36 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE 



Gill (J. K.) — Coutiuued. 



which corresponds with the last two. We also 

 seud you a copy of the ninth edition, which I 

 believe represents the previous eight editions 

 and tlie succeeding ones up to the eleventh. 

 The work was stereotyped when we got out our 

 tirst edition, and the only change has been in 

 the preface and appendix. I have learned 

 much about the Chinook Jargon and other 

 Indian tongues since the compilation of the 

 first dictionary, and if it were to be rewritten 

 today I should make some very .slight changes 

 in tlie book. I do not think the changes 

 required would ati'ect more than twelve of the 

 root- words of the Cliinook, but I should make 

 some research into the literature of the early 

 part of this century and pass some time among 

 tlie Indians mo.st proficient in the Chinook to 

 find if posijibletho words used intertribally for 

 '■coyote,'' 'rock,' 'Jir,' 'maple,' 'mountain,' 'hill,' 

 the names of difl'erent parts of the human 

 body, its diseases, and many other subjects and 

 things which must have been referred to by 

 words in common use before the white people 

 came to this region, hut which the compilers 

 of the early dictionaries seem to have entirely 

 neglected. 



" When I began the compilation of our own 

 it was only because we had to have a new edi- 

 tion of the dictionary. The head of our firm 

 considered the old one was ' plenty good 

 enough,' and for that reason my labors in 

 increasing the vocahularv, both Chinook and 

 English, were greatly curtailed. His view of 

 the matter was a business one, however, and 

 mine the impracticable side of it. Probably 

 within the time we have been publishing this 

 dictionary (thirteen years) the Indians who 

 were restricted to the use of Chinook in con- 

 versation with the settlers of the North Pacific 

 coast have decreased more than one-half in 

 number. A great portion of these have died 

 or been killed by our enterprising settlers (the 

 probable reason for this killing being that the 

 Indians lived up<m lands our people wanted; 

 an example which they have had before them 

 since the settlement of Manhattan and which 

 they have not been slow to follow). Chinook 

 is becoming a joke on the Pacific coast. White 

 peojile learn it for the sake of attempting to talk 

 with Indians, who speak just as good English 

 as their would-be patrons and interlocutors. 

 The sale for the books slowly decreases also. 



"You are probably aware that during the 

 last year a valuable book upon the Chinook was 

 issued in London, written by Horatio Hale, 

 M. A., E. R. S. C. It is the most ambitious 

 publication on this subject which has ever 

 been attempted, and to me il is a marvel that 

 this work should have seen the light in Lon- 

 don, so remote from any apparent interest in, 

 or knowledge of, the Chinook. If you have it 

 you will find that Mr. Hale has followed nearly 

 the same system of spelling as that I adopted 

 a dozen years ago. I judge that my dictionary 

 was his model, to some extent, from the fact 



Gill (J. K.) — Continued. 



that he spells the word kloshe as I do; also 

 klone, Hook, etc., which in some of the other 

 vocabularies have been spelled with a 'c' 

 instead of ' k ' and with a final ' se ' instead of 

 ' she,' and, in fact, three or four different ways 

 of spelling for the same word. Mr. Hale uses 

 Huh for the verb to tear, to rend, to plow, etc. 



" Now, this word, as I hear it spoken among 

 the Indians, ends gutturally, and for that rea- 

 son I .spelled it as I have heard it pronounced, 

 Hugh. Mr. Hale accents the last syllable of 

 klahane and spells the last syllable nie, 

 which would make his pronounciation of the 

 word very different from mine. Mine, I know, 

 is the common, in fact, universal expression. I 

 am often moved to open a correspondence witli 

 Mr. Hale on the subject of his book because of 

 his icouoclasm. He attempts to prove too much, 

 as I l)elieve, and would make it appear that 

 Chinook did not exist as an intertribal language 

 prior to its necessity for the use of the trapper 

 and tlie trader. I am convinced of the contrary. 

 Within the year I have talked with an Indian 

 who was a man grown when Lewis and Clarke 

 came to this country, and have his assurance 

 that the Klikitat, Multnomah, Clatsop, Chinook, 

 and other tribes all talked to each other in this 

 ancient Volapiik upon matters of business or 

 any other inter-tribal affairs, while each tribe 

 had its own language. I have said something 

 on this subject in the preface to our dictionary. 

 Mr. Hale's book has given me much pleasure in 

 reading over his collection of Chinook romantic 

 songs and examples of the common use of the 

 language. It is not strange if there should be 

 a wide difference in the pronunciation and use 

 of the language between San Erancisco Bay 

 and Sitka, between the mouth of the Columbia 

 and the top of the Rocky Mountains. 



"Mr. Hale mentions one or two books or 

 pamphlets which I liave not seen, but shall 

 take my first opportunity to procure, giving 

 more space to the Chinook. 



" I inclose you several books which I think 

 you will be glad to get. . . . 



"You will see that none of these different 

 books attempt to give the accent, and leave the 

 learner entirely at a loss as to the force of 

 the words. For instance, the Chinook word 

 for blanket, pasesee (spelled in two or three 

 ways by the different publishers), is properly 

 pronounced with the accent on the second syl- 

 lable. You will see how very different the 

 word becomes if you attempt to accent the first 

 or last syllables. I can assure you that there 

 are no differences in our publications of the 

 Chinook dictionary excepting what I have 

 referred to in the two examples sent you. The 

 books from other sources which I send are the 

 only editions which had appeared at the time 

 I procured them and I think they have noue of 

 them been duplicated since." 



In response to criticism made by me in regard 

 to the above, more especially of that portion of 

 it relating to Jewitt's work (see under firat 



