OF THE EENNI L.ENAPE INDIANS. JM 



of grammars, dictionaries, vocabularies. c^c. I have had the 

 benefit of correspondences and personal Communications 

 with Indians, missionaries, and other persons from various 

 parts of this hemisphere, more or less skilled in those 

 idioms. With regard to the Delaware. I have received much 

 information from my deceased friend Mr Heckewelder. 

 whom I always found ready to answer my queries, and solvB 

 my doubts, whenever 1 thought proper to communicate them 

 to him. II he were still alive, I would not have hesitated, 

 with his kind assistance, to have presented this grammai in 

 a more acceptable form lo the public. Without such aid I 

 could not undertake it, being in want of that practical know- 

 ledge which can only be acquired by a long residence 

 among the Indians. 



Anothei reason has induced me not to make ton free with 

 this grammar, although I am satisfied that it might have 

 been advantageously abridged. Several gentlemen, par- 

 ticularly of the army, who are stationed or reside in the 

 vicinity of the Indian country, and consequently have much 

 intercourse with the aborigines, have expressed a wish that 

 Mr ZrisbiTger's Work should be given in as ample a form 

 as possible, as it would he of great use to them in studying 

 not only the language of the Delaware?, but also those of 

 the Chippeways. Menotnonies. and other ornate idioms. 

 Therefore it is to be considered that it is not only intended 

 as an exhibition of the forms of the Indian dialects in a 

 scientific point of view, but also as a guide to those who 

 may be engaged in the study of this language. To them 

 the multiplicity of examples which others may think unne- 

 cessary will be ol great \alue, as there are no other writ- 

 ten sources from which they can derive information, if we 

 except Mr Zeisberger's Spelling Book, which has long been 

 out of pi int. and his Translation of Lieheikuhu's Harmony 

 ol the Gospels* which was printed only for the use of inis- 

 sionaiies. and is not to be purchased. Neither is the Trans- 

 lation of St John's Kpistle by Dencke to be bad in the shops. 

 It is much to be regretted that a certain number of copied 



VOL. III. 2 A 



