PHILOLOGT. 13 



PHILOLOGY. 



In view of the importance of a uniform system in collecting words 

 of the various Indian languages of North America, adapted to the 

 use of officers of the government, travellers, and others, the following 

 is recommended as a Standard Vocabulary. It is mainly the 

 one prepared by the late Hon, Albert Gallatin, with a few changes 

 made by Mr. Hale, the Ethnologist of the United States Exploring 

 Expedition, and is adopted as that upon which nearly all the 

 collections hitherto made for the purpose of comparison have been 

 based. For the purpose of ascertaining the more obvious relations 

 between the various members of existing families, this number is 

 deemed sufficient. The remote affinities must be sought in a wider 

 research, demanding a degree of acquaintance with their languages 

 beyond the reach of transient visitors. 



The languages spoken within the limits of the United States, in 

 which the greatest deficiencies exist, are those of the tribes comprised 

 in the States of California and Texas, and the Territories of Utah, 

 Nevada, and New Mexico, and to these attention is particularly 

 directed. It is not intended, however, to confine the collection to the 

 languages of the United States. Those of British and Russian Amer- 

 ica and of Mexico, particularly the western coast, fall within the pur- 

 pose of this circular ; and the alphabet may, in fact, with certain local 

 adaptations, be used in any region. 



Some of the words contained in it will of course be found inap- 

 jilicable in particular sections of the country; as, for example, ice, 

 salmon, and sturgeon among the southern tribes, buffalo among the 

 coast tribes of the Pacific, and such should at once be omitted. 



Where several languages are obtained by the same person in one 

 district, the inquirer may substitute for these the names of familiar 

 things, taking care that the same are carried through them all, and 

 that they are those of native and not imported objects. Such words 

 as coat, hat, etc., are of course useless for purposes of comparison, 

 unless it is explained that they refer to the dress of deer-skin, the hat 

 of basket-work used by the natives, and of their own primitive man- 

 ufacture. 



