New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-13
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

CONDO ZlIEBEs Little Dictionary OF Creole dfofJ in
Sci ctcd from six Creole DIALECTS Trans t in n.
to subjects ami Brief Remarks upon u'S New
IlIoms OF Lonsiamia By I.NFCADIo ntA"N' -'e"
York 1855. Will. II. Coleman Svo PIP AZ.
In q few predatory words Mr.. Hearn let's us INTO
the secret of the fantastic title which lie has given
IN this unique little box. "GOnbo Zhebes" Is
the Louisiana Creole for "gombo aux herDes.'
Many of the Engish.spcaking residents of Louisi-
ana also call the Creole patois "gomoo'" III
"Gombo Zhebes," therefore, We have punhlhe
title for book which is truly literary saima-
gundi of strange ingredients The appropriateness
of the title eDhanced by the discovery WHICH any
ono with some knowledge of French and the pro-
cesses by which dialects formed can MAKE that
many of the proverbs here coated derive much
piauancy from their ingenious play on verbs. Inc
book is as interesting it is unique, aud as con-
tribution to an interesting phase Of American folk
lore must be set down as outweghing WIN itS lew
pages many of the volumes of fiction with which
Mr. Cable has enriched the literature Of our time and
country. The truthfulncss of Mr.. Cables sketches
NAV be successfully attacked. but the cxpositions
which these proverbs give OF Tic social condition,
life views imagination, impulses moral ideas ana
crude philosophy of the Creole negroes OF Louisiana
and the Antilles cannot he questioned. Inc p-'pic
write their own histories. Mr.. Hearn has gone TO
work, as all who have read his other essays IN sim
liar departments OfcuriOus learning might nave OK
pected of him. In au admirable spirit. disclosing on
every page the union of an artists enthusiasm Win
a scientific investigators panstaking and subtety
in differentiation He does not claim to be original
in the matter of compilation, but frankly acknowl-
edges the help received from the earerlabors OF Pro-
fessor William Henry, the Hon. John Bgelow twho
published four articles Haytiaa proverbs In Hdr
pus Nagaziae in 1879, and half dozen French
writers whose works be cites i'll brief Creole Bib
biography prefxed to his own work. Ont OF hve
hundred Creole proverbs got together from various
sources in the dialects of French Guyana, Hayt,
Martinique, New Orleans Mauritius and Trinidad
he has classified and printed three hundred and
fifty. Nearly two-thIrds OF them are provided WIN
notes which reveal subtle study OF Creole pholol-
ogy and the customs, habits and beliefs which gave
rise to the quaint proverbs. BY providing French
translation as we'll as English one he has en-
abled all persons interested in such things to study
the processes by which degraded and enslaved
people have modified the language of their masters
and fitted 1t to their tastes and cOnvenlences It's
pity that few simple rules of pronunciation were
not appended so that all could see how the law OF
pcrmutation has gwen q smOothncss of flow and
righteousness of cadence to the patois which the
parent language could not boast. Mr.. Hcarns pur-
pose to have been as much to invite investl-
CATION the part of others to put at the service
of literary men and folkOrlsts the wit and wisdom
of the Creoies in an unimpeachabe form.