Part 32

_scalp_ mithash matake. _tongue_ nathun vetunno. _tooth_ veathtah veisike. _beard_ vasesanon meatsa. _hand_ mahchetun maharts. _blood_ bahe mahe. _sinew_ anita antikah. _heart_ battah estah. _mouth_ nettee marthe. _girl_ issaha xsa. _husband_ nash nah. _son_ naah nah. _daughter_ nahtahnah nahteh. _one_ chassa nuke. _two_ neis neguth. _three_ nas nahe. _four_ yeane nave. _five_ yorthun noane. _six_ nitahter nahsato. _seven_ nisorter nisoto. _eight_ nahsorter nahnoto. _nine_ siautah soto. _ten_ mahtahtah mahtoto.

ENGLISH. ARRAPAHO. OTHER ALGONKIN LANGUAGES.

_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:

1. The Artez-_kutshi_ = Hard people.

2. The Tshu-_kutshi_ = Water people.

3. The Tatzei-_kutshi_ = Rampart people; falling into four bands.

4. The Teystse-_kutshi_ = People of the shelter.

5. The Vanta-_kutshi_ = People of the lakes.

6. The Neyetse-_kutshi_ = People of the open country.

7. The Tlagga-silla = Little dogs.

This brings us to the _Kenay_. Word for word _Kenay_ is _Knai_ = _Tnai_, a modified form of the now familiar root _t-n_ = _man_, a root which has yet to appear and reappear under various new, and sometimes unfamiliar and unexpected, forms. A Kenay vocabulary has long been known. It appears in Lisiansky tabulated with the Kadiak, Sitkan, and Unalaskan of the Aleutian Islands. It was supplied by the occupants of Cook's Inlet. Were these Athabaskan? The present writer owes to Mr. Isbister the suggestion that they were Loucheux, and to the same authority he was indebted for the use of a very short Loucheux vocabulary. Having compared this with Lisiansky's, he placed both languages in the same category--rightly in respect to the main point, wrongly in respect to a subordinate. He determined the place of the _Loucheux_ (_Kutshin_ as he would now call them) by that of the Kenay, and made both Kolush. He would now reverse the process and make both Athabaskan, as Sir John Richardson has also suggested.

To proceed--three vocabularies in Baer's _Beiträge_ are in the same category with the Kenay, viz.--

1. The _Atna_.--This is our old friend _t-n_ again, the form _Tnai_ and others occurring. It deserves notice, because, unless noticed, it may create confusion. As more populations than one may call themselves _man_, a word like _Atna_ may appear and re-appear as often as there is a dialect which so renders the Latin word _homo_. Hence, there may not only be more _Atnas_ than one, but there actually are more than one. This is a point to which we shall again revert. At present it is enough that the Atnas under notice are occupants of the mouth of the Copper River, Indians of Russian America and Athabaskan.

2. The _Koltshani_.--As _t-n_ = _man_, so does _k-ltsh_ = _stranger_, _guest_, _enemy_, _friend_; and _mûtatis mutandis_, the criticism that applied to _Atna_ applies to words like _Koltshan_, _Golzan_, and _Kolush_. There may be more than one population so called.

3. The _Ugalents_ or _Ugalyackh-mutsi_.--This is the name of few families near Mount St. Elias. Now--

The _Atna_ at the mouth of the Copper River, the _Koltshani_ higher up the stream, and the _Ugalents_, are all held by the present writer to be Athabaskan--not, indeed, so decidedly as the Beaver Indians, the Dog-ribs, or the Proper Chepewyans, but still Athabaskan. They are not Eskimo, though they have Eskimo affinities. They are not Kolush, though they have Kolush affinities. They are by no means isolated, and as little are they to be made into a class by themselves. At the same time, it should be added that by including these _we raise the value of the class_.

For all the languages hitherto mentioned we have specimens. For some, however, of the populations whose names appear in the maps, within the Athabaskan area, we have yet to satisfy ourselves with the testimony of writers, or to rely on inference. In some cases, too, we have the same population under different names. This is the case when we have a native designation as well as a French or English one--_e. g._ Loucheux, Squinters, Kutshin. This, too, is the case when we have, besides the native name (or instead of it), the name by which a tribe is called by its neighbours. Without giving any minute criticism, I will briefly state that all the Indians of the Athabaskan area whose names end in-_dinni_ are Athabaskan; viz.--

1. The See-issaw-_dinni_ = Rising-sun-_men_.

2. The Tau-tsawot-_dinni_ = Birch-rind-_men_.

3. The Thlingeha-_dinni_ = Dog-rib-_men_.

4. The Etsh-tawút-_dinni_ = Thickwood-_men_.

5. The Ambah tawút-_dinni_ = Mountain-sheep-_men_.

6. The Tsillaw-awdút-_dinni_ = Bushwood-_men_.

Lastly--Carries, Slave-Indians, Yellow-knives, Copper-Indians, and Strong-bows are synonyms for some of the tribes already mentioned. The _Hare_-Indians are called _Kancho_. The Nehanni and some other populations of less importance are also, to almost a certainty, Athabaskan. With the tongues in its neighbourhood, we shall find that it is broadly and definitely separated from them in proportion as we move from west to east. In Russian America, the Eskimo, Sitkan, and Athabaskan tongues graduate into each other. In the same parts the Athabaskan forms of speech differ most from each other. On the other hand, to the east of the Rocky Mountains, the Dog-ribs, the Hares, and the Chepewyans are cut off by lines equally trenchant from the Eskimos to the north, and from the Algonkins to the south. I infer from this that the diffusion of the language over those parts is comparatively recent; in other words, that the Athabaskan family has moved from west to east rather than from east to west.

Of the proper Athabaskan, _i. e._ of the Athabaskan in the original sense of the word, the southern boundary, beginning at Fort Churchill, on Hudson's Bay, follows (there or thereabouts) the course of the Missinippi; to the north of which lie the Chepewyans who are Athabaskan, to the south of which lie the Crees, or Knistenaux, who are Algonkin. Westward come the Blackfeet (Algonkin) and the Sussees (Athabaskan), the former to the north, the latter to the south, until the Rocky Mountains are reached. The Takulli succeed--occupants of New Caledonia; to the south of whom lie Kutani and Atnas. The Takulli area nowhere touches the ocean, from which its western frontier is separated to the south of 55° north latitude by some unplaced languages; to the north of 55°, by the Sitkeen--but only as far as the Rocky Mountains; unless, indeed, some faint Algonkin characteristics lead future inquirers to extend the Algonkin area westwards, which is not improbable. The value of the class, however, if this be done, will have to be raised.

The most southern of the Athabaskans are the Sussees, in north latitude 51°--there or thereabouts. But the Sussees, far south as they lie, are only the most southern Athabaskans _en masse_. There are outliers of the stock as far south as the southern parts of Oregon. More than this, there are Athabaskans in California, New Mexico, and Sonora.

Few discoveries respecting the distribution of languages are more interesting than one made by Mr. Hale, to the effect that the Umkwa, Kwaliokwa, and Tlatskanai dialects of a district so far south as the River Columbia, and the upper portion of the Umkwa river (further south still) were outlying members of the Athabaskan stock, a stock preeminently northern--not to say Arctic--in its main area.

Yet the dialects just named were shown by a subsequent discovery of Professor Turner's, to be only penultimate ramifications of their stock; inasmuch as further south and further south still, in California, New Mexico, Sonora, and even Chihuhua, as far south as 30° north latitude, Athabaskan forms of speech were to be found; the Navaho of Uta and New Mexico, the Jecorilla of New Mexico, and the Apatch of New Mexico, California, and Sonora, being Athabaskan. The Hoopah of California is also Athabaskan.

The first of the populations to the south of the Athabaskan area, who, lying on, or to the west of, the Rocky Mountains, are other than Algonkin, are--

V. THE KITUNAHA.--The Kitunaha, Cutani, Cootanie or Flatbow area is long rather than broad, and it follows the line of the Rocky Mountains between 52° and 48° north latitude. How definitely it is divided by the main ridge from that of the Blackfoots I am unable to say, but as a general rule, the Kutani lie west, the Blackfoots east; the former being Indians of New Caledonia and Oregon, the latter of the Hudson's Bay Territory and the United States. On the west the Kutani country is bounded by that of the Shushwap and Selish Atnas, on the north by the Sussee, Sikanni, and Nagail Athabaskans, on the south (I think) by some of the Upsaroka or Crow tribes. All these relations are remarkable, and so is the geographical position of the area. It is in a mountain-range; and, as such, in a district likely to be an ancient occupancy. The languages with which the Kutani lies in contact are referable to four different families--the Athabaskan, the Atna, the Algonkin, and the Sioux; the last two of which, the Blackfoot (Algonkin) and the Crow (Sioux), are both extreme forms, _i. e._ forms sufficiently unlike the other members of these respective groups to have had their true position long overlooked; forms, too, sufficiently peculiar to justify the philologue in raising them to the rank of separate divisions. It suffices, however, for the present to say, that the Kutani language is bounded by four tongues differing in respect to the class to which they belong and from each other, and different from the Kutani itself.

The Kutani, then, differs notably from the tongues with which it is in geographical contact; though, like all the languages of America, it has numerous miscellaneous affinities. In respect to its phonesis it agrees with the North Oregon languages. The similarity in name to the Loucheux, whom Richardson calls _Kutshin_, deserves notice. Upon the whole, few languages deserve attention more than the one under notice.

VI. THE ATNA GROUP.--West of the Kutanis and south of the Takulli Athabaskans lie the northernmost members of a great family which extends as far south as the Sahaptin frontier, the Sahaptin being a family of Southern, or American, Oregon. Such being the case, the great group now under notice came under the cognizance of the two American philologues, whose important labours have already been noticed, by whom it has been denominated Tsihaili-Selish. It contains the Shushwap, Selish, Skitsnish (or Cœur d'Alene) Piskwans, Nusdalum, Kawitchen, Skwali, Chechili, Kowelits, and Nsietshawus forms of speech.

In regard to the Atna I have a statement of my own to correct, or at any rate to modify. In a paper, read before the Ethnological Society, on the Languages of the Oregon Territory (Dec. 11, 1844), I pronounced that an Atna vocabulary found in Mackenzie's Travels, though different from the Atna of the Copper River, belonged to the same group. The _group_, however, to which the Atna of the Copper River belongs is the Athabaskan.

The Tsihaili-Selish languages reach the sea in the parts to the south of the mouth of Frazer's River, _i. e._ the parts opposite Vancouver's Island; perhaps they touch it further to the north also; perhaps, too, some of the Takulli forms of the speech further north still reach the sea. The current statements, however, are to the effect, that to the south of the parts opposite Sitka, and to the north of the parts opposite Vancouver's Island, the two families in question are separated from the Pacific by a narrow strip of separate languages--separate and but imperfectly known. These are, beginning from the north--

VII. THE HAIDAH GROUP OF LANGUAGES.--Spoken by the Skittegats, Massetts, Kumshahas, and Kyganie of Queen Charlotte's Islands and the Prince of Wales Archipelago. Its area lies immediately to that of the south of the so-called Kolush languages.

VIII. THE CHEMMESYAN.--Spoken along the sea-coast and islands of north latitude 55°.

IX. THE BILLECHULA.--Spoken at the mouth of Salmon River; a language to which I have shown, elsewhere, that a vocabulary from Mackenzie's Travels of the dialect spoken at Friendly Village was referable.

X. THE HAILTSA.--The Hailtsa contains the dialects of the sea-coast between Hawkesbury Island and Broughton's Archipelago, also those of the northern part of Vancouver's Island.

In Gallatin, the Chemmesyan, Billechula, and Hailtsa are all thrown in a group called _Naas_. The Billechula numerals are, certainly, the same as the Hailtsa; the remainder of the vocabulary being unlike, though not altogether destitute of coincidences. The Chemmesyan is more outlying still. I do not, however, in thus separating these three languages, absolutely deny the validity of the _Naas_ family. I only imagine that if it really contain languages so different as the Chemmesyan and Hailtsa, it may also contain the Haidah and other groups, _e. g._ the one that comes next, or--

XI. THE WAKASH of Quadra and Vancouver's Island.

South of the Wakash area come, over and above the southern members of the Atna family and the Oregon outliers of the Athabaskan, the following groups, of value hitherto unascertained.

A. The Tshinuk, or Chinuk;

B. The Kalapuya;

C. The Jakon;--all agreeing in the harshness of their phonesis, and (so doing) contrasted with--

D. The Sahaptin, and

E. The Shoshoni.

The Sahaptin is separated by Gallatin from the Waiilatpu containing the Cayús or Molelé form of speech. The present writer throws them both into the same group. The numerals, the words wherein it must be admitted that the two languages agree the most closely, are in--

ENGLISH. SAHAPTIN. CAYÚS.

_one_ naks ná. _two_ lapit lepl-in. _three_ mitat mat-nin. _six_ oi-lak noi-na. _seven_ oi-napt noi-lip. _eight_ oi-matat noi-mat.

The meaning of the _oi_ and _noi_ in these words requires investigation. It is not _five_; the Sahaptin and Cayús for _five_ being _pakhat_ (S.) and _tawit_ (C.). Nor yet is it _hand_ (as the word for _five_ often is), the word for _hand_ being _epih_ and _apah_. It ought, however, theoretically to be something of the kind, inasmuch as

_Oi_-lak and _noi_-na = ? + 1. _Oi_-napt and _noi_-lip = ? + 2. _Oi_-matat and _noi_-mat = ? + 3.

Of the Shoshoni more will be said in the sequel. At present it is enough to state that the Shoshoni and Sahaptin languages are as remarkable for the apparent ease and simplicity of their phonesis as the Jakon, Kalapuya, and Tshinúk are for the opposite qualities. It may also be added that the Shoshoni tongues will often be called by the more general name of Paduca.

South of the Cayús, Waiilatpu, and Wihinast, or Western Shoshonis, come the languages which are common to Oregon and

CALIFORNIA.

For three of these we have vocabularies (Mr. Hale's):--

I. (_a._) THE LUTUAMI; (_b._) THE PALAIK; (_c._) THE SHASTI.--There may be other forms of speech common to the two countries, but these three are the only ones known to us by specimens. The Lutuami, Shasti, and Palaik are thrown by Gallatin into three separate classes. They are, without doubt, mutually unintelligible. Nevertheless they cannot be very widely separated.

_Man_ = in Lutuami _hishu-atsus_, in Palaik = _yatui_. Qu. _atsus_ = _yatui_.

_Woman_ = Lutuami _tar-itsi_, Palaik = _umtew-itsen_. Qu. _itsi_ = _itsen_. In Palaik, _Son_ = _yau-itsa_, _Daughter_ = _lumau-itsa_.

_Head_ = Palaik _lah_. In Lutuami _lak_ = _hair_. Qu. _mak_ = _head_ in Shasti, _makh_ = _hair_, Shasti.

_Ear_ = Lutuami _mumoutsh_, Palaik _ku-mumuats_.

_Mouth_ = _au_ Shasti, _ap_ Palaik.

_Tooth_ = _itsau_ Shasti, _itsi_ Palaik.