In the fifth place, they use some words upon the land, and others upon the water, to signify the same thing. As, for instance, I want to say, "I arrived yesterday;" if by land, I must say, nitagochinin outagouchi,—if by water, I must say, nimichagan outagouchi. I wish to say, "I was wet by the rain;" if it were in walking upon land, I must say, nikimiouanoutan,—if it were upon the water, nikhimiouanutan. "I am going to look for [178] something;" if upon land, I must say, ninaten,—if by water, ninahen; if it is an animate thing, and upon land, I must say, ninatau; if it be animate and in the water, I must say, ninahouau; if it is an animate thing that belongs to some one, I must say, ninahimouau; if it is not animate, niuahimouau. What a variety! We have in French only a single expression for all these things, "Ie vay querir," to which we add, in order to distinguish, "par eau," or "par terre."
En sixiesme lieu, vn seul de nos adiectifs en François se conioint auec tous nos substantifs, par exemple, nous disons le pain est froid, le petun est froid, ce fer est froid; mais en nostre Sauuage ces adiectifs changent selon les diuerses especes des substantifs, tabiscau assini, la pierre est froide, tacabisisiou nouspouagan, mon petunoir est froid, takhisiou khichtemau, [26] ce petun est froid, tacascouan misticou, le bois est froid, si c'est quelque grande piece tacascouchan misticou, le bois est froid, siicatchiou attimou, ce chien a froid; voila vne estrange abondance.
In the sixth place, a single one of our adjectives in French is associated with all our substantives. For example, we say, "the bread is cold, the tobacco is cold, the iron is cold;" but in our Savage tongue these adjectives change according to the different kinds of substantives,—tabiscau assini, "the stone is cold;" tacabisisiou nouspouagan, "my tobacco pipe is cold;" takhisiou khichtemau, "this tobacco is cold;" tacascouan misticou, "the wood is cold." If it is a large piece, tacascouchan misticou, "the wood is cold;" siicatchiou attimou, "this dog is cold;" and thus you see a strange abundance.
Remarquez en passant, que tous ces [179] adiectifs, voire mesme que tous les noms substantifs se conjuguent comme les verbes Latins impersonnels, par exemple, tabiscau assini, la pierre est froide, tabiscaban, elle estoit froide, cata tabiscan, elle sera froide, & ainsi du reste Noutaoui, c'est vn nom substantif, qui signifie mon pere, noutaouiban, c'estoit mon pere, ou bien deffunct mon pere Cata noutaoui, il sera mon pere, si on pouuoit se seruir de ces termes.
Observe, in passing, that all these [179] adjectives, and even all the nouns, are conjugated like Latin impersonal verbs. For example, tabiscau assini, "the stone is cold;" tabiscaban, "it was cold;" cata tabiscan, "it will be cold;" and so on. Noutaoui, is a noun which means, "my father;" noutaouiban, "it was my father, or my deceased father;" Cata noutaoui, "it will be my father," if such expressions could be used.
En septiesme lieu ils ont vne richesse si importune qu'elle me iette quasi dans la creance que ie seray pauure toute ma vie en leur langue. Quand vous cognoissez toutes les parties d'Oraison des langues qui florissent en nostre Europe, & que vous sçauez comme il les faut lier ensemble, vous sçauez la langue, il n'en est pas de mesme en la langue de nos Sauuages, peuplez vostre memoire de tous les mots qui signifient chaque chose en particulier, apprenez le noeud ou la Syntaxe qui les allie, vous n'estes encor qu'vn ignorant, vous pourrez bien auec cela vous faire entendre des Sauuages, quoy que non pas tousiours, mais vous ne les entendez [180] pas: la raison est, qu'outre les noms de chaque chose en particulier ils ont vne infinité de mots qui signifient plusieurs choses ensemble: si ie veux dire en Françoîs le vent pousse la neige, suffit que i'aye cognoissance de ces trois mots, du vent, du verbe, ie pousse, & de la neige, & que ie les sçache conioindre, il n'en est pas de mesme icy. Ie sçay comme on dit le vent routin, [28] comme on dit il pousse vne chose noble comme est la neige en l'estime des Sauuages, c'est rakhineou, ie sçay comme on dit la neige, c'est couné, que si ie veux conioindre ces trois mots Routin rakhineou couné, les Sauuages ne m'entendront pas, que s'ils m'entendent ils se mettront à rire, pource qu'ils ne parlent pas comme cela, se seruans de ce seul mot piouan, pour dire le vent pousse ou fait voler la neige: de mesme le verbe nisiicatchin signifie i'ay froid, ce nom nissitai signifie mes pieds, si ie dis nisiicat chin nissitai pour dire i'ay froid aux pieds, ils pourront bien m'entendre, mais ie ne les entẽdray pas quãd ils dirõt Nitatagouasisin, qui est le propre mot pour dire i'ay froid aux pieds: & ce qui [181] tuë vne memoire, ce mot n'est parent, ny allié, ny n'a point d'affinité en sa consonance auec les deux autres, d'où prouiẽt que ie les fais souuẽt rire en parlant, en voulant suiure l'œconomie de la langue Latine, ou Françoise, ne sçachant point ces mots qui signifient plusieurs choses ensemble? D'icy prouient encore, que bien souuent ie ne les entends pas, quoy qu'ils m'entendent: car ne se seruans pas des mots qui signifient vne chose simple en particulier, mais de ceux qui en signifient beaucoup à la fois, moy ne sçachant que ces premiers, & non encor à demy, ie ne les sçaurois entendre s'ils n'ont de l'esprit pour varier & choisir les mots plus communs, car alors ie tasche de m'en demesler.
In the seventh place, they have so tiresome an abundance that I am almost led to believe that I shall remain poor all my life in their language. When you know all the parts of Speech of the languages of our Europe, and know how to combine them, you know the languages; but it is not so concerning the tongue of our Savages. Stock your memory with all the words that stand for each particular thing, learn the knot or Syntax that joins them together, and you are still only an ignoramus; with that, you can indeed make yourself understood by the Savages, although not always, but you will not be able to understand [180] them. The reason for this is, that, besides the names of each particular thing, they have an infinite number of words which signify several things together. If I wish to say in French, "the wind drives the snow," it is enough for me to know these three words, "the wind," the verb "drive," and "the snow," and to know how to combine them; but it is not so here. I know how they say "the wind," routin; how they say "it drives something noble," as the snow is in the Savage estimation,—the word for this is rakhineou; I know how they say "snow," it is couné. But, if I try to combine these three words, Routin rakhineou couné, the Savages will not understand me; or, if they understand, will begin to laugh, because they do not talk like that, merely making use of a single word, piouan, to say "the wind drives or makes the snow fly." Likewise the verb nisiicatchin, means "I am cold;" the noun nissitai, means "my feet;" if I say nisiicat chin nissitai, to say "my feet are cold," they will indeed understand me; but I shall not understand them when they say Nitatagouasisin, which is the proper word to say, "my feet are cold." And what [181] ruins the memory is, that such a word has neither relation, nor alliance, nor any affinity, in its sound, with the other two; whence it often happens that I make them laugh in talking, when I try to follow the construction of the Latin or French language, not knowing these words which mean several things at once. From this it happens, also, that very often I do not understand them, although they understand me; for as they do not use the words which signify one thing in particular, but rather those that mean a combination of things, I knowing only the first, and not even the half of those, could not understand them if they did not have sufficient intelligence to vary and choose more common words, for then I try to unravel them.
C'est assez pour monstrer l'abondance de leur langue, si ie la sçauois parfaitement i'en parlerois auec plus d'asseurance; ie croy qu'ils ont d'autres richesses que ie n'ay peu encor découurir iusques icy.
This is enough to show the richness of their language; if I were thoroughly acquainted with it, I would speak with more certainty. I believe they have other riches which I have not been able to discover up to the present.
I'oubliois à dire que nos Montagnais n'ont pas tant de lettres en leur Alphabeth, que nous en auons au [30] nostre, ils confondent le B. & le P. ils confondent [182] aussi le C. le G. & le K. c'est à dire que deux Sauuages prononçans vn mesme mot, vous croiriez que l'vn prononce vn B. & que l'autre prononce vn P. que l'vn dit vn C. ou vn K. & l'autre vn G. ils n'ont point les lettres F, L, V consonante, X. Z. ils prononcent vn R. au lieu d'vn L. ils diront Monsieur du Pressi pour Monsieur du Plessi, ils prononcent vn P. au lieu d'vn V. consonante, Monsieur Olipier pour Monsieur Oliuier; mais comme ils ont la langue assez bien penduë, ils prendroient bientost nostre prononciation si on les instruisoit, notamment les enfans.