The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-11-21
CURIOUS INDIAN o
Facts About Their Alphabets and Dia.
Iects.

\ BBCLB ABOUT InGlf AlDG0D6E8 anu OIDe
lects.
Perhaps the most remarkable small,
, library in this country is the property
| of James C. Pilling, the well known
et~hnologist of Washington. 1t is the
largest existing collection of books in
2 Indian languages, and of these Ian
guages there are no less than ffty-fvs
in North America, north of Mexico. All
Of them are distinct tongues, as differ
ent from one another as Chinese and
English.
More than half of the five hundred dia-
lects into which the fifty-fve languages
referred to are divided are preserved in
books. 1t is believed that the first book
printed on this continent was in the
Indian langaage-the "Nahuatl"-pub-
lished 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 it were specially prepared,
with a dedication to Charles II. One
of these, in good condition, is now
worth about 81, 900.
The first printing done west of the
Rocky mountains was in the Nez Perce
language. 1t was a primer for Indian
children, turned out from the mission
press at Clearwater, Ida, in 1889. The
press that did the work had been
brought by the missionaries all the
way from the Hawaiian islands.
The first book printed in Dakota was
a dictionary of the Sioux language,
produced in 1866 at Fort Laramie. It
was prepared by two officers of the
United States army, Lieuts. 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 up
by the soldiers, and fifty copies were
struck off on a crude hand press. Only
two copies are now known, one of them
belonging to Gen. Starring, of New
York, a brother of the author, and the
other to Mr.. Pilling.
The only existing alphabet hat is
the product of one mans mind and in
which a literature has been printed,
was the invention of a half-breed Cher
okee Indian. His nam was Se-ouo-
yah, and he had no education what.
ever; but it occurred to him that lie
could express all the syllables in the
Cherokee tongue by characters. Find
ing that there were eighty-six syllable
sounds in the language, he devised for
each one of them a peculiar mark.
From some of the marks he took char
acters of our own alphabet. turning
them upside down. With these SYM
bols he set about writing letters, and
by means of them a correspondence
was soon maintained between Indians
of his race in Georgia and their rela-
tives five hundred miles away.
At present this alphabet-or, more
properly speaking, syllabary-is in
general use among the Cherokees. In
no other language can the art of read.
ing be learned so quickly. Whereas o
fairly bright child learns to read well
in English in two and a half years, a
Cherokee youngster is able to acquire
fuencyin reading books written in this
sy1labary within two months and a
half. In 1927 the American board Of
foreign missions betrayed the cost Of
casting a font of type of the charac-
tiers. The literature composed with
them is now very extensive, numerous
books and some of the newspapers of
the Cherokees being published in the
syllabary.
Later, in 1910. an improved syllabary
was devised by Rev. James Evans, u
missionary among the Crees. IL was
phonetic. and the characters were sim
pier, being composed OF squares and
parts of squares and circles and parts
of circles. The Jealous clergyman cut
his type out of wood and made cast
ings from the original blocks with lead
from tea chests. which he begged from
officers of the Hudson Bay company.
on a hand press of his own construc-
ton printed many little tracts and
leaflets for the benefit 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
languages in no wise akin to that Of
the CreeS, and scores of books have
been printed in them.
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 writing" and is in the
Chinook jargon. This jargon is a sort
of international speech, composed of
half a dozen different Indian tongues,
mixed with fragments of English,
French and German. II is the language
Of trade intercourse among all the peo-
pie of the sIarsely settled northwest
as far as Alaska.
The mission field of the holy father
who publishes this periodical extends
over about five hundred square miles
Much of his time is Spent in making
long journeys between distant settle
nents, and during his pauses for rest
On the way ne amuses himself with
editorial work. The weekly is written
In three columns-the first column il
Iargon, the second in shorthand char
lcters and the third in English The
natter is current news of the mission,
sermons, prayers, etc. 1t is multiplied
by the mimeograph and distributed
among the priests widely scattered
parishioners- The paper on which the
printing is lone is blue. green. pink or
yellow, according to the taste of the
people who give it to the good father.