VI PREFACE. 



Within the territory thus iudicatecl there is considerable diversity of customs and 

 a greater diversity of language. The language is split into a great number of dia- 

 lects, many of which are doubtless mutually nnintelligil)le. 



The relationship of this family to the Wakashan is a very interesting problem. 

 Evidences of radical affinity have been discovered by Boas and (Jatschet, and the 

 careful study of their nature and extent now being prosecuted by the former may 

 result in the union of the two, though until recently they have been considered 

 quite distinct. 



With the exception of the Chinookan family the Salishan dialects 

 have contributed a greater number of words to the Chinook jargon 

 than have any other of the languages of the coast — so many indeed 

 that it was a question whether the literature of the jargon should not 

 be included herein. This has not been done, however, except in the 

 case of those l)ooks and papers which distinctly mark the Salishan 

 elements entering into the composition of the jargon; this course be- 

 ing pursued because a list of the jargon literature appears in the Bibli- 

 ography of the Chinookan Languages. 



This bibliography embraces 320 titular entries, of which 259 relate 

 to printed books and articles and 01 to manuscripts. Of these, 311 

 have been seen and collated by the Avriter (257 prints and 54 manu- 

 scripts); titles and descriptions of two of the prints and seven of the 

 manuscripts have been obtained from outside sources. 



As far as possible, in the proof-reading of these pages comparison 

 has been made direct with the works themselves. Much of the mate- 

 rial is in the library of the writer, arid he has had access for the pur- 

 pose to the libraries of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the 

 Bureau of Ethnology, Georgetown University, as well as several well- 

 stocked i)rivate collections in the city of Washington. Mr. Wilber- 

 force Eames, whose library is so rich in Americana, has compared the 

 titles of works contained therein, as also those in the Lenox Library, 

 of which he now has charire. 



Washington^ D. 6'., June M^ 1893. 



