14.—The Gospel according to St. Luke, translated into the Seneca tongue. By T. S. Harris. New York: Printed for the American Bible Society, D. Fanshaw. A. D. 1829. 1 vol. 18mo. 149 pages.
15.—Gaa nah shoh ne Deowaahsaonyohgwah Na wen ni yuh. Hymns in the Seneca. Dosyowa, (Buffalo Creek,) Mission Press. 1 vol. 136 pages, 18mo. A. D. 1843. This translation is prefaced with Mr. Wright’s system of writing the Seneca, and terminates with a descriptive index.
16.—Sheet Ordinances, Seneca Chiefs, 4th December, 1847.
CHAPTER II.
BOOKS AND TRANSLATIONS IN THE VARIOUS DIALECTS OF THE ALGONQUIN.
Of all the groupes of the Indian language in America, the various dialects of this stock have furnished the most inviting and best cultivated field for the translator and philologist. The French, during their early and long occupancy of the Canadas, gave great prominence to the various tribes speaking dialects of this groupe. In proportion as the principles of the languages have been investigated, the circle of the affinities of the Algonquins has been found to be extended wider and wider. It is to be traced from the ancient Powhatanic tribes of Virginia, northward and eastward along the Atlantic coast to, and beyond the Gulf of St. Lawrence, reaching to, and beyond the utmost limits of this stream at the source of the Mississippi, and descending its eastern or left bank to the junction of the Ohio, and thence to the Atlantic. From this great circle of occupation, embracing the present area of sixteen of the States, the several branches of the Iroquois, embracing the Wyandot and the Winnebago dialect of the Dacota, are the only exceptions of modern date.
In the investigation of the dialects of this important groupe, fifty-five printed works have been received, of which, twenty-eight are in the Odjibwa or Chippewa dialect, ten in the Ottawa, seven in the Pottowattomie, one in the Mohegan, one in the Montagnais, three in the Delaware, three in the Shawanoe, and one in the Abenaki. More than three-fourths of the whole number of the numerous tribes of this stock, are thus far, unrepresented by translations of the Scriptures; a species of evidence of the affinity of tribes which, as it is founded upon a fixed and accurately divided standard, affords one of the best general means of comparison. It is desirable, therefore, to collect all that has been, or may be done in this branch of literature, not only respecting the Algonquin groupes, but also in relation to each of the other groupes of our Aboriginal languages.
SECTION I.—CHIPPEWA, OR ODJIBWA.
17.—The Gospel of John, in Chippewa. 1 vol. 12mo. 280 pages. London: British and Foreign Bible Society, A. D. 1831.
In point of mechanical execution, and binding, this work is by far the best volume of Indian translation, which has been sent among the Sons of the Forest. It is the well-known translation of the brothers John and Peter Jones, of the River Credit, Canada West, which has been extensively used by our missionaries in the United States, as well as the Canada Societies, and has the concurrence of various denominations, as being a faithful version. It is a curious fact, that while learned philologists are discussing the actual use, by the Indians, and existence in the language, of the substantive verb, To Be, the native missionaries should be in the constant use of various forms of the Chippewa verb, I AU, alleged to be found among the Chippewas of Sault Ste. Marie, in 1822, to denote, as is done in this volume, the various senses of “is,” “was,” &c. The orthography of this word as here given, as “Ahyah.”