Thus do I answer the questions which I proposed at the outset of my thesis. If I have failed to justify the expectations which I may have raised, at least I have thrown into strong relief the cause of my failure, to wit, the utter and incredible neglect which, up to this hour, has prevailed with regard to the preservation of what relics of native literature which we know have existed,—which do still exist.
Time and money are spent in collecting remains in wood and stone, in pottery and tissue and bone, in laboriously collating isolated words, and in measuring ancient constructions. This is well, for all these things teach us what manner of men made up the indigenous race, what were their powers, their aspirations, their mental grasp. But closer to very self, to thought and being, are the connected expressions of men in their own tongues. The monuments of a nation's literature are more correct mirrors of its mind than any merely material objects. I have at least shown that there are some such, which have been the work of native American authors. My object is to engage in their preservation and publication the interest of scholarly men, of learned societies, of enlightened governments, of liberal institutions and individuals, not only in my own country, but throughout the world. Science is cosmopolitan, and the study of man is confined by no geographical boundaries. The languages of America and the literary productions in those languages have every whit as high a claim on the attention of European scholars as have the venerable documents of Chinese lore, the mysterious cylinders of Assyria, or the painted and figured papyri of the Nilotic tombs.
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FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: What Dr. Washington Matthews says of one of the Sioux tribes is, in substance, true of all on the Continent:—
"Long winter evenings are often passed in reciting and listening to stories of various kinds. Some of these are simply the accounts given by the men, of their own deeds of valor, their hunts and journeys; some are narrations of the wonderful adventures of departed heroes; while many are fictions, full of impossible incidents, of witchcraft and magic. The latter class of stories are very numerous. Some of them have been handed down through many generations; some are of recent origin; while a few are borrowed from other tribes. Some old men acquire great reputation as story tellers, and are invited to houses, and feasted, by those who are desirous of listening to them. Good story tellers often originate tales, and do not disclaim the authorship. When people of different tribes meet they often exchange tales with one another. An old Indian will occupy several hours in telling a tale, with much elegant and minute description."—Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians, pp. 62-3. (Washington, 1877.)]
[Footnote 2: That these assertions are not merely my own, but those of the most profound students of these tongues, will be seen from the following extracts, which could easily be added to:—
"This language [the Cree] will be found to be adequate, not only to the mere expression of their wants, but to that of every circumstance or sentiment that can, in any way, interest or affect uncultivated minds."—Joseph Howse, A Grammar of the Cree Language, p. 12. (London, 1865.)
"J'ai affirme que nos deux grandes langues du Nouveau Monde [the Iroquois and the Algonkin] etaient tres claires, tres precises, exprimant avec facilite non seulement les relations exterieures des idees, mais encore leur relations metaphysiques. C'est ce qu' out commence de demontrer mes premiers chapitres de grammaire, et ce qu'achevera de faire voir ce que je vais dire sur les verbes."—Rev. M. Cuoq, Jugement Errone de M. Ernest Renan sur les Langues Sauvages. p. 32 (2d Ed. Montreal, 1869.)
"Affermo che non e facile di trovare una lingua piu atta della Messicana a trattar le materie metafisiche; poiche e difficile di trovarne un' altra, che tanto abbondi, quanto quella, di nomi astratte."—Clavigero, Storia Antica del Messico, Tomo IV, p. 244. (Cesena, 1781.)