can Philosophical Society, that their languages form à separate class in human speech, and that, in their plans of thought, the same system extends from the coasts of Labrador to the extremity of Cape Horn.

But, turning from speculations which are rendered sublime by their shadowy form, and immeasurable magnitude, I shall conclude a discourse which, I fear, has become already tedious, by remarks of a more practical, and, I would hope, of a more useful nature.

We have seen that, like all other nations unblessed' with the light of Christianity, the Indians are idolators; but their idolatry is of the mildest character, and bas departed less than among any other people froin the form of primeval truth. Their belief in a future" state is clear and distinct, debased only by those corporeal associations which proceed from the constitutional operations of our nature, and from which even Christians, therefore, are not totally exempt-They retain among them the great principle of expiation for sin, without which all religion would be unavailing-And they acknowledge, in all the common occurrences of life, and even in their very superstitions, the overruling power of Divine Providence, to which they are acrustomed to look up with an implicit confidence, which might often put to shame the disciples of a purer faith.

Provided, then, that their suspicions respecting every gift bestowed by the hands of white men, can be overcome, the comparative purity of their religion renders it so much the easier to propagate among them the Gospel of Salvation. In this view, is it possible for the benevolent heart to restrain the rising wish, that the scanty remnant of this unfortunate race may be brought within the verge of civilized life, and made to feel the influence, the cheering and benign influence of Christianity? Is it not to be wished, that the God whom they ignorantly worship, may be declared to them, and that, together with the practices they have so long preserved, may be united that doctrine which alone can illumine what is obscure, and unravel what

is intricate? If this be desirable, it must be done quickly, or the opportunity will be forever lost. Should our prejudices prevent it, we must remember that their faults will be obscured, and their virtues brightened by the tints of time. Posterity will think of them, more in pity than in anger, and will blame us for the little regard which has been paid to their welfare.

Hapless nations !-Like the mists which are exhaled by the scorching radiance of your summer's sun, ye are fast disappearing from the earth. But there is a Great Spirit above, who, though for wise purposes he causes you to disappear from the earth, still extends his protecting care to you, as well as to the rest of his creatures. There is a country of Souls, a happier, and better country, which will be opened, we may charitably hope, to you, as well as to the other children of Adam. There is the atoning blood of the Redeemer, which was shed for you, as well as the rest of mankind; the efficacy of which, you have unwittingly continued to plead; and which may be extended, in its salutary influence, even to those who have never called on, because they have never heard, THE NAME OF THE SON OF God,

48

CHAPTER XV.

LANGUAGE OF THE INDIANS.

By PETER S. DUPONCEAU, ESQ. (of Philadelphia,)

MORE than two years having elapsed since, by the desire
of the Historical Committee, I had the honour of car-
rying on a Correspondence with the Rev. Mr. Hecke-
welder, of Bethlehem, the object of which, in connex-
ion with a course of studies which I was pursuing at the
same time, and to which my leisure moments have since
been devoted, was to investigate and ascertain, as much
as possible, the structure and grammatical forms of the
Languages of the Aboriginal Nations of America.
The committee have been pleased to express a wish
that I should report to them the further results of my
subsequent inquiries into this highly interesting sub-
ject; so that it might appear whether the views which
I took of it in the beginning were confirmed by a deep-
er and more accurate research, or whether those views
had proceeded from too hasty conclusions from particu.
lar facts. I have delayed to the last moment the per-
formance of this duty, in order to profit by all the facts
and observations which I might be able to collect in
the mean time. The first volume of the committee's
transactions, of which the said correspondence makes
a part, being now entirely printed, except the introduc-
tory matter which the committee may
think proper
prefix to it, I cannot postpone any longer the execu
tion of the task expected from me,

to

In the first place, I wish to state, that when I entered upon the present investigation, I had no favourite hypothesis or theory to support. Whether the Indian

population of this country took its origin from the Tartars, or from any other race of men; whether America was peopled from any of the countries of the old hemisphere, or those from America, are questions upon which I have never yet employed my mind. I have purposely left it free, that I might pursue my philological inquiries in an abstract point of view, unmixed and unconnected with those more important subjects on which their results, when fully ascertained, may, perhaps, ultimately throw light. My sole object has been to endeavour, by means of the study of the Indian Languages, to collect some facts of which philosophy might avail itself to extend the bounds of our limited knowledge of the all-important history of man.

I have, it is true, generalized my observations as much as possible. My inquiries have not been confined to one Indian language, or only to a few: I wished to take a birds-eye view of the whole, as the only means of obtaining some interesting results. I was anxious to know, in the first instance, whether the American idioms differed as essentially from each other as those of the nations who inhabit the Old Continent. That they so differ in point of etymology is a fact too well known and established to admit even a doubt; nothing therefore remained for me to inquire into, but the similarity or difference of their general construction or grammatical forms. Next followed of course their comparison with the idioms of the Trans-Atlantic Hemisphere. I fixed my mind upon these points, and made them the principal object of my researches.

In this investigation of facts, I have not drawn my information indiscriminately from every source, otherwise I should very soon have been lost in a labyrinth of contradictions. Í left no book or manuscript unconsulted that came within my reach; but I examined the assertions of each writer with a critical eye, fully determined in no case to swear on the word of a master. I tried to discover the sources from which my authors had derived their knowledge; the opportunities which VOL. II. E

they had of acquiring it; the time which they had spent among the Indians, or in the study of their languages; the degree of attention which they had bestowed upon it, and the powers of mind by which they had been enabled to take a just and an accurate view of their subject. Finally, I rejected every thing that came in the shape of mere assertion, and paid attention only to those specimens of the different idioms in which their grammatical structure was sufficiently exhibited. I found more of these than I had at first expected, and was enabled by their means to take that wide range of observation, which alone could serve the purpose I had in view.

I have derived no little aid from that excellent work ably commenced by the late Professor Adelung,* and no less ably continued by our learned associate Professor Vater, and another Adelung,† not inferior to his predecessor. I mean the Mithridates, which I do not hesitate to call the most astonishing philological collection that the world has ever seen. It contains an epitome of all the existing knowledge of the ancient and modern languages of the whole earth. It exhibits specimens of the words of each language, by means of which their affinities can be traced as far as etymology may help to discover them, with a delineation of their forms, syntax, constructions, and general grammatical character, exemplified in the greatest number of cases by the Lord's Prayer in each language and dialect, with a literal German translation interlined, and fol

* Author of the great German Dictionary, and other celebrated literary works.

The Hon. Frederick Adelung, of St. Petersburg, Counsellor of State Member of the Imperial Russian Academy, and of this Society. He is, the nephew and worthy successor of the great Adelung.

Mithridates, oder Allgemeine Sprachenkunde, &c. Mithridates, or the general Science of Languages, with the Lord's Prayer as a speci men, in nearly five hundred languages and dialects. Berlin, 1806-1817, 4 vols. bound in 6 octavo. The last volume consists of valuable additions to the former ones, by Mr. F. Adelung, and by Baron William Von Humboldt, who has enriched it with an excellent dissertation on the Basque language.