The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-12-12
Literary Notices.

The Publishers Of SlrtaiS's Magazine,
have sent us their latest Number, which.
seems to be as rich in embellishments as any
of the proceeding numbers. Charles En-
felt, is agent at ST. Paul, under Mazourka
Hall. The engraving representing Gutten-
berg showing to his daughter the first i'm
preston from his printing press, is alone
worth double the subscription price, aud
should be hung in the abode Of every man
connected with the printing press.
The second number of the Dakota law
axitku Kin or Dakota Friend has been laid
upon our table. Every well wisher to the
Dakota Tribe, hopes that paper, dis,rib-
uted monthly among those Of the nation
who can read, may excite desire to read
among others, and that the time may speedily
come, when the children will read aloud in
the teepee 10 the old warriors reclining upon
Their buffalo robes around the fire.
Still if no good grows out of the issue of
the paper to tho tribe, the publication of
this little sheet is not useless. The first
Bible ofany kind that was printed in Amer
lea, was printed by Eliot, the first Protes.
tant Missionary among the aborigines,
for the use Of the Indians at Nonan-
tum, the present town of Newton in Mas
sachusetts. If our readers will please now
to hold their jaws SO that they viii not
break, we will give the title page to this
version of the scriptures.
"Mamusse Wunneetupapata,nwe Up
biblum God, Naneeswe Nukkonc Tesla
ment kah wonk Wu-kku Testament.
The tribe for which this Bible was pre-
pared by him of whom Edward Everett has
said ga nob!er, truer and warmer spirit has
never lived since the death of the apostle
Paul." have faded from the earth; more,
tho good it appeared to do the indians did
not compensate for the toll bestowed upon
it. yet it was far from being useless book.
Though the language in which it was writ
ten is no longer spoken; though as it has been
well remarked, "it has acquired the venera-
bic appearance Of an ancient and sealed
book; and when we turn over its pages, those
long and harsh words seem like the mystic
rious hierogiyphics in some time hallowed
temple of old Egypt" yet it has in the
nineteenth century drawn forth encomu,us
from Pickering and other distinguished
phlologists, and given clue to the struc-
ture of the unwritten languages of savage
nations.
Heckewetler, pious Indian Missionary,
published a treatise on the language ofthe
Delaware Indians and other tribes IN Penn
sylvania, and bis work is now looked upon
with interest by the American Philosophical
Society, and was often referred to hy
the late, learned Peter Duponceau and
SO far from becoming useless, becomes
every day, more valuble book.
So the Dakota Friend may possibly not
be of any service to the Indians, but years
hence when the Minnesota valley shalt be
the abode ofscience, industry, and wealth.
the structure of the language, the legends
aud historical facts brought to light by
these Missionaries, in this monthly, viii he
valued, and long after they have inouldered
in the graves their names will be fragrant,
as men who while toiling with an eye single
to the present Improvement oftbe Dakota
have unwittingly conferred benefit upon
the future historian and phi!ologist. Those
little encouragement as yet, still they are
not down hearted; they appear 10 have
engraven on the palms of their hands
and 10 read every day, the memorable sen
tencc at the end Of John Eliot's Indian
Grammar. "Praycr, and pains through faith
in Christ Jesus, can do V'ything"