14 PHILOLOGY. 



As tlie languages of savage nations, being unwritten and ■without 

 fixed standard, are subject to constant change, the number of dialects 

 is everywhere considerable. The collector is therefore recommend- 

 ed to obtain vocabularies in each dialect; and for the greaier cer- 

 tainty, to employ one of those already collected, on the correctness of 

 which reliance can be placed, as the medium of obtaining others. 



AVhenever leisure and opportunity offer for the collection of larger 

 vocabularies than that here given, it will of course be desirable to 

 procure them ; as also information concerning the grammatical struc- 

 ture of the language, such as the modes of forming the plurals in 

 nouns and adjectives, their declension, the conjugation of verbs, the 

 character and use of pronouns, the number and employment of 

 adverbs, prepositions, (fee. Grammars and dictionaries, never yet 

 published, were made of many of the languages of Upper and Lower 

 California and the Mexican States by the Spanish missionaries, and 

 the Smithsonian Institution has been favored w^ith the loan of several 

 manuscripts which are in the course of publication. It is desired to 

 procure others, or copies of them, whenever it is possible, from all 

 parts of both the American continents, or of printed works on the 

 same subject. The present form is issued for the use of travellers or 

 merely transient residents among tribes where no such records are 

 procurable. 



In making collections, the utmost care is requisite to represent ac- 

 curately the sounds of unfamiliar languages, particularly those which 

 to us appear uncouth ; and the inquirer should satisfy himself, by 

 repetition of the words to other individuals, that he has correctly ac- 

 quired their pronunciation, \Yhile the assistance of interpreters con- 

 versant with the language is desirable to insure a correct understand- 

 ing, the words themselves should be taken down from the lips of an 

 Indian of the tribe. A great difference indeed exists among Indians 

 in the purity with which they speak their own language, chiefs and 

 men of note and women of good standing, as a general thing, speaking 

 more correctly than common persons. Great patience is necessary to 

 secure accuracy, as their attention soon becomes fatigued by being 

 kept on the stretch. Whenever this is observed to be the case, it is 

 best to postpone the subject for a time, if possible. 



The character of the Indian mind is so essentially diflferent from 

 that of the white man, they think in so different a manner, that many 

 precautions are necessary to avoid giving them wrong impressions of 

 our meaning, and of course obtaining incorrect replies. 



In liuns not only distinguish by difTerent names the degrees and 



