Travels in North America. 115 



iig tlie Affinity of their Languages. I lhall be able to fpea k 

 wjth more Certainty, when I have been among them. F or 

 the reft, the greateft Part of the Algonquin Nations, excepting 

 thofe which are more advanced towards the South, employ them- 

 felves bur little in cultivating the Lands, and live almoft wholly 

 upon Hunting and Fifhing ; fo that they are not fixed to any 

 Place. Some *-f them allow Plurality of Wives ; yet, far from 

 multiplying, they decreafe every Day. There is not any one of 

 thefe Nations that confiils of fix thoufand Soujs, and fome no 

 .of two thoufand. 



Th& Hurcn Language is not by far fo extenfive as the Algon^ 

 r\r L -p >f.i ^ auin : The Reafon of which is, without 

 Vf the F copie of that the People who fpeak it have 



the nxivon Lan- ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Algonquins : \ fay 



the Huron Language, in Conformity to the 

 common Opinion ; for fome maintain that the Iroquois is the 

 Mother Tongue. Let that be as it will, all the Savages which 

 are to the South of the River St, Laurence, from the River Sorel 

 to the End gf the Lake Erie, and even pretty near Virginia, be- 

 long to this Language : And Vv'hoever underftands the Huron^ 

 underftands them all. The Dialeéls are indeed extremely mul- 

 tiplied, and there are almoft as many as there are Villages. The 

 live Cantons which compofe the Iroquois Commonwealth, have 

 each their own Language ; and all that was formerly called 

 without any Diftindlion the Huron, was not the fame Language. 

 I cannot find out to what Language the Cherokees belong, a 

 pretty numerous People, v/hich inhabit the vaft Meadows which 

 are between the Lake Erie and the Mijfiffippi, 



But it is worth while to obferve, that as the greateft Part of 

 the Savages of Canada have at all Times been converfant with 

 each other, fometimes as Allies, and fometimes as Enemies, al- 

 though the three Mother Tongues which I have fpoken of, have 

 no Manner of Affinity or Agreement with each other, thefe 

 People have nevertheleis found Means to treat together without 

 the Help of an Interpreter: Either that long Cuftom makes 

 it eafy to underftand each other by Signs, or that they have 

 formed a Kind of common Jargon, which they learn by Ufe.— * 

 I have juft received Notice that I muft embark : I ihall iinifh 

 this Article at my firft Leifure, 



I anty Sec. 



Q^z LETTER 



