any words, idioms, or traditions that are expressive of their early origin, or their connection with European nations.
In fact, I think you are better circumstanced, in most respects, than any other man that I ever heard of, to do something worth notice in that way; for, although you have not books, nor knowledge of many tongues, yet you could collect lists of great and radical words, expressed with proper letters, so that others could compare those words with Asiatic, and African, and European tongues, so as to enable mankind to judge of similitudes or dissimilitudes.
The words most apt to pervade different nations, and to pass from one people to another, are articles, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions; next to these, numerals; next to these, whatever terms are expressive of striking, useful, hurtful, or very clear and definite objects and ideas; for, if the conceptions we have of things be not very definite, clear, and distinct, the idea and the word are not likely to float down the stream of time together, they will be jostled and separated. Be very careful in spelling the Indian words; spell them in different ways, where our letters don't square exactly with their sounds. Take notice of their musical tones, and whether these tones get in, as essential parts, into their speech; and, above all, remember that a word is a thing, and that it may be examined as a record, or considered like a coin or medal, as well as if it had the stamp of a king or mint upon it.
I will write more if this vessel does not sail to-day. God bless you and yours, and believe me, in haste, your affectionate cousin.
J. McDONNELL.
XXIII.
Difficulties of Studying the Indian Tongues of the United States. By Dr. Alexander Wolcott, Jr.
Dr. Wolcott will be remembered by the early inhabitants of Chicago, when that place was still a military post and the site of an Indian agency, the latter of which trusts he filled. In 1820, the Pottowattomie tribe of Indians and their confederates—the Illinois—Chippewas, and Ottowas—possessed the whole surrounding regions, roving as lords of the prairies. These numerous and fierce hunter-tribes, who traded their peltries for fineries, had many horses, loved rum and fine clothes, and despised all restraints, came in to him, at his agency, as the mouthpiece of the President, to transact their affairs, and they often lingered for days and weeks around the place, which gave him a good opportunity of becoming familiar with their manners, customs, and history.
Dr. Wolcott was a man of education, of high morals, dignified manners, and noble sentiments, with decidedly saturnine feelings, and a keen perception of the ridiculous. Constitutionally averse to much or labored personal effort, his leisure hours, in this seclusion from society, were hours devoted to reading and social converse, and his attention was appropriately called by Gen. Cass to the "Inquiries," No. 21, above referred to. The reply which he at length communicated was written in so happy a vein, that I obtained permission to publish the substance of it, in 1824, in my Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley, p. 381. It declares an important truth, which all must concur in, who have attempted the study of the Indian languages, for they are required to perform the prior labor of ascertaining and generalizing the principles of their accidence and concord. When I first came to St. Mary's, in 1822, and began the study of the Chippewa, I asked in vain the simple question how the plural was formed. It was formed, in truth, in twelve different ways, agreeably to the vowels of terminal syllables; but this could not be declared until quires of paper had been written over, the whole vocabulary explored, and days and nights devoted to it. My first interpreter could not tell a verb from a noun, and was incapable of translating the simplest sentence literally. Besides his ignorance, he was so great a liar that I never knew when to believe him. He sometimes told the Indians the reverse of what I said, and often told me the reverse of what they said.
XXIV.
Examination of the Elementary Structure of the Algonquin Language as it appears in the Chippewa Tongue. By Henry R. Schoolcraft.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
Sault Ste. Marie, May 31, 1823.
Sir: In order to answer your inquiries, I have improved my leisure hours, during the part of the summer following our arrival here (6th July last), and the entire winter and spring, in examining the words and forms of expression of the Chippewa, or (as the Indians pronounce it) Odjibwa, tongue. I have found, as I anticipated, my most efficient aid, in this inquiry, in Mr. Johnston, and the several members of his intelligent family; my public interpreter being too unprecise and profoundly ignorant of the rules of grammar to be of much use in the investigation. Mr. Johnston, as you are aware, perhaps, came from the north of Ireland, where his connections are highly respectable, during the first term of General Washington's administration. He brought letters from high sources to the Governor-General of Canada; but having, while at Montreal, fallen in with Don Andrew Tod, a countryman, who had the monopoly of the fur trade of Louisiana, in a spirit of enterprise and adventure, he threw himself into that, at the time, fascinating pursuit, and visited Michilimackinac. Circumstances determined him to fix his residence at St. Mary's, where he has resided, making frequent visits to Montreal and Great Britain, about thirty years. His children have been carefully instructed in the English language and literature, and the whole family are familiar with the Indian. Without such proficient aid, I should have labored against serious impediments at every step; and, with them, I have found the inquiry, in a philological point of view, involved in many, and some of them insuperable difficulties. The results I communicate to you, rather as an earnest of what may be hereafter done in this matter, than as completely fulfilling inquiries which it would require Horne Tooke himself, with the aid of the Bodleian library, to unravel.
With respect, &c.,
HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
His Excellency Gov. Lewis Cass.
EXAMINATION OF THE ODJIBWA.
1, 2. Simple Sounds.—The language is one of easy enunciation. It has sixteen simple consonental and five vowel sounds. Of these, two are labials, b and p; five dentals, d, t, s, z, j, and g soft; two nasals, m and n; and four gutturals, k, q, c, and g hard. There is a peculiar nasal combination in ng, and a peculiar terminal sound of g, which may be represented by gk. Of the mixed dipthongal and consonental sounds, those most difficult to English organs are the sounds in aiw and auw.
3. Letters not used.—The language is wholly wanting in the sound of th. It drops the sound of v entirely, substituting b, in attempts to pronounce foreign words. The sound of l is sometimes heard in their necromantic chants; but, although it appears to have been known to the old Algonquin, it is supplied, in the Odjibwa of this day, exclusively by n. It also eschews the sounds of f, r, and x, leaving its simple consonental powers of utterance, as above denoted, at sixteen. In attempts to pronounce English words having the sound of f, they substitute p, as in the case of v. The sound of r is either dropped, or takes the sound of au. Of the letter x they make no use; the nearest approach I have succeeded in getting from them is ek-is, showing that it is essentially a foreign sound to them. The aspirate h begins very few words, not exceeding five in fifteen hundred, but it is a very frequent sound in terminals, always following the slender or Latin sound of a, but never its broad sound in au, or its peculiarly English sound as heard in the a of may, pay, day. The terminal syllable of the tribal name (Odjibwa), offers a good evidence of this rule, this syllable being never sounded by the natives either wah or wau, but always wa. These rules of utterance appear to be constant and imperative, and the natives have evidently a nice ear to discriminate sounds.
Rule of Euphony.—In the construction of words, it is required that a consonant should precede or follow a vowel. In dissyllables wherein two consonants are sounded in juxtaposition, it happens from the joining of two syllables, the first of which ends and the last begins with a consonant, as muk-kuk, a box, and os-sin, a stone; the utterance in these cases being confluent. But in longer compounds this juxtaposition is generally avoided by throwing in a vowel for the sake of euphony, as in the term assinebwoin, the e in which is a mere connective, and has no meaning by itself. Nor is it allowable for vowels to follow each other in syllabication, except in the restricted instances where the being or existence of a thing or person is affirmed, as in the vowel-words i-e-e and i-e-a, the animate and inanimate forms of this declaration. In these cases, there is a distinct accent on each vowel.
4. Accent.—The accent generally falls on full or broad vowels, and never on short vowels; such accented vowels are always significant, and if they are repeated in a compound word, the accents are also repeated, the only difference being that there are primary and secondary accents. Thus, in the long descriptive name for a horse, Pa-bá-zhik-ó-ga-zhé, which is compounded of a numeral term and two nouns, meaning, the animal with solid hoofs; there are three accents, the first of which is primary, while the others succeed each other with decreased intensity. By a table of words which I have constructed, and had carefully pronounced over by the natives, it is denoted that dissyllables are generally accented on the final syllable, trisyllables on the second, and words of four syllables on the second and fourth. But these indications may not be constant or universal, as it is perceived that the accents vary agreeably to the distribution of the full and significant vowels.
5. Emphasis.—Stress is laid on particular words in sentences to which the speaker designs to impart force, and the whole tone of the entire sentiment and passages is often adapted to convey particular impressions. This trait more frequently comes out in the private narrative of real or imaginary scenes, in which the narrator assumes the very voice and tone of the real or supposed actor. Generally, in their dealings and colloquial intercourse, there is a significant stress laid on the terms, meenungaika, certainly; kaigait, truly; kaugaigo, nothing at all; tiau, behold; woh-ow, who; auwanain, were; and other familiar terms of inquiry, denial, or affirmation in daily use.
6. Conjugation.—The simplest form in which their verbs are heard, is in the third person singular of the indicative, as he speaks, he says, he loves, he dances, or in the first person present of the imperative. The want of a distinction between the pronouns he and she, is a defect which the language shares, I believe, with other very ancient and rude tongues. Conjugations are effected for persons, tenses, and number, very much as they are in other rude languages, particularly those of the transpositive class. The verb is often a single root, or syllable, as saug, love; but owing to the tendency of adding qualifying particles, their verbs are cluttered up with other meanings. The word saug is therefore never heard as an element by itself. In the first place, it takes before it the pronoun, and in the second place, the object of action; so that nesaugeau, I love him, or her, or a person, is one of the simplest of their colloquial phrases. And of this term, the e, being the fourth syllable, is mere verbiage, means nothing by itself, and is thrown in for euphony.
Tenses are formed by adding gee to the pronoun for the perfect, and gah for the future, and gahgee for the second future. These terms play the part, and supply the want of, auxiliary verbs. The imperative is made in gah, and the potential in dau where the second future is daugee. The subjunctive is made by prefixing the word kishpin, meaning if. The inflection nuh, asks a question, and as it can be put to all the forms of the conjugation, it establishes an interrogative mood. The particle see, negatives the verb, and thus all verbs can be conjugated positively and negatively.
To constitute the plural, the letter g is added to the conjugations; thus, nesaugeaug means, I love them. But this is an animate plural, and can only be added to words of the vital class. Besides, if the verb or noun to be made plural does not end in a vowel, but in a consonant, the g cannot be added without interposing a vowel. It results, therefore, that the vowel class of words have their plurals in _äg_, eeg, ig, og, or ug. But, if the class of words be non-vital and numerical, the plural is made in the letter n. But this letter cannot, as in the other form, be added, unless the word terminate in a vowel, when the regular plurals are _än_, een, in, on, or un. This simple principle clears up one cause of perplexity in the conjugations, and denotes a philosophical method, which divides the whole vocabulary into two classes; while this provision supersedes, it answers the purpose of gender. There is, in fact, no gender required by the conjugations, it being sufficient to denote the vitality or non-vitality of the class. Nothing can be clearer. This is one of the leading traits of the grammar of the language, upon the observance of which the best speakers pride themselves.
It does not, however, result that, because there is no gender required in the conjugations, the idea of sexuality is unknown to the nomenclature. Quite the contrary. The tenses for male and female, in the chief orders of creation, are iaba and nozha. These words prefixed to the proper names of animals, produce expressions of precisely the same meaning, and also the same inelegance; as if we should say, male goose, female goose, male horse, and female horse, male man and female man. The term for man (inini) is masculine, and that for woman (equa) feminine in its construction. It is only in the conjugations that the principle of gender becomes lost in that of vitality.
7. Active and passive voices.—The distinction between these two classes of verbs is made by the inflection ego. By adding this form to the active verb, its action is reversed, and thrown back on the nominative. Thus, the verb to carry is nim bemön, I carry; nim bemön-ego, I am carried. Adowawa is the act of thumping, as a log by the waves on the shore._ Adowawa-ego_ is a log that is thumped by the waves on shore. Nesaugeah, I love; Nesaugeigo, I am loved. In the latter phrase, the personal term au is dropped, and the long sound of e slips into i, which converts the inflection into igo instead of ego.
8. Participles.—My impression is, that the Indians are in the habit of using participles, often to the exclusion of other proper forms of the verb. The vocabulary contains abundantly the indicative forms of the verb. To run, to rise, to see, to eat, to tie, to burn, to strike, to sing, to cry, to dance, are the common terms of parlance; but as soon as these terms come to be connected with the action of particular persons, this action appears to be spoken of as if existing—both the past and future tenses being thrown away; and the senses appear to be, I, you, he, or they; running, rising, seeing, eating, tying, burning, striking, singing, crying, dancing. At least, I have not been able to convince myself that the action is not referred to as existing. When the participles should be used, they, on the contrary, employ the indicative forms, by which such sentences are made as, he run, he walk, for running, walking.
The general want of the substantive verb, in their colloquial phrases, constantly leads to imperfect forms of syntax. Thus, nëbä is the indicative, first person of the verb to sleep; but if the term, I am sleeping, be required, the phrase is ne nëbä, simply, I sleep. So, too, tshägiz is the first person indicative to burn; but the colloquial phrase, I am burned, or burning, is nen tshägiz—the verb remaining in the indicative, and not taking the participle form.
It is not common to address persons by their familiar names, as with us—as John, or James. The very contrary is the usage of Indian society, the object being to conceal all personal names, unless they be forced out. If it be required to express this sentence, namely: Adario has gone out (or temporarily departed), but will soon return; the equivalent is Ogima, ke mahjaun, panema, ke takooshin. This sentence literally retranslated is, Chief, he gone; by and by, he (will) return—the noun chief being put for the personal noun Adario. It will be perceived that the pronoun ke is repeated after the noun, making, chief, he gone. Panema is an adverb which is undeclinable under all circumstances, and tahkooshin, the future tense of the verb to arrive, or come (by land). The phraseology is perfectly loaded with local or other particulars, which constantly limit the action of verbs to places, persons, and things.
XXV.
A Vocabulary of the Odjibwa Algonquin Language. By H. R. Schoolcraft.
On referring to the manuscript of this vocabulary, it is found to fill a large folio volume, which puts it out of my power to insert it in this connection. It is hoped to bring it into the series of the Ethnological volumes, now in the process of being published at Philadelphia, under the auspices of Congress.
APPENDIX
No. 2.
THE EXPEDITION TO ITASCA LAKE IN 1832.
SYNOPSIS.