166 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



this paper to teach them to read and write their own language, and 

 the result has been really wonderful. In order to attain this satis- 

 factory and promising result, lie has had to compose a syllabic alpha- 

 bet somewhat on the principle of that so suitably invented by the 

 late Mr. Evans for the Cree language ; but which he soon found to 

 be totally inadequate to render correctly the numerous and delicate 

 sounds of the Dene dialects. Besides (why should I not say it?) it 

 lacks that method and logic which have been applied to the new or im- 

 proved syllabics and which have thei'eby simplitied the acquisition of 

 the language. I am now continually in receipt of letters from 

 Indians whom I never taught and who have learned to read after one 

 or two weeks (in some cases I might say three or four days) })rivate 

 instruction from others. The following Carrier apologue written with 

 the new signs will serve as an illustration thereof 



0Q3> a [»B^ D>^ a 0>>G^ A's D>^ 0D3> 



Tsutscen cha inkez tttrces cha IbelnL-utaz lioh tiurces tsutsten 



sen; [>^ A< >T01 V^< A^D A'^C D> SQ 



tsidauo ; et howa n'tga ukhwa hwozte. Holita ttera-s tst-pa 



Ihiz tluerh naltsret, et howa utuz Ihiz za srelli. 



" The aspen in a fight with the black spruce knocked it down in 

 the fire whereby it got roasted.^ But at the same time, the aspen 

 fell on the ashes of the fireside, and that is why it is ash -coloured." 



And, I believe, I may now close this monograph, not that the 

 subject is exhausted, far from it. There are even several jioints con- 

 nected therewith which for the sake of brevity I have left untouched. 

 Moreover, much remains to be said anent the question of the West- 

 ern Denes, pi-obable origin and quite a volume might be written con- 

 cerning their wonderfully rich language. One could, for instance, 

 propose to the admiration of the philologist the pi'odigious multii^lic- 

 ity of its verbs which, when under all their forms, aggregate to the 

 incredible number of about 150,000 ! — the astonishing quantity of 

 their varieties which comprise verbs affirmative and negative, active 

 and passive, reflective and mutual, impersonal and unipersonal, 

 potential and generalizing, objective and subjective, verbs of rest, 



1 In allusion to the parched appearance of its bark. 



1 



