440 APPENDIX. 



l^A man has published, in 1816, an octavo volume in Trenton 

 (United States), the author's name Boudinot, to explain some 

 things about the Indian nations, and, among other things, he fan- 

 cies some resemblance between their languages and Hebrew. 

 Baron Yon Humboldt, a Prussian, was in Spanish America lately, 

 and he found the natives had Hebrew opinions and usages, evi- 

 dently things borrowed from Jewish doctrines, I don't want you 

 to inquire much about their being of this extraction, but observe, 

 for me, whether their languages have no pronouns, as one author, 

 Golden, stated fifty years ago; and whether they are defective in 

 the ^^repositions, as this Boudinot states; and whether those near 

 you have any words, idioms, or traditions that are expressive of 

 their early origin, or their connection with European nations. 



In fact, I think you are better circumstanced, in most respects, 

 than any other man that I ever heard of, to do something worth 

 notice in that way ; for, although you have not books, nor know- 

 ledge of many tongues, yet you could collect lists of great and 

 radical words, expressed with proper letters, so that others could 

 compare those words with Asiatic, and African, and European 

 tongues, so as to enable mankind to judge of similitudes or dis- 

 similitudes. 



The words most apt to pervade different nations, and to pass 

 from one people to another, are articles, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, 

 prepositions ; next to these, numerals ; next to these, whatever 

 terms are expressive of striking, useful, hurtful, or very clear and 

 definite objects and ideas ; for, if the conceptions we have of 

 things be not very definite, clear, and distinct, the idea and the 

 word are not likely to float down the stream of time together, they 

 will be jostled and separated. Be very careful in spelling the 

 Indian words ; spell them in different ways, where our letters 

 don't square exactly with their sounds. Take notice of their 

 musical tones, and whether these tones get in, as essential parts, 

 into their speech; and, above all, remember that a icord is a thing, 

 and that it may be examined as a record, or considered like a 

 coin or medal, as well as if it had the stamp of a king or mint 

 upon it. 



I will write more if this vessel does not sail to-day. God bless 

 you and yours, and believe me, in haste, your affectionate cousin. 



J. McDonnell. 



