Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-30
INDIAN CURIOSITIES
Queer Aboriginal Books Contained in an
Ethnologist's Library.
The Origin of Printing Books for the
Indians, With Interesting Facts
About Aphabets and Dialects.

Perhaps the most remarkable small IL
brary in this country is the property of
James c. Pilling. the well-known ethnolo-
gist of Washington. 1t Is the largest ex-
listing collection of books in Indian lam
guages. and of these languages there are
no less than fifty-five In North America
Forth Of Mexico. All of them are distinct
tongues, as different from one another as
Chinese and English.
sa More than one-half of the 500 dialects
into which the flfty-five languages referred
! TO are divided are preserved In books.
It Is believed that the FIRST book printed
on this continent was In an Indian Ian
guage-the ''Nahuatr'-pubnshed at the
City Of Mexico in 1889. The first Bible
printed in America was In an Indian
tongue-the celebrated Eliot Bible. This is
one Of the most costly Of all rare books.
About forty copies OF IL were specially
prepared with q dedication to Charles III.
One Of these in good condition. is now
worth about 5000.
The first printing done west Of the
Rocky mountains was in the Nez Perez
language. 1t was q primer for Indian chill
dren. turned out from the mission press
at Clearwater. Idaho. In 1899. The press
that did the work had been brought by the
~ oAA ehO Woy AEOin lie f1dW dllell
Islands.
The first book printed In Dakota was a
dictionary OF the Sioux language, produced
In 1866 at Fort Laramie. 1t was prepared
by two officers OF the United States army,
I.ieuts. Hyde and Starring, TO pass away
the weary hours during a long and cold
winter at that lonely outpost Of civilization.
They were aided in the work by an inter-
prefer and by the Indians who loafed about
the fort. The type was set I'D by the sol
diers, and fifty copies were struck off on a
crude hand press. Only two copies are now
S Si one OF them belonging to Gen.
author. and the other to Mr.. Pilling.
The Cherokee Alphabet.
The only existing alphabet that is the pro-
duct of one mans mind and In which a
literature has been Printed was the inven-
ton Of half-breed Cherokee Indian dis
Lame was Se-Quo-yah. and he had no edu-
cation whatever; but it occurred TO him that
he could express all the syllables In the
Cherokee tongue by characters. Finding
that there were eighty-six syllable sounds ln
the language he devised for each one of
them a peculiar mark. For some OF the
marks he took characters of our own alpha
bet, turning them upside down. With these
symbols he set about writing letters and
by means OF them a correspondence was
Soon maintained between Indians of his race
In Georgia and their relatives JOo miles
away.
At present this alphabet-or, more prop
eriy speaking. syllaoary-is in general use
among the Cherokees. In no other language
can the art OF reading be learned so quickly.
Whereas fairly bright child learns To read
well In English in two and q half years, a
cherokee youngster Is able to acquire fiu-
ency In reading books written in this sylla-
barry within two months and half. In ISL
the American board of foreign missions de-
frayed the cost of casting a font Of type of
n n OF ~ l4.
with them is now very extensive, numerous
books and some Of the newspapers of the
Cherokees being published in the syllabary.
By Squares and Circles.
Later. in 1s40. an improved syllabary was
devised by the Rev. James Evans, a mis-
sionary among the Crees. 1t was phonetic,
and the characters were simpler, being
composed Of squares and parts OF squares
and circles and parts OF circles. The jealous
clergyman cut his type out OF wood ana
made castings from the original blocks with
lead from tea chests. which he begged from
orf1cers OF the Hudson Bay Company. He
manufactured ink out of SCOT and on a hand
press Of his own construction printed many
little tracts and leaflets for the benent of
the Indians. With some notifications his
Characters have come into general use NOT
only among the Crees, but also among many
tribes OF the northwest which speak Lam
guages in no wise akin to that of the Crees
and scores OF books have been printed in
them.
In the Chinook Jargon.
The queerest periodical in existence is a
weekly now published by a French priest
at kamloops. British Columbia. 1t is called
the kamloops Wa-wa, which means writ
ing" and is in the Chinook jargon. This
jargon is a sort of international speech,
composed Of half dozen different Indian
tongues. mixed with fragments OF English,
French and German. 1t is the language Of
trade Intercourse among all the people Of
the sparsely settled northwest as far as