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PREFACE 



Tlie designation given tlie family of languages trented of in this 

 bibliography is based upon the name ol" a tiibe living near the moutli 

 of the Columbia Kiver, from whom a vocabulary was obtained by 

 Gabriel Franchere, of the Paciftc Fur Comi)any, about 1812, and pub- 

 lished in his ''Eelation'" in 1820, under the name Chinouque ou 

 Tchinouk. This vocabulary, consisting of thirty-three words, thirteen 

 numerals, and eleven phrases, is given by Gallatin in his " Synopsis"'* 

 with the spelling of the name anglicized to Chinook ; and, though based 

 upon the speech of but a single tribe, it was ado])ted by him as the 

 name of a family of languages. 



The family includes a number of tribes whose habitat, to quote from 

 Major Powell,^ "extended from the mouth of the river up its course for 

 some 200 miles, or to The Dalles. According to Lewis and Clarke, our 

 best authorities on the pristine home of this family, most of their vil- 

 lages were on the banks of the river, chiefly upon the northern bank, 

 though they probably claimed the land upon either bank for several 

 miles back. Their villages also extended on the Pacific coast north- 

 ward nearly to the northern extension of Shoalwater Bay, and to the 

 south to about Tilamook Head, some 20 miles from the mouth of the 

 Columbia." 



As will be seen by reference to the list of tribal names given on a 

 subsequent page, the number of languages embraced within the family 

 is small; and the amount of material recorded under "Chinook'' will 

 be found to more than equal that given under the names of all the other 

 divisions of the family combined. 



As a matter of fact, but little, comparatively, has been done in the 

 collection of linguistic material relating to this family, a fact all the 

 more surprising when it is considered that they have been long in 

 contact with the whites. There has been no grammar of the language 

 published, and until lately none has been compiled; there is but one 

 printed dictionary — that of Gibbs — and the vocabularies are neither 

 great in length nor wide in scoj)e. There is hope of a better state of 



' Relation d'un voyage a la c6te nord-ouest de I'Am^rique Septentrionale dans les 

 ann<5es 1810, 1811, 1812, 1813 et 1814. Montreal, 1820. 



-Synopsis of the Indian tribes within the United States east of the Rocky Monn- 

 tains.and in the British and Russian possessions in North America. Cambridge, 1836. 



^Indian linguistic families of America, north of Mexico. Washington, 1891. • 



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