62 F. V. Hay den on the Mandan Indians, with 



plain, that, although they possess all the characteristics of the 

 North American Indians, they present a somewhat peculiar and 

 superior type of the race. The notion that at one time pre- 

 vailed, that they were of Welch origin, has long smce been 

 exploded and it is hardly necessary to allude to it in this con- 

 nection. Although remotely connected, we think there is suffi- 

 cient ground for the inference that the Mandan language is a 

 dialect of the Dakota stock. This was the opinion of Mr. (ral- 

 latm although he was unable to make the proper Comparisons. 

 These I shall endeavor to make in detail at some future time. 

 In the summer of 1855 I made a few observations m regard to 

 the grammatical structure of this language, an abstract of which 

 may be of some interest to those w^ho are curious in sucn 



I. Nouns. 



1. With few exceptions, Mandan nouns have both a singular and plural 

 form, as is shown by their termination: as, a-pe, a leaf, a-plsh, leaves; 

 ma-he, a weed, nia-hosh, weeds ; si, a feather, ^\-\ih, feathers. 



2. The gender of nouns is indicated by the use of different words to 

 express the sex : as, nu-man-ke, a man ; mi-he, a woman ; he-ro-ke, a 

 hull, ptinde, a cow, ni-ka, a calf 



3. The case of a noun is known by its position in a sentence. 



II. Adjectives. 



4. Adjectives always follow the nouns which they describe : as, mi-he- 

 shi-na-shush, a handsome woman ; nat-kan-ka-sish, a hard heart. 



5. The numeral adjectives of the cardinal kind are as follows : 

 1, m4h-a-na. 13, a-ga-na-me-ni. 



1, ku- 



ia. 





19, a-ga-mdh-pe. 



8, te-tuk e. 





20, nu'm-pa-pi-rah. 



9, mal 



r 





21,nu'm-pa-pl-ra-ka-ro.m&h-a-na. 



10, pi-r 





30, n4-me-ni-am-pi-ra-k5sh. 



-mal 



-a-na. 



40, to-pa-pi-ra-kosh. 



Ik a| 





i-pa. 



50, keh-un-am-pi-ra-kosh. 



* In the 



'Cont 



ributions 



a plan of orthographv has been adopted, correspcndi 



as closely a. 





ble with the one prepared by the late Prof. W. W. Tamer tor i 



"Allthe'v" 



Insti 





ontinental sound, as a in father, e in face, i in marine 





Sd 



^'^i.el' 



weHs sLrtl^^Excl'p'uons *tS \hl r^enfaJk 'Irr'indir-d 









long, as in note when followed by a consonant. G \ 

 go.l when preceded by a vowel has the guttural sou 

 r Arabic ehain, n is sounded as in theFrench word bo 



EiE 



bard s 



Tf t ' 



The above 



remaikT are all that afe needed for the pronunciation of the Maud 



language. 









