PREFACE. XI 



Saliaptin languages; and the Tokwalit (Tokwat), Nittinat, and Makah 

 (Maka) quoted in the dictionary, are dialects of the Nootka (Niitka), 

 of which the Hailtzuk or Belbella (variously spelled Haeeltzuk and 

 Hailtsa) is probably the northern type. It thus appears that, with 

 two or three exceptions, the analogies of the Chinook, as contained 

 in this vocabulary, are to be sought in the immediately adjoining 

 tongues, or those of languages belonging to the same families with 

 them; that these analogies, with perhaps one or two exceptions, can 

 by no means be considered radical, and that their correspondence, or 

 rather adoption, is easily accounted for by neighborhood and t»abit8 

 of intermarriage. A much more remarkable coincidence is the fact 

 that two words included in this Jargon, — one from the Nootkan, viz., 

 Mawitch, a deer, venison ; and the other Chinook, Mooluk, an elk, — 

 are also to be found in the Kowilth, the language of Humboldt 

 Bay, in California. As this bay was first discovered in the wintei 

 ' ot 1849-50, the words could not have been introduced by the fui 

 trappers. 



With regard to the form into which this dictionary has been 

 thrown, an explanation is necessary. The Jargon must in some 

 degree be regarded as a written language, the orthography of which 

 is English. In Mr. Hale's vocabulary alone has one more scientific 

 been attempted, and of sevez'al other printed, and numerous manu- 

 script dictionaries in circulation, M. Lionnet's alone, that I have met 

 with, IS according to the French. Although no fixed system of spell- 

 ing exists among them, I have therefore deemed it best to preserve 

 for the Jargon words that which most distinctly represents the com- 

 mon English pronunciation ; while for the Indian derivations, I have 

 adopted that recommended by the Smithsonian Institution in collect- 

 ing Indian vocabularies, using the Italian sounds of the vowels, and 

 representing the guttural of the German ich by kh. This seemed the 

 more proper, as the work would thereby be rendered of practical use, 

 independent of what philological value it may possess. It is worthy 

 of mention that quite a number of the Jargon words have been 

 adopted into ordinary conversation in Oregon, and threaten to be- 

 come permanently incorporated as a local addition to the English. 



