Rapid advance of spring--Troops commence a stockade--Principles of the Chippewa tongue--Idea of a new language containing the native principles of syntax, with a monosyllabic method--Indian standard of value--Archaeological evidences in growing trees--Mount Vernon--Signs of spring in the appearance of birds--Expedition to St. Peter's--Lake Superior open--A peculiarity in the orthography of Jefferson--True sounds of the consonants--Philology--Advent of the arrival of a vessel.--Editors and editorials--Arrival from Fort William--A hope fled--Sudden completion of the spring, and ushering in of summer--Odjibwa language, and transmission of Inquiries.

1823. April 12th. Spring is gradually advancing. The deepened roar of the rapids indicates an increased volume of water. The state of the ice is so bad this day that no persons have ventured to cross the river. Yesterday, they still crossed. The bare ground begins to show itself in spots; but the body of snow is still deep in the woods.

14th. The T. migratorius or robin made its appearance. The Indians have a pretty tale of the origin of this bird and its fondness for domestic scenes.

16th. Gray duck appeared in the rapids.

17th. Large portions of the ground are now laid bare by the sun.

18th. A friend at New York, about to sail for Europe, writes me under this date: "I expect to sail for St. Petersburgh. I shall take with me some of our choicest specimens, in return for which I hope to procure something new and interesting. The truth is, we know very little of the mineralogy of Russia, and hence such specimens as can be procured will almost necessarily prove interesting."

"The Lyceum is about to publish its proceedings. The members are increasing in numbers and activity. It has been recently agreed that there shall be at least one paper read at every meeting; this will ensure attention, and much increase the interest of the meetings. I hope you may, before long, be able to add your personal attendance."

"I feel it my duty to inform you that the minerals intrusted to my care are situated in every respect as when left by you; they are, of course, entirely dependent upon any order you may give concerning them. I do not think it necessary that you should make any immediate provision for them, or that there is any cause for uneasiness on their account." [38]

[38] Notwithstanding, the collection of specimens referred to was afterwards most sadly dealt with, and pillaged of its choicest specimens.

19th. The troops began to set up the pickets of a stockade or fort, to which the name of "Brady" is given, in allusion to Col. Hugh Brady, U.S.A. The first canoe crossed the river to-day, although the ice still lines each shore of the river for several hundred yards in width.

20th. S. My sister Maria writes to me: "I fancy, by the description you have given of your residence and society at the Sault, that you have enjoyed yourself, and seen as much of the refinements of civilized life as you would have done in many places less remote. Who have you at the Sault that writes such pretty poetry? The piece I refer to is signed Alexina,[39] and is a death-song of an Indian woman at the grave of her murdered husband."

[39] Mrs. Thompson.

22d. One of the principal objections to be urged against the Indian languages, considered as media of communication, is their cumbrousness. There is certainly a great deal of verbiage and tautology about them. The paucity of terms leads not only to the use of figures and metaphors, but is the cause of circumlocution. This day we had a snow storm.

The Chippewa is, in its structure, what is denominated by Mr. Du Ponceau "polysynthetic." It seems the farthest removed possible from the monosyllabic class of languages. I have thought that, if some of its grammatical principles could be applied to monosyllables, a new language of great brevity, terseness, regularity, and poetic expressiveness, might be formed. It would be necessary to restore to its alphabet the consonants f, l, and r, and v. Its primitive pronouns might be retained, with simple inflections, instead of compound, for plural. It would be necessary to invent a pronoun for she, as there is, apparently, nothing of this kind in the language. The pronouns might take the following form:--

Ni, I. Nid, We. Niwin, Myself. Niwind, Ourselves.

Ki, Thou. Kid, Ye or you. Kiwin, Thyself. Kiwind, Yourselves.

Wi, He. Wid, They. Masculine. Wiwin, Yourselves. (Mas.) Wiwind.

Si, She. Sid, They. Feminine. Siwin, Yourselves. (Fem.) Siwind.

DECLENSION OF PRONOUNS.

Ni, Nin, Nee--I, Mine, Me. Nid, Nida, Nidim--We, Us, Ours.

Ki, Kin, Kee--Thou, Thine, Thee. Kid, Kida, Kidim--Ye, You, Yours. Wi, Win, Wee--Him, His, His. Wid, Wida, Widim--They, Their, Theirs. (Mas.)

Si, Sin, See--Her, Hers, Hers. Sid, Sida, Sidim--They, Their, Theirs. (Fem.)

The full meaning of the present class of verbs and substantives of the language could be advantageously transferred to the first, or second, or third syllable of the words, converting them into monosyllables. The plural might be uniformly made in d, following a vowel, and if a word terminate in a consonant, then in ad. So the class of plural terminations would be ad, ed, id, od, ud. Many generic nouns would require to be invented, and could easily be drawn from existing roots. In the orthography of these, the initial consonant of the corresponding English word might serve as an index, Thus, from the word aindum, mind, might be derived,

Ain, Mind. Sain, Sorrow.

Tain, Thought. Jain, Joy, &c.

Main, Meditation.

So from taibwawin, truth, might be drawn taib, truth--faib, faith--raib, religion--vaib, virtue. A principle of euphony, or affinity of syllabication, might be applied in the abbreviation of a few of this class of generic words: as Eo, God, from monedo.

THE ORDINARY NOUNS WOULD RUN THUS:--

In, Man. Ind, Men.

Ee, Woman. Eed, Women.

Ab, Child. Abad, Children.

Kwi, Boy. Kwid, Boys.

Kwa, Girl. Kwad, Girls.

Os, Father. Osad, Fathers.

Gai, Mother. Gaid, Mothers.

All the existing monosyllables of the language would be retained, but subjected to new laws of construction and concordance. Thus the plural of Koan, snow, would be koanad; of ais, shell, aisad; moaz, moas, moazad, &c. Variety in the production of sounds, and of proper cadences in composition, might dictate retention of a certain class of the dissyllables--as ossin a stone, opin a potato, akki earth, mejim food, assub a net, aubo a liquid, mittig a tree, &c., the plurals of which would be assinad, opinad, akkid, mejimad, assubad, aubad, mittigad. Every substantive would have a diminutive form in is, and an augmentative in chi, the vowel of the latter to be dropped where a vowel begins the word. Thus, chab, a grandchild; chigai, a grandmother. Inis, a little man; osis, a little father, &c.

Adjectives would come under the same rules of abbreviation as nouns and verbs. They would be deprived of their present accidents of number and gender.

Min, Good. Koona, Ugly.

Mon, Bad. Soan, Strong.

Bish, Handsome.

The colors, seasons, cardinal points, &c., would consist of the first syllable of the present words.

The demonstrative pronouns, this, that, there, those, would take the following forms: Mau, this; aho, that. By adding the common plural, the terms for these and those would be produced: Maud, these; ahod, those.

The prepositions would fall naturally under the rule of abbreviation applied to nouns, &c. Chi, by; peen, in; kish, if, &c.; li, of; ra, to; vi, is; af, at.

Ieau is the verb to be. The auxiliary verbs, have, shall, will, &c., taken from the tensal particles, are ge, gu, gei, go, ga.

Pa may stand for the definite article, being the first syllable of pazhik; and a comma for the indefinite article.

Ie is matter. Ishi, heaven.

EXAMPLES.

Ni sa Eo--I love God. Eo vi min--The Lord is good. Nin os ge pa min in--My father was a good man. Ishiod (Isheod)--The heavens.

Thus a new language might be formed.

24th. The standard of value with the Indians is various. At this place, a beaver skin is the standard of computation in accounts. When an Indian has made a purchase, he inquires, not how many dollars, but how many beaver skins he owes. Farther south, where racoon skins are plenty, they become the standard. Some years ago, desertion became so frequent at Chicago and other posts, that the commanding officer offered the customary reward to the Indians of the post, if they would secure the deserters. Five persons went in pursuit, and brought in the men, for which they received a certificate for the amount. They then divided the sum into five equal shares, and subdivided each share into its value in racoon skins. It was not until this division was completed, and the number of skins ascertained, that they could, by any fixed standard of comparison, determine the reward which each had received.

25th. It is stated in the newspapers that hacks of an axe were lately found in the central and solid parts of a large tree near Buffalo, which were supposed to have been made by La Salle's party. Other evidences of the early footsteps of Europeans on this continent have been mentioned. A trammel was found in the solid substance of a tree in Onondaga. A gun barrel in a similar position in the Wabash Valley.[40] Growing wood soon closes over articles left upon it, in the wilderness, where they are long undisturbed.

[40] Hon. R.W. Thompson.

27th. Monedo is strictly a term belonging to the Indian mythology and necromancy, and is constantly used to indicate a spirit. It has not the regular termination of the noun in win, and seems rather verbal in its aspect, and so far as we can decipher its meaning, mon is a syllable having a bad meaning generally, as in monaudud, &c. Edo may possibly be a derivation from ekedo, he speaks.

28th. It is a year ago to-day since I visited the tomb of Washington, at Mount Vernon. There were three representatives in Congress, in company. We left the city of Washington in the morning, in a private carriage, and drove down in good season. I looked about the tomb narrowly for some memento to bring away, and found some mineralogical fragments on the small mound over the tomb, which would bear the application of their book names. On coming back through Alexandria, we dined at a public hotel, where, among other productions of the season, we had cucumbers. What a contrast in climate to my present position! Here, as the eyes search the fields, heaps of snow are still seen in shaded situations, and the ice still disfigures the bays and indentations of the shore in some places, as if it were animated with a determination to hold out against the power of the sun to the utmost. Nature, however, indicates its great vernal throe. White fish were first taken during the season, this day, which is rare.

29th. A friend at Detroit writes under this date: "I had expected that before now, instructions would have reached here requiring you to repair to the St. Peter's. But as the season advances, and they do not arrive, I begin to fear that one of those mutations, to which of all governments upon this mundane sphere ours is the most exposed, has changed the intended disposition."

May 1st. Winter still holds its grasp upon the ice in the lower part of the river and straits.

The Claytonia Virginica observed in flower in favorable spots.

The bay opposite the fort on the north-west shore cleared of ice on the 2d, being the first day that the river has exhibited the appearance of being completely clear, a strong north-west wind blowing. It is just four months and ten days from the period of its final closing on the 22d of December.

The yellow sparrow, or boblinkin, appeared this day in the woods.

4th. The surface of the earth is undergoing a rapid transformation, although we are, at the same time, led to observe, that "winter lingering chills the lap of May." Sudden changes of temperature are experienced, which are governed very much by the course and changes of the wind. Nature appears suddenly to have been awakened from her torpid state.

All eyes are now directed to the east, not because the sun rises there, but it is the course from which, in our position, we expect intelligence by vessels. We expect a deliverance from our winter's incarceration.

6th. Lake Superior appears to be entirely open. A gentleman attached to the Boundary Survey at Fort William writes to me, under this date, that the bay at that place is free from ice, so as to permit them to resume their operations. They had been waiting for this occurrence for two weeks previously.

8th. It is a year since I received from the President (Mr. Monroe) a commission as agent for these tribes; and it is now more probable than it then was that my residence here may assume a character of permanency. I do not, however, cease to hope that Providence has a more eligible situation in reserve for me.

9th. "Little things," says Dr. Johnson, "are not valued, when they are done by those who cannot do greater." Thomas Jefferson uniformly spelled knowledge without a w, which might not be mentioned, had he not written the Notes on Virginia, and the Declaration of Independence.

10th. A trader proceeded with a boat into Lake Superior, which gives assurance that this great inland sea is open for navigation. White fish appeared in the rapids, which it is said they never do while there is running ice.

11th. Stearn sums up the points requisite for remembrance by posterity, in these four things--"Plant a tree, write a book, build a house, and get a child." Watts has a deeper tone of morality when he says--

"We should leave our names, our heirs.
Old time and waning moons sweep all the rest away."

12th. When last at Washington, Dr. Thornton, of the Patent Office, detained me some time talking of the powers of the letters of the English alphabet. He drew a strong line of distinction between the names and the sounds of the consonants. L, for instance, called el, was sounded le, &c.

Philology is one of the keys of knowledge which, I think, admits of its being said that, although it is rather rusty, the rust is, however, a proof of its antiquity. I am inclined to think that more true light is destined to be thrown on the history of the Indians by a study of their languages than of their traditions, or any other feature.

The tendency of modern inquiries into languages seems rather to have been to multiply than to simplify. I do not believe we have more than three mother stocks of languages in all the United States east of the Mississippi, embracing also large portions of territory west of it, namely, the Algonquin, Iroquois, and what may be called Apallachian. Perhaps a little Dakota.

15th. Our first vessel for the season arrived this day. If by a patient series of inquiries, during the winter, we had calculated the appearance of a comet, and found our data verified by its actual appearance, it could not be a subject of deeper interest than the bringing ashore of the ship's mail. Had we not gone to so remote a position, we could not possibly ever have become aware how deeply we are indebted to the genius and discoveries of Cadmus and Faust, whose true worshippers are the corps editorial. Now for a carnival of letters.

Reading, reading, reading, "Big and small, scraps and all."

If editors of newspapers knew the avidity with which their articles are read by persons isolated as we are, I have the charity to believe they would devote a little more time, and exert a little more candor, in penning them. For, after all, how large a portion of all that a newspaper contains is, at least to remote readers, "flat, stale, and unprofitable." The mind soon reacts, and asks if this be valuable news.

I observed the Erythronium dens canis, and Panax trifolium appeared in flower on the 25th.

28th. The schooner "Recovery" arrived from Fort William on the north shore of Lake Superior, bringing letters and despatches, political and commercial. Mr. Siveright, the agent of the H. B. C., kindly sent over to me, for my perusal, a letter of intelligence from an American gentleman in the North.

29th. I have, for some time, relinquished the expectation of being selected to conduct the exploring party, intended to be ordered by government, into the region of the St. Peter's, at least the present season. A letter of this date terminates the uncertainty. "Major Delafield," says a correspondent, "informs me that an exploring party has been ordered under Major Long, to make the tour which was intended for you. Why this arrangement has been made, and the original plan abandoned, I cannot conjecture, unless it resulted from the necessity of placing a military officer at the head of the party. I presume this was the fact, for I am certain that the change in the project did not arise from any feeling in Mr. C.'s mind unfriendly, or even indifferent to you. Upon that subject I can speak definitely, and say to you, that you have a hold upon his esteem, not to be shaken." Thus falls another cherished hope, namely, that of leading an expedition to the North.

30th. Minute particulars are often indicative of general changes. This is the first day that the mosquito has appeared. The weather for a few days has been warm. Vegetation suddenly put forth; the wild cherry, &c., is now in bloom, and gardening has commenced with fine prospects.

31st. Odjibwa language.--There are two generic words in the concrete forms of the Chippewa for water or a liquid, in addition to the common term neebi. They are aubo and gomee. Both are manifestly compounds, but, in our present state of knowledge, they may be temporarily considered as elements of other compounds. Thus, if the letter n be prefixed to the former, and the sound of b suffixed, the result is the term for soup, nabob. If to the same element of aubo, the word for fire, iscoda, be prefixed, the result is their name for ardent spirits, iscodawabo, literally fire-water. In the latter case, the letter w is thrown in as a coalescent between the sound of a, as a in hate; and the a, as a in fall. This is out of a mere regard to euphony.

"If they (the Chippewas) say 'A man loves me,' or 'I love a man,' is there any variation in the word man?" They do not use the word man in either of these instances. The adjective white takes the animate pronoun form in iz zi, by which the object beloved is indicated, waub-ishk-iz-ze Saugiau.

"Does the object precede or follow the verb?" Generally, it precedes the verb. Fish, have you any? not, Have you any fish?

The substantive preceded the verb in the organization of the language. Things were before the motion of things, or the acts or passions of men which led to motion and emotion. Hence, all substances are changed into and used as verbs.

I this day completed and transmitted the results of my philological inquiries, hoping they might prove acceptable to the distinguished individual to whom they were addressed, and help to advance the subject. This subject is only laid aside by the call of business, and to be effectual must be again resumed with the recurrence of our long winter evenings.