26 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



inclosed in mounds, images, pottery, also the contents of ancient 

 shell beds found on the sea-coast and bays, often deeply covered with 

 earth and overgrown with trees; human remains, or implements of 

 human manufacture, bearing the marks of tools or of subjection to fire, 

 found in caves, beneath deposits of stony material formed by drop- 

 pings from the roof; similar articles in salt-licks, likewise in deposits 

 of sand and gravel, or such as evidently belonging to the drift period. 

 Among other desiderata mentioned are the names of tribes, geo- 

 graphical position, number of individuals, physical constitution, such 

 as stature, proportion of limbs, facial angle, color of skin, hair, and 

 eyes ; inscriptions, dress, food, dwellings, arts, trades, religion, 

 government, social life, ceremonies, mode of warfare, medicine, 

 literature, method of dividing time, history, &c. 



These directions also include a list of words most important to be 

 used in forming the vocabulary of a language. The pamphlet con- 

 sists of thirty-four pages, and is distributed gratuitously to all who 

 are desirous of aiding investigations of this character. 



No. 3 is a vocabulary of the principal words of which the 

 equivalents are desired in the languages of the American Indians. 

 It has been prepared with, great care by Mr. Gibbs after the usual 

 models, presenting in parallel columns the words selected in English, 

 French, Spanish, and Latin, leaving a blank column to be filled by 

 the required equivalents in the dialect of any given tribe. It forms 

 a pamphlet of eighteen pages, including two hundred and eleven 

 different words, and is printed on letter -paper, for convenience in 

 filling up the blanks. 



No. 4, the Chinook Jargon, is a collection of phrases made up 

 from various languages, Indian and civilized, and constitutes the sole 

 medium of communication with the Indian tribes of the northwest. 

 In 1853 the Smithsonian Institution published a brief dictionary of 

 this language, from a French manuscript presented by Dr. B. R. 

 Mitchell and edited by Professor W. W. Turner. The article was 

 in great demand, and the edition was soon exhausted. Mr. Gibbs, 

 having paid particular attention to the Jargon during his long resi- 

 dence in Washington Territory, kindly offered to prepare a new 

 edition with corrections and additions. This offer was readily ac- 

 cepted, and the dictionary has been published during the past year. 



The vocabulary of the Chinook contains words of two dialects, the 

 Chinook proper and the Clatsop, and perhaps also of the Wakiakum. 

 The nation or rather family to which the generic name Chinook has 

 been applied, formerly inhabited both banks of the Columbia river 



