94 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 
walked several days without eating, yet exerting 
themselves far beyond their strength that they 
might save the life of the infant. It died almost 
within sight of the house. Mr. Connolly, who 
was then in charge of the post, received them 
with the utmost humanity, and instantly placed 
food before them; but no language can describe 
the manner in which the miserable father dashed 
the morsel from his lips and deplored the loss of 
his child. Misery may harden a disposition 
naturally bad, but it never fails to soften the 
heart of a good man. 
The origin of the Crees, to which nation the 
Cumberland House Indians belong, is, like that 
of the other Aborigines of America, involved in 
obscurity; but the researches now making into 
the nature and affinities of the languages spoken 
by the different Indian tribes, may eventually 
throw some light on the subject. Indeed, the 
American philologists seem to have suceeeded 
already in classing the known dialects into three 
languages:—Ist. The Floridean, spoken by the 
Creeks, Chickesaws, Choctaws, Cherokees, Pas- 
cagoulas, and some other tribes, who inhabit the 
southern parts of the United States. 2d. The 
Troquois, spoken by the Mengwe, or Six Nations, 
the Wyandots, the Nadowessies, and Asseenee- 
poytuck. 3d. The Lenni-lenapé, spoken by 2 
% 
