OP THE r/RNNT T.P.TJAPP. INTITANS. 79 



of which labours hard to depreciate the unfortunate Indians, 

 and make them appear the most stupid as well as the most 

 barbarous race of men, and their languages of course as cor- 

 responding with that degraded character. It is a matter of 

 regret that this writer should have been carried so far away 

 by his prejudices, as to charge the venerable Heckewelder, 

 who resided nearly forty years as a missionary among the 

 Delaware Indians, not only with ignorance of their language, 

 but with fabricating Delaware words, in order to suit a par- 

 ticular purpose*. This is carrying too far the maxim tiul- 

 lins in verba, and the reviewer who ventures so much ought 

 first to have convinced his readers that he was himself per- 

 fectly acquainted with the Delaware language, while, on the 

 contrary, after mentioning a few of Mr Heckcwelder's sub- 

 stantives, the sounds of which it seems are not pleasing to 

 his ears, he exclaims in disgust, "Pronounce these who can ; 

 we eschew the task." This strong expression of an un- 

 pleasant feeling is not natural to one who is conversant 

 with a particular idiom : such a one, besides, must be pre- 

 sumed to be in some degree familiar with its sounds, and 

 to be able, at least, to articulate them. 



The reviewer that I speak of pays no greater respect to 

 Mr Zeisherger, the author of this grammar. If he does not 

 expressly charge him with forgery, he at least tries to make 

 it appear that he did not know the language on which he 

 wrote. In this grammar, in the conjugation of the causative 

 form of the verb wulamallsin, to be happy, will be found the 

 participle present wulamalessohaluwed, he who makes hap- 

 py, which in the transitive form is changed into ici/lainalcs- 

 sohalid, he who makes me happy, and this last word, taking 

 the vocative termination an. becomes wulamalessohalian, 

 O thou who roakest me happy! The reviewer is pleased 

 (p. 73.) to turn this beautiful grammatical form into ridicule, 

 and expressly denies there being such a one in the language. 



* This word (elumiangeUatschik) lias been evidently formed to meet 

 ihe case, and formed on erroneous principles. N. A. Review, p. 76. 



