Chapter II

BOOKS AND TRANSLATIONS IN THE VARIOUS DIALECTS OF THE ALGONQUIN.

Of all the groupes of the Indian language in America, the various dialects of this stock have furnished the most inviting and best cultivated field for the translator and philologist. The French, during their early and long occupancy of the Canadas, gave great prominence to the various tribes speaking dialects of this groupe. In proportion as the principles of the languages have been investigated, the circle of the affinities of the Algonquins has been found to be extended wider and wider. It is to be traced from the ancient Powhatanic tribes of Virginia, northward and eastward along the Atlantic coast to, and beyond the Gulf of St. Lawrence, reaching to, and beyond the utmost limits of this stream at the source of the Mississippi, and descending its eastern or left bank to the junction of the Ohio, and thence to the Atlantic. From this great circle of occupation, embracing the present area of sixteen of the States, the several branches of the Iroquois, embracing the Wyandot and the Winnebago dialect of the Dacota, are the only exceptions of modern date.

In the investigation of the dialects of this important groupe, fifty-five printed works have been received, of which, twenty-eight are in the Odjibwa or Chippewa dialect, ten in the Ottawa, seven in the Pottowattomie, one in the Mohegan, one in the Montagnais, three in the Delaware, three in the Shawanoe, and one in the Abenaki. More than three-fourths of the whole number of the numerous tribes of this stock, are thus far, unrepresented by translations of the Scriptures; a species of evidence of the affinity of tribes which, as it is founded upon a fixed and accurately divided standard, affords one of the best general means of comparison. It is desirable, therefore, to collect all that has been, or may be done in this branch of literature, not only respecting the Algonquin groupes, but also in relation to each of the other groupes of our Aboriginal languages.