1S4 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes 



languages spoken in the north-west coast, all attempts at 

 ethnological classifications will remain imperfect, more voca- 

 bularies must be constructed, and the old corrected, before 

 we can trace the affinities and migrations of tribes, the study 

 of whose dialects constitutes all their history. 



The researches of American philologists, especially Du 

 Ponceau and Gallatin, have shewn, that, however different 

 the words may be in Indian languages, the same grammati- 

 cal structure pervades them all. From Canada to Chili, we 

 find similar forms under a great diversity of words. The 

 principles of M. Du Ponceau have been found applicable, 

 with one exception, to all the hitherto examined languages 

 of America, and it is an interesting inquiry to ascertain whe- 

 ther the languages of the north-rwest coast afford confirma- 

 tion, or exceptions, to so extensive a generalisation ; unfor- 

 tunately the materials are not abundant, as it is far more dif- 

 ficult to obtain a grammar than a vocabulary. The only 

 grammar of an Oregon language, which we are acquainted 

 with, is a manuscript one of the Shahaptan or Nez Percee, 

 drawn up by the Rev. C. Rogers, and which affords a short 

 but perspicuous view of the peculiarities of that wide-spread 

 tongue. 



The only consonants used in Shahaptan are h k 1 m n p s 

 t w. The letters b d f g r v z, so often absent in Indian 

 languages, are only used in Shahaptan, when pronouncing 

 foreign words. They have, however, several sounds unknown 

 to English as ph aspirated Ik, tkt, shk. 



Like the other American, or in short, all barbarous lan- 

 guages, the Shahaptan is rich in words indicating every varie- 

 ty of object, but poor in general terms, like the Malayan dia- 

 lects, where there may be twenty names for gold, but none 

 for metal. It is apparently to the same poverty of general 

 ideas, that the pronouns and verbs, with their definite and ge- 

 neral plurals, and vast variety of inflexions, indicating every 

 minute particular of time, place, or motion, are very unfit for 

 the discussion of moral topics. They resemble the technical 

 language of botanists, expressing with rigorous precision, 

 the form and properties of bodies, but unfit for any kind of 

 speculative discussion. The distinction of bodies into animate 



