APPENDIX. 



ADDITIONS TO THE VOCABULARIES, CONSISTING OF TEEMS NOT INCLUDED IN G. 

 GIBBS' LIST OF WORDS, AND OF A VARIETY OF PHRASES AND SENTENCES. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



The long list of 211 English words, which has served as- a guide for obtaining 

 Indian vocabularies during the last twenty years, is in its main features much older 

 than G. Gibbs' time, for printed lists embodying most of its terms were issued in the 

 form of circulars by the War Department as early as 1S04, and most of the vocabula- 

 ries published by Albert Gallatin were obtained from this source. If abstract terms 

 had been entirely rejected this old bst would have been even more useful than it has 

 really proved to be. 



The old list of words, as well as the more recent one of G. Gibbs, shows deficien- 

 cies which it is quite important to notice in order to judge correctly of the merits of 

 the present collection of forty vocabularies. Of the true character of the Indian lan- 

 guages, and of the great differences observed among the various Indian languages, 

 the originators of the lists had a very imperfect idea. They did not specify with ac- 

 curacy the terms to be submitted to the Indian informants, and, therefore, some 

 Indiau dialects closely related to each other strangely differ in the present collection 

 in some terms in which we expect them to coincide. Facts like these cannot be charged 

 to the word-collectors of the volume before us nor to their Indian informants. A few 

 examples will suffice to put this iu evidence : 



When asking for the terms bear, deer, rabbit, wolf, the investigator will get words 

 the real meanings of which he does not know ; what he obtains he will know only when 

 he inquires for black bear, cinnamon bear, grizzly bear; for white-tailed deer, blue- 

 tailed deer, mule-deer; for white, gray, jackass- and cony-rabbit; for gray wolf, 

 coyote or prairie-wolf. The same may be said of the majority of classes of animals ; 

 in inquiring for make, the word-collector usually gets the name of the snake species 

 must frecjuently found in the country visited. 



The vtord feather will convey no distinct meaning to some Indians unless asked 

 for tail-feather, wing-feather, or down. In maize the terms for the various portions of 

 the maize-stalk must be obtained separately. Most Indian languages have different 

 terms for clear sky and clouded sky, for the moon as a divider of time and the moon as 

 appearing in four different phases, for cold, lukewarm, warm, and hot, when referring to 

 the weather, and when said of animal temperature or the temperature of the water. 



Our term friend has no meaning to most Indians, unless you inquire for " com- 

 panion," or "one who goes with you, or him." The idea of warrior is obsolete now 

 among most tribes of the Pacific States. Valley as well as autumn are unknown in 



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