BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 61 



to read his language, into thinking that he is also able to understand 

 what he reads. Thus, in taking down tales or other records in the 

 native language, and reading them to the Indians, the Indian always 

 believes that the reader also understands what he pronounces, because 

 it is quite inconceivable to him that a person can freely utter the sen- 

 tences in his language without clearly grasping their meaning. This 

 fact facilitates the initial stages of ethnographic information in the 

 native languages, because, on the whole, the northern Indians are 

 eager to be put on record in regard to questions that are of supreme 

 interest to them. If the observer is capable of grasping by a rapid 

 analysis the significance of what is dictated to him, even without being 

 able to express himself freely in the native language, he is in a position 

 to obtain much information that otherwise would be entirely unob- 

 tainable. Although tliis is wholly a makeshift, still it puts the 

 observer in an infinitely better position than that in which he would 

 be without any knowledge whatever of the language. First of 

 all, he can get the information from the Indians first-hand, without 

 employing an interpreter, who may mislead him. Furthermore, the 

 range of subjects on which he can get information is considerably 

 increased, because the limitations of the linguistic knowledge of the 

 interpreter, or those of the trade -language, are eliminated. It 

 would seem, therefore, that under present conditions we are more or 

 less compelled to rely upon an extended series of texts as the safest 

 means of obtaining information from the Indians. A general review 

 of our ethnographic literature shows clearly how much better is the 

 information obtained by observers who have command of the lan- 

 guage, and who are on terms of intimate friendship with the natives, 

 than that obtained through the medium of interpreters. 



The best material we possess is perhaps contained in the naive out- 

 pourings of the Eskimo, which they WTite and print themselves, and 

 distribute as a newspaper, intended to inform the people of all the 

 events that are of interest. These used to contain' much mytholog- 

 ical matter and much that related to the mode of life of the people. 

 Other material of similar character is furnished by the large text 

 collections of the Ponca, published by the late James Owen Dorsey; 

 although many of these are influenced by the changed conditions 

 under which the people now live. Some older records on the Iro- 

 quois, written by prominent members of the tribe, also deserve atten- 

 tion; and among the most recent literature the descriptions of the 



