ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES. 



303 



Le Boulanger (J. I.) — Continued. 



merly the Director of the Imperial Printing 

 Office and Member of the Commission of the 

 Institute of Egypt &c., on the 9th of May 1859, 

 at Paris: Hen: C. Murphy." 



In the Historical Magazine, first series, vol. 3 

 (1859), pp. 227-228, Mr. Murphy speaks of the 

 manuscript as follows : 



"This volume is the production of some of 

 the early French, missionaries among the Il- 

 linois. . . . The manuscript is closely 



. written, but very plain. It is not the diction- 

 ary of that language which is mentioned by 

 Mr. Duponceau and Mr. Grallatin, in the pos- 

 session of the former, and which, it is inferred, 

 is a short vocabulary; for the words which Mr. 

 Gallatin could not find in the latter are con- 

 tained in this, and there are many variations, 

 showing the particular tribal origin to be dif- 

 ferent. Some of the words are identical with 

 what Mr. Gallatin calls the Old Algonkin, for 

 which he gives Lahontan as authority. The 

 paper on which the work is written resembles 

 that in use 150 or 200 years ago. 



"A note on the fly-leaf says : ' This precious 

 volume is an example of the superhuman ef- 

 forts with which the love of the salvation of 

 human souls inspired the Catholic mission- 

 aries.' In fine, it is, no doubt, the most com- 

 plete repertory of the Western Lenape in ex- 

 istence, and from the care and fullness with 

 which it has been written, has been the work 

 of a life-time. . ., . The only clue to the 

 authorship that approaches to probability is 

 furnished by Father Gabriel Marest, in his let- 

 ter dated Kaskaskias, 9th November, 1712, and 

 published in the Lettres ifidifiantes. Speaking 

 of Father Gravier, the founder of the mission 

 to the Illinois, he says : ' He first investigated 

 the principles of their language, and reduced 

 them to grammatical rules, so that we have 

 since only been obliged to bring to perfection 

 what he began with so great success.'— Z"ip'« 

 Translation, p. 206. From this it may be in- 

 ferred that the volume ... is the compi- 

 lation of many fathers, a conclusion to which 

 we more readily come, since it accords with 

 that already expressed by Mr. Shea, in his ' His- 

 tory of the Catholic Missions among the In- 

 dian Tribes of the United States.'" 



In the prospectus of the French Illinois dic- 

 tionary which Mr. Shea was printing from this 

 manuscript he ascribes it to Father Le Boulan- 

 ger, it being, in his opinion, the work of one 

 who had got far beyond the rudimentary stages 

 of the study, and evidently of a single author 

 who had mastered his subject, a reputation en- 

 joyed only by Le Boulanger. 



See Gravier (J.) for a description by Dr. J. 

 Hammond Trumbull of a manuscript Illinois- 

 French Dictionary. 



At the sale of Mr. Murphy's library, in 

 March, 1884, this manuscript was purchased 

 for the John Carter Brown library for $240. 



Rev. J. I. Le Boulanger, S. J., was born in 

 France, July 22, 1664 ; entered the order in 1700, 

 came to America, and was on the Illinois Mis- 



Le Boulanger (J, I.) — Continued. 



sion as early as 1719, and probably some years 

 previous to that date, and is said to have died 

 there in 1744. 



[Lebret (Pei-e Louis-Marie). ] L. J. C et 

 M. I. I Kikiuoamati-masinaigan, | gaie| 

 aiamiekakSedj indiSini - masin a i g a n. | 

 [Four lines quotation in Latin and 

 French.] | [Sealof the Oblates.] | 



Moniang [Montreal] : | takSabikick- 

 ote endatc John Lovell | 1866. 



Title as above verso imprimatur of vie. gen. 

 Truteau 1 1. text pp. 3-64, 18°. Catechism in 

 the Mpissing language. 



The catechism proper begins on p. 16, the 

 preceding pages being occupied with the alpha- 

 bet, scripture lessons, numerals, etc. The last 

 two pages (63-64) also contain hymns. 



For a reprint of pp. 3-15, see Gu6guen (J, P.) 



This work is erroneously entered under 

 D^ldage (F, R.) on p. 109 of this catalogue. 

 P^re Lebret writes me concerning it as follows: 



"As to the catechism you mention, I would 

 say that the author of the earlier edition [Ni- 

 hima ?J was one of the Sulpitians of Montreal. 

 "When I re-edited it in 1866 I changed it some- 

 what and added something to the body of the 

 work itself, and particularly to the hymnal 

 verses at the end of each lesson, which are as a 

 recapitulation of the whole lesson ; also the 

 hymns at the end, and the a, b, c and priftiary 

 reading lessons at the beginning." 



Copies seen : Fames, Pilling, Powell. 



[ ] L. J. C. et M, I. I Niina | aiaraie 



masinaigan | ou | recueil de prieres | et 

 de I cantiques | a Fusage des sauvages 

 de Temiscamiug, d'Abbitibi, | dn Grand 

 Lac, de MataBan et du Fort William | 

 [Oblate seal.] ] 



Moniang [Montreal]: | takSabikic- 

 kote endatc John Lovell. | 1866. 



Picture of a cross verso blank 1 1. title as above 

 verso approval of A. F. Truteau, vie. gen. 1 1. 

 text in the Cree language with headings in 

 Latin and French pp. 5-272, 1 1. containing a 

 woodcut on the recto and errata (three lines) 

 on the verso, contents (numbered even on rectos 

 and odd on versos) pp. 274-277, 12°. A compila- 

 tion from different authors by P6re Lebret. 



Prayers, pp. 5-28.— Prayers for the mass etc. 

 pp. 28-98.— Hymns, pp. 98-272. 



Copies seen : Pilling, Yale. 



The Brinley copy, no. 5659, sold for $2.25. 



Some copies of this work differ in collation 

 from the above; pp. 97-128 have been reprinted 

 on slightly different paper, with signature 

 marks 7 and 8 instead of G and H. Pages 257- 

 272, the leaf with the woodcut and errata, and 

 the table of contents, are also reprints, without 

 signature marks. The table of contents is cor- 

 rectly paged 275-278. (Fames. Laval, Pilling, 

 Powell.) 



