Trans. N. V. Ac. Sci. 58 Dec. i8, 



Mohawk dictionary by the Jesuit Father Bruyas, and another in French- 

 Onondaga by a priest of the same order of the 17th century, have for 

 some time been in the possession of students. Beyond this, the Mo- 

 hawk prayer-book by Brant, a few gospels and hymns in several of the 

 dialects, a few numbers of a Seneca periodical, edited by their mission- 

 ary, Mr. Wright, a spelling-book by the same author, together with nu- 

 merous very incorrect short vocabularies in each of the dialects, and 

 later, a few interesting pamphlets concerning the Mohawk by Pere 

 Cuoq, constitute all the published material heretofore within reach of 

 the historian, philologist or ethnologist. 



Some account therefore of my labors in this direction, after the uni- 

 form scientific system, originated by the Bureau of Ethnology, and in 

 use by those engaged in its service, may prove of interest. 



That these Six Tribes were originally but one is obvious from a com- 

 parison of the six dialects. The chait on exhibition contains some of the 

 words in most frequent use, and illustrates the character of their dis- 

 similarities. The dialect spoken by the Tuscaroras, who were for a 

 time widely separated from the others, presents the greatest differences. 



That this period of separation was not of necessity one of 

 great length, may be inferred from the remarkable differences which 

 have arisen between two portions of the Mohawk tribe, less widely 

 separated for a little more than two centuries. 



On exhibition are the completed chrestomathies of the Seneca, Onon- 

 daga, Mohawk and Tuscarora dialects, prepared for the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, after its admirable system ot phonetic spelling and with its 

 highly perfected alphabet for Indian dialects. 



To obtain synonyms for the newly collected 8,000 Tuscarora words, 

 t-he nucleus to an Iroquoian dictionary, the Catholic missions on the 

 Canadian banks of the St. Lawrence were selected as the field for in- 

 quiry. 



Over two hundred years ago, the ancestors of these Mohawks were 

 christianized and transplanted to these missions from among their 

 pagan surroundings, south of Lake Ontario, by the zealous Jesuit mis- 

 sionaries. 



The archives of the old Catholic Church at Caughnawaga were found 

 to contain, among other interesting and remarkable manuscripts, the 

 most valuable French-Mohawk dictionary, now before you, compiled by 

 Father Marcoux in the early part of this century. 



Through the kindness of Superior Antoine and Pere Burtin, this will 

 furnish the desired synonyms, many of which would otherwise have 

 been unobtainable. 



Through their courtesy and that of Pere le Clair, the Superior of the 

 Sulpician Seminary at Oka, several hundred new titles were, during the 



