that in the observation of that writer of the fact that they fre " a dozen things and even more by one name," quently called

he had simply failed to note the inflections which constituted But notwithstanding an important principle of the language. the publication of Eliot's grammar in 1666, and the observations of the Jesuit and Moravian priests, it was not until 1819 that

Du Ponceau, after a thorough comparison of the Writings of predecessors, was enabled " That the American

his

to

announce the proposition

:

languages in general use are rich in words

and

in

grammatical forms, and that,

in their complicated con

struction, the greatest order, method, and regularity prevail." It remained, however, for subsequent writers, and especially for

Gallatin x and \

Schoolcraft,

to

A Synopis of the Indian Tribes 'within

the United States east of the

Rocky Mounelucidate fully the grammatical tains, etc., by Hon.

Albert Gallatin, 1836.

APPENDIX.

structure of the languages and define the characteristic features

of the several dialects.

According to these writers there were but two generic Indian languages, the Algonquin and the Iroquois ; but these two were groups with distinctive charac

divided into tribal dialects and

While each Iroquois tribe had its dialect, the generic

teristics.

language, as spoken by the Five Nations of New York, differed many respects from that spoken by the southern and western

in

The Algonquin was represented

Iroquois families.

by equally

Edwards says that the Mabi" can was spoken u by all the Indians throughout New England ; that though each tribe had " a different dialect," the language of the Mablcans was " the same." Yet the