Brinton.] tJ\J -o [March 4, 



qui, a town still in existence ; Coosa, the Cherokee name of the Creek na- 

 tion. 



The missionary labors of the Spanish Jesuit and Dominican ecclesias- 

 tics were in all probability partially among the Creeks, especially those of 

 Father Juan Rogel.^ We know that vocabularies and grammars were 

 prepared by these devoted men, all remnants of which, so far as they re- 

 late to the Muskokee tongue, are lost. 



I must not overlook one extremely valuable linguistic memorial brought 

 to light by Mr. Buckingham Smith. It is a letter written in the Apala- 

 che dialect of Florida in the year 1688, and republished by Mr. Smith in 

 facsimile. The word Apalache, in Choctaw A.pvlvchi (v=a short), means 

 to help, helping, or helpers, and Apalachic' ola, apvlvchokla, is allies, literal- 

 ly, helping people. An examination of the letter shows that it is in a dia- 

 lect closely akin to the modern Hitchitee, which is one of the branches of 

 the Muskokee. 



The Muskokee has several dialects, the most important of which are 

 the Main Creek, or Muskokee proper, and the Hitchitee. These two dif- 

 fer so much that a native accustomed only to the one cannot understand 

 the other. The words are largely the same, and when they differ, usually 

 correspond in the number of their syllables. It is in accent, terminations, 

 pennutation of consonants, and change in quantity of the vowels, that 

 most of the variations seem to consist. Between these two, the Alibama 

 and Coosady dialects intervene, both partaking more closely of Hitchitee 

 than of Main Creek. The Seminole language of Florida is not distinct 

 from the Main Creek, as has so often been stated ;not more, Mr. Ferryman 

 infonns me, than the English of New England differs from that spoken in 

 the southern states. There are, however, Seminoleswho speak Hitchitee, 

 and others Mikasuke, a dialect akin to Hitchitee. ^ 



The latter, in what it differs from Main Creek, approaches the Chika- 

 saw, which is a dialect of Choctaw ?'' The difference between Hitchitee 

 and Choctaw is not greater than between Hitchitee and Muskokee. This 

 whole group of tongues, which has been denominated the Chahta-Mus- 

 KOKEE group, does not show greater diversity among its members, than 

 the Romanic group of Aryan tongues. This affinity is often of advantage 

 in studying their grammatical structure, as I shall have occasion to point 

 out, relying for the Choctaw on the unpubhshed " Orammar of the Choc- 

 taw Lang^iage, ' ' of the late Rev. Cyi'us Byington, which extremely valua- 

 ble work has been in my hands. 



The Muskokee was probably reduced to writing the first of any of the 



2 " The people among whom Roger [Rogel] and Villareal now [1566] began their mission, were evi- 

 dently a branch of the Creeks."— Shea, Hist, of the Cath. Missions among the Ind. Tribes of the U. S., p. 

 57. The later labors of Father Rogel, on the " Rio Dulce," were not among the Cherobees, as Shea 

 supposes, (p. 59,) but still with the Creeks, as appears evident on examining Rogel's original letters, 

 contained in the rare work of Alcazar, C hrono-historia de la Comp. de Jesvs en la Provincia de Toledo. 

 I published a translation of these letters in The Bistorical Magazine, Nov., 1861, p. 327. 



3 For specimens of Mikasuke and Hitchitee, see The Historical diagazine, Aug. 1866, p. 239. The 

 latter is also called Chelokee. The geographical names Okee-chobee, Okee finokce, etc., are Hitch- 

 itee, and not Main Creek. 



4 The Choctaws and Chikasaws can readily understand each other. 



