86 GRAMMAR OP THE LANGUAGE 



and principles which nature alone could dictate, and human 

 science never could have imagined. Various attempts have 

 been made towards the formation of a philosophical lan- 

 guage: none of them has ever gone beyond the imitation of 

 those which were previously known ; neither Leibnitz nor 

 Bishop Wilkins, neither Monboddo nor l)e Brosses, nor any 

 of diose illustrious philosophers who have written so much 

 on the origin and formation of languages, could have disco- 

 vered « priori the curious combinations by which the Ame- 

 rican Indians form their words ; nor the manner in which 

 they associate with the verb such an immense number of 

 accessary ideas; we are therefore compelled, when endea- 

 vouring to account for the variety of modes in which men 

 represent their perceptions through the organs of speech, 

 to al-andon all vain theories, and look up only to nature 

 and nature's God. 



I have been led into these preliminary observations far- 

 ther than I expected ; I feel that I have been insensibly 

 drawn beyond the legitimate bounds of a preface; it is, 

 however, necessary that I should say something of this 

 grammar and of its author. 



The Reverend David Zeisberger was a native of Mora- 

 via, where he was born in the year 1721. He was edu- 

 cated at Herrnhut in the principles of the religion of the 

 United Brethren. At the age of seventeen he came to this 

 country, and landed in Georgia, where his co-religionists had 

 begun some settlements. Thence he came to Pennsylvania. 

 In the year 1746, (being twenty five years of age) he was 

 sent out as a missionary to the Noith American Indians, 

 in which employment he continued, with few and short 

 intervals, until his death, which happened in the year 1808. 

 He died at Goshen, in the state of Ohio, at the advanced 

 age of eighty-seven years. 



Thus this venerable missionary resided upwards of sixty 

 years among the Indians of this country, preaching the gos- 

 pel to them in their native idioms. In this manner he 

 acquired several of their languages ; but was particularly 



