_man_ enanetah enainneew, _Menom_. &c.
_father, my_ nasonnah nosaw, _Miami_.
_mother, my_ nanah nekeah, _Menom_.
_husband, my_ nash nah, _Shyenne_.
_son, my_ naah nah, _Shyenne_.
---- ---- nikwithah, _Shawnee_.
_daughter, my_ nahtahnah netawnah, _Miami_.
_brother, my_ nasisthsah nesawsah, _Miami_.
_sister, my_ naecahtaiah nekoshaymank, _Menom_.
_Indian_ enenitah ah wainhukai, Delaware.
_eye_ mishishi maishkayshaik, _Menom_.
_mouth_ netti may tone, _Menom_.
_tongue_ nathun wilano, _Delaware_.
_tooth_ veathtah wi pit, _Delaware_.
_beard_ vasesanon witonahi, _Delaware_.
_back_ nerkorbah pawkawmema, _Miami_.
_hand_ machetun olatshi, _Shawnee_.
_foot_ nauthauitah ozit, _Delaware_.
_bone_ hahunnah ohkonne, _Menom_.
_heart_ battah maytah, _Menom_.
_blood_ bahe mainhki, _Menom_.
_sinew_ anita ohtah, _Menom_.
_flesh_ wonnunyah weensama, _Miami_.
_skin_ tahyatch xais, _Delaware_.
_town_ haitan otainahe, _Delaware_.
_door_ tichunwa kwawntame, _Miami_.
_sun_ nishi-ish kayshoh, _Menom_.
_star_ ahthah allangwh, _Delaware_.
_day_ ishi kishko, _Delaware_.
_autumn_ tahuni tahkoxko, _Delaware_.
_wind_ assissi kaishxing, _Delaware_.
_fire_ ishshitta ishkotawi, _Menom_.
_water_ nutch nape, _Miami_.
_ice_ wahhu mainquom, _Menom_.
_mountain_ ahhi wahchiwi, _Shawnee_.
_hot_ hastah ksita, _Shawnee_.
_he_ enun enaw, _Miami_.
---- ---- waynanh, _Menom_.
_that_ (_in_) hinnah aynaih, _Menom_.
_who_ unnahah ahwahnay, _Menom_.
_no_ chinnani kawn, _Menom_.
_eat_ mennisi mitishin, _Menom_.
_drink_ bannah maynaan, _Menom_.
_kill_ nauaiut _osh_-nainhnay, _Menom_.
_Fitzhugh Sound forms in_-SKUM.--There is still a possible addition
to the Algonkin group; though it is probable that it cannot be added
to it without raising the value of the class. The exact value and
interpretation of the following fact has yet to be made out. I lay it,
however, before the reader. The language for the parts about Fitzhugh
Sound seems to belong to a class which will appear in the sequel
under the name Hailtsa or Haeetsuk. The numerals, however, have this
peculiarity, viz. they end in the syllable -_kum_. And this is what, in
one specimen, at least, two of the Black foot terms do,
_English_, two.
Fitzhugh Sound, _mal-skum_.
Hailtsuk, _maluk_.
Blackfoot, _nartoke-skum_.
_English_, three.
Fitzhugh Sound, _uta-skum_.
Hailtsuk, _yutuk_.
Blackfoot, _nahoke-skum_.
What, however, if this syllable-_skum_ be other than true Blackfoot;
_i. e._ what if the numerals were taken from the mouth of a _Hailtsa_
Indian? The possibility of this must be borne in mind. With this remark
upon the similarity of ending between _one specimen_ of Blackfoot
numerals and the Hailtsa dialect of Fitzhugh Sound, we may take leave
of the Algonkin class of tongues and pass on to--
IV. THE ATHABASKAN GROUP.--The vast size of the area over which the
Athabaskan tongues have spread themselves, has commanded less attention
than it deserves. It should command attention if it were only for the
fact of its touching both the Oceans--the Atlantic on the one side, the
Pacific on the other. But this is not all. With the exception of the
Eskimo, the Athabaskan forms of speech are the most northern of the New
World; nay, as the Eskimos are, by no means, universally recognized
as American, the Athabaskan area is, in the eyes of many, absolutely
and actually the most northern portion of America--the most northern
portion of America considered ethnologically or philologically, the
Eskimo country being considered Asiatic. To say that the Athabaskan
area extends from ocean to ocean, is to say that, as a matter of
course, it extends to both sides of the Rocky Mountains. It is also to
say that the Athabaskan family is common to both British and Russian
America.
For the northern Athabaskans, the main body of the family, the
philological details were, until lately, eminently scanty and
insufficient. There was, indeed, an imperfect substitute for them in
the statements of several highly trustworthy authors as to certain
tribes who spoke a language allied to the Chepewyan, and as to others
who did not;--statements which, on the whole, have been shown to be
correct; statements, however, which required the confirmation of
vocabularies. These have now been procured; if not to the full extent
of all the details of the family, to an extent quite sufficient for the
purposes of the philologue. They show that the most western branch of
the stock, the Chepewyan proper, or the language of what Dobbs called
the Northern Indians, is closely akin to that of the Dog-ribs, the Hare
(or Slave) and the Beaver Indians, and that the Dahodinni, called from
their warlike habits the Mauvais Monde, are but slightly separated
from them. Farther west a change takes place, but not one of much
importance. Interpreters are understood with greater difficulty, but
still understood.
The Sikani and Sussi tongues are known by specimens of considerable
length and value, and these languages, lying as far south as the
drainage of the Saskatshewan, and as far west as the Rocky Mountains,
are, and have been for some years, known as Athabaskan.
Then came the Takulli of New Caledonia, of whose language there was
an old sample procured by Harmon. This was the Nagail, or Chin Indian
of Mackenzie, or nearly so. Now, _Nagail_ I hold to be the same word
as _Takull-i_, whilst _Chin_ is _Tshin_ = _Dinne_ = _Tnai_ = _Atna_ =
_Knai_ = _Man_. The Takulli division falls into no less than eleven (?)
minor sections; all of which but one end in this root, viz.-_tin_.
1. The Tau-_tin_, or Talko-_tin_.
(?) 2. The Tsilko-_tin_ or Chilko-_tin_, perhaps the same word
in a different dialect.
3. The Nasko-_tin_.
4. The Thetlio-_tin_.
5. The Tsatsno-_tin_.
6. The Nulaau-_tin_.
7. The Ntaauo-_tin_.
8. The Natliau-_tin_.
9. The Nikozliau-_tin_.
10. The Tatshiau-_tin_, and
11. The Babin Indians.
Sir John Richardson, from vocabularies procured by him during his last
expedition, the value of which is greatly enhanced by his ethnological
chapter on the characteristics of the populations which supplied them,
has shown, what was before but suspected, that the Loucheux Indians
of Mackenzie River are Athabaskan; a most important addition to our
knowledge. Now, the Loucheux are a tribe known under many names; under
that of the Quarrellers, under that of the Squinters, under that of
the Thycothe and Digothi. Sir John Richardson calls them Kutshin, a
name which we shall find in several compounds, just as we found the
root-_tin_ in the several sections of the Takulli, and as we shall
find its modified form _dinni_ among the eastern Athabascans. The
particular tribes of the Kutshin division, occupants of either the
eastern frontier of Russian America, or the north-western parts of
the Hudson's Bay Territory, are (according to the same authority) as
follows: