1S70.] Oi.7 [Brintoii. 



fore, he devoted assiduous labor to their language with a view to com- 

 prehend its extremely ditlicult construction, and to render it availa- 

 ble for the missionary and philological student. The first draft of 

 his Grammar was completed in 1834. It was written and re-written, 

 until at the time of his death, which occurred at Belpre, Ohio, 

 December 31st, 1868, he was at work upon the seventh revisal. This 

 had proceeded as far as the close of Part I. This much, therefore, of 

 the Grammar is almost precisely as the author left it. 



Part II. commencing with the Article-Pronouns, I have arranged 

 from the manuscripts of the fifth and sixth revisals, deposited in the 

 library of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, by the 

 family of the author. 



In luidertaking this task I have throvighout adhered closely to the 

 language and arrangement of the original, even where a different 

 nomenclature and an altered arrangement suggested themselves, as in 

 better accordance with modern philological views. It is, I think, 

 more proper to maintain strict fidelity to the forms chosen by so 

 thorough a Choctaw scholar as the Kev. Mr. Byington, in the expla- 

 nation of so difiicult a tongue, than to run any risk of misrepresent- 

 ing his views by adopting a more modern phraseology. 



Mr. Byington's own views of what he had accomplished deserve 

 recording. In his diary under date March 11, 1864 (his birthday), he 

 writes : 



"The last year I revised the Choctaw Grammar, going over the 

 ground twice. The last effort I hope is my best, and will be of use to 

 learners of Choctaw, and to Choctaw scholars in schools, but it needs 

 further revision, and then to be well transcribed. I commit these 

 efforts in my old age to the Lord. I have enjoyed these labours very 

 much. The pleasure of happily resolving difficulties in these studies, 

 and of success in the work, is gratifying, and reviving to the mind." 



In 1867 he wrote : 



"This work can be much improved hereafter by other hands. It 

 may be compared to the first survey and making of a road in a new 

 country." 



In spite of these deficiencies, of which no doubt the author was 

 more distinctly aware than any one else, his Grammar remains one of 

 the most valuable, original, and instructive of any ever written of an 

 American language. It is the result of nigh half a century of con- 

 centrated study, and we may well doubt if ever again a person will 

 be found who will combine the time, the opportunities, and the 

 ability to make an equal analysis of the language. 



Mr. Byington also prepared a Choctaw dictionary, containing about 

 15,000 words, which remains in manuscript, in the possession of his 

 family. 



