CHINOOKAN LANGUAGES. 



PI., a-io.- 



17-23.— Con- 

 pp. 24-26.— 



Blanchet (F. N.) — ( 'out iiuicd 



Kiii;Iisli('liiini((k voc.ilmlarv. 

 Cliiiiook-Knulisli vocabiil:irV: pji 

 \<ir.satioiis in Kiiglisli-fMiinook 

 Lord's prayer in .Iary;<>n, p. 26. 



Copies xeeit : liantrroft. 



[ ] Dictionary | of the | Cliiuook Jar- 

 gon, I to which i.s aiMod | numerous 

 conversations, | thereby euabliny :iny 

 person | to sjjeak Chinook correctly. | 

 Seventh edition. | 



I'orthind, Oregon. | F. L. McC'ormick, 

 juildisher, 91 .Second street. | 1879. 



Cover title as above, title as atiove verso pref- 

 ace 1 1. text pp. 3-26, 24°. 



Englisli-Chiuook voeal)ularv, pp. 3-16.— 

 Cliin()ok-Eii<i:lish vocabnlary, pp. 17-23.— Con- 

 versations in Enjilisli-Cliinook, ])p. 24-20.— 

 Lord's jirayerin Jargon, p. 20. 



Copies seen: Congress, (iporgetmvii, Welles 

 ley. 



For later editions, see Grill (J. K.) 



[Writings in the Chinook Jargon.] 



In the prefaee to the Chinook Uietionarv, 

 &c., by Father Demers and others, is a state- 

 ment eimcerning the origin of the Chinook 

 Jargon and those who have written therein, 

 from which I make the following extract: 



" The Chinook Jargon was invented by the 

 Hudson Bay Com])any traders, who were mostly 

 French-Canadians. Having to trade with the 

 nimierons tribes inhabiting the conntries west 

 of the Kocky Mountains, it was necessary to 

 have a language understood by all. Hence the 

 idea of composing the Chinook Jargon. Foi't 

 Vancouver being the principal post, the traders 

 of the twenty-nine forts belonging to the com- 

 pany, on the western slope, and the Indians 

 fi'om every part of that inuuense country, had 

 to come to Vancouver for the trading season. 

 They used to learn the Chinook [Jargon], and 

 then teach it to others. In this manner, it 

 became universally known. 



"The two first missionaries to Oregon, Eev. 

 F. N. Blanchet, V. G.. and his worthy com- 

 ])anion. Rev. Mod. Demers, arrived from Canada 

 to \'aucou\er, on the 24th of November, 1838. 

 They had to instruct numerous tribes of 

 Indians, and the wives and chihb'en of thf 

 whites, who spoke only the Cliinook. The two 

 missionaries set to work to learn it, and in a 

 few weeks Father Demers had mastered it, 

 ami began to preach. 



•' He composed a vocabulary which was very 

 useful to other missionaries. He conii>osed 

 several canticles which the Indians learned and 

 sang with taste and delight. Ho also translated 

 all the Christian prayers in the same language. 



"Such is the origin of the Chinook Jargon, 

 which enabled the two tirst missionaries in the 

 country to do a great deal of good among the 

 Indians and half-breeds. The invention of the 

 Catholic Ladder, in April, 1839, by Very Rev. 

 Blanchet, and its [oral] explanation in Chinook, 



Blanchet (F. \.) — (Jontinued. 



had a marvelous success, and gave the Cat holic 

 missionaries a great superiority and jireiMUider- 

 ance niucb envied by the missionaries belong- 

 ing to other denominations. 



" Father Denii-rs. afterwards IMshop of Van- 

 couver's Island, ha.s now gout! to enjoy the 

 reward of his great labours and apostolic zeal. 

 It would be too bad to lose his dictn.nary au.l 

 otln^r Chinook works. So .\rclibislio]» Blan- 

 (diet, who has himself made a comi.endinm of 

 the('liristian Doctrineinthesamelanuuage, has 

 had thi^ good inspiration to get the whole j.ub- 

 lislied with his corrections and additions." — St. 

 Oiiye. ill Demers' Chinook Dictionary . 



Referring to the Catholic Ladder, " and its 

 explanation in Chinook," mentioned in the 

 above extract, Father St. Onge writes me as 

 follows: "The Catholic Ladder, of which I 

 sent you a copy, Avas, as you suggest, published 

 by Father Lacombe; but it is only an embel- 

 lished edition of the Ladder invented by Arch- 

 bishop Blau<'het, in April, 1839. The andi- 

 bishop never jirinted auj' Chinook explanation 

 of it, ami in my preface to the Chinook Diction- 

 ary the word aral should liave been inserted." 



See Demers (M.), Blanchet (F. N.) 



ami St. Onge (L.N.) 



Bishop Blanchet Wiis born at St. Pierre, 

 Riviere-duSud, Quebec, Canada, September 5, 

 1795: was educated in the Petit Seminaire, 

 Quebec, and was ordained July 18, 1819, by 

 Archbishop Ph'ssis. In 1811 the Pacific Fur 

 Company established a trading post, called 

 Astoria, at the mouth of the Ctdumbia River. 

 After came the Hudson's Bay Compiiny, em- 

 phiying many Canadians, most of who:u were 

 Catholics. Many of them settled and inter- 

 m.arried with the Indians of tlie territory, and 

 with these tbei-e was a demand for Catholic 

 priests and Catholic worship. 



Application was first made to the Rt. Rev. 

 J. K. Provencher, Bishop of Juliopolie (Red 

 River). The demand for Catholic; priests was 

 earnestly indorsed by Sir George Simpson, 

 governor of the Hudson Bay Company, 

 writing from the British capital (1838). He 

 applied to the Mi. Rev. Jo.seph .Signay, then 

 Archbishop of Quebec. At once, in April, 

 1838, Bishop Signay instructed two of his 

 missionaries, the Very Rev. F. X. Blanchet and 

 the Rev. Modesto Demers, to take charge of the 

 mission "situ;tted between the Pacific Ocean 

 .and the Rocky Mountains " — a mighty charge 

 for two men; but the men were .apo.stles. and, 

 therefore, as full of jtractical zeal as of prac- 

 tical faith. Father Blanchet w.as vicar-general, 

 with Father Demers as assistant. 



The journey of the devoted missionaries to 

 their new mission was a long and most laborious 

 one, familiar enough inearlyC:itholic American 

 history, though almost iniom|)rehensible to us 

 , in these days of ra])id and easy transit. They 

 labored on their route, baptizing and confirming 

 in t he faith many Indians, who, at various 

 forts, thronged touieet the long looked-for t/acik 



