Having thus indicated the mode of distinguishing the person, number, relation, and gender, or what is deemed its technical equivalent, the mutations words undergo, not to mark the distinctions of sex, but the presence or absence of vitality, I shall now advert to the inflections which the pronouns take for tense, or rather to form the auxiliary verbs, have, had, shall, will, may, &c.; a very curious and important principle, and one which clearly demonstrates that no part of speech has escaped the transforming genius of the language. Not only are the three great modifications of time accurately marked in the verbal form of the Chippewas, but, by the inflection of the pronoun, they are enabled to indicate some of the oblique tenses, and thereby to conjugate their verbs with accuracy and precision.

The particle gee added to the first, second, and third person singular, of the present tense, changes them to the perfect past, rendering I, thou, he, I did, have, or had; thou didst, hast, or hadst; he or she did, have, or had. If gah be substituted for gee, the first future tense is formed, and the perfect past added to the first future, forms the conditional future. As the eye may prove an auxiliary in the comprehension of forms which are not familiar, the following tabular arrangement of them is presented.

First person, I.
Nin gee,I did, have, had.
Nin gah,I shall, will.
Nin gah gee,I shall have, will have.
Second person, Thou.
Ke gee,Thou didst, hast, hadst.
Ke gah,Thou shalt, wilt.
Ke gah gee,Thou shalt have, wilt have.
Third person, He or She.
O gee,He or she did, have, had.
O gah,He or she did, have, had.
O gah gee,He or she shall have, will have.

The present and imperfect tense of the potential mood is formed by dau, and the perfect by gee suffixed, as in other instances.

First person, I.
Nin dau,I may, can, &c.
Nin dau gee,I may have, can have, &c.
Second person, Thou.
Ke dau,Thou mayst, canst, &c.
Ke dau gee,Thou mayst have, canst have, &c.
Third person, He or She.
O dau,He or she may, can, &c.
O dau gee,He or she may have, can have, &c.

In conjugating the verbs through the plural person, the singular terms for the pronoun remain, and they are rendered plural by a retrospective action of the pronominal inflections of the verb. In this manner the pronoun-verb auxiliary has a general application, and the necessity of double forms is avoided.

The preceding observations are confined to the formative or prefixed pronouns. The inseparable suffixed or subformative are as follows:—

Yaun,My.
Yun,Thy.
Id or d,His or hers.
Yaung,Our. (ex.)
Yung,Our. (in.)
Yaig,Your.
Waud,Their.

These pronouns are exclusively employed as suffixes, and as suffixes to the descriptive compound substantives, adjectives, and verbs. Both the rule and examples have been stated under the head of the substantives, p. 463, and adjectives, p. 492. Their application to the verb will be shown as we proceed.

2. Relative Pronouns.—In a language which provides for the distinction of person by particles prefixed or suffixed to the verb, it will scarcely be expected that separate and independent relative pronouns should exist, or if such are to be found, their use, as separate parts of speech, must, it will have been anticipated, be quite limited; limited to simple interrogatory forms of expression, and not applicable to the indicative or declaratory. Such will be found to be the fact in the language under review; and it will be perceived from the subjoined examples, that in all instances requiring the relative pronoun who, other than the simple interrogatory forms, this relation is indicated by the inflections of the verb, or adjective, &c. Nor does there appear to be any declension of the separate pronoun corresponding to whose and whom.