350 Observations on the Language of § igns. 
: communication with each other by spoken language, but this 
ae 
difficulty i is overcome by their having adopted a language 
~~ of signs, which they all understand, and by means of which, 
the different tribes hold converse without speaking. 
is circumstance may be considered as something 
novel in the history of man ; for although temporary signs 
_have been occasionally resorted to by travellers and voy- 
agers, where spoken language was inadequate, yet we 
know of no nation, tribe, or class of human beings, posses- 
sed of the faculty of speech, besides the Indians of this 
country, who have adopted any thing like a system of signs, 
by which they could freely express their ideas. 
During the last autumn and winter Mr. John D. Hun- 
er, the white Indian who has been restored to civilized 
7 oes visited the school for she: — and 
a ) ac t for the 
m of “geset ae yo ri 
Mississippi, among w d res from his infancy 5 
and it was not until I ‘had read the accoule et the expedi- 
tion of Major Long and his party to the Rocky mountains, 
that [ could explain his frequent visits. He observed every 
thing with that apparent indifference peculiar to the In- 
dians of this country and yet his repeated calls at the 
school were the indications of a more than common inter- 
est, excited by seeing instruction imparted through the 
medium of signs, to those who could not hear 
Philosophers have discussed the subject of a universal 
age, but have failed to iny ent one, while the savages 
of America have adopted the only one which can possibly 
e universal. The language of signs is so true to 
_tatore, that the deaf and dumb, from different parts of the 
will immediately on meeting, understand each other. 
language, however, in an uncultivated state, is lim-_ ig 
the expression of their immediate wants, and the — 
eas which they have acquired by their silent inte 
idea 
course with their fellow-beings, As this manner 
pressing their thoughts has arisen from necessity, it is 
prising to me how the Indians have adopted a similar ian 
ee when the intercourse between nations of different 
gues is most usually carried on by —— of oe 
anguagi 
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