San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-11-06
AN INDIAN LANGUAGE.
That of the Six Nations Has an Al
phabet Of Forty Eight Letters.

phabet of Forty-Eight Letters.
PhiologistJ \. b. Hewitt, of the
Bureau of American Ethnology, will
leave here i'm Il few days for novel
expedition of study, to be made in
the Grand River Reserve, seventy
miles west of Buffalo, on the Cana
dian side. In this reserveare COM
bined the odd tribes known as the
Six NatiOns-the confederation of In
dams composed of the Oneidas, Mo-
hawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, Sene-
cas- and Tusacroras. Mr.. Hewitt, by
applying a novel system will make
dictionaries and grammars of these
Indian languages, and by aid of these
data will make an interesting Eng
liSh translation of the bible of the
Six Nations, recording their strange
pagan beliefs concerning the creation
and early history of the world. Al
though more civilized than most In
dams. those of the Six Nations have
never before been studied ethnologi-
cOlly. Mr.. Hewitt will live" Indian
with the big chiefs, and will take
elaborate notes upon all that they tell
him. He can speak eight Indian Ian
guages, and has a knowledge of prac-
tically every language of the Old
World. He is preparing to carry with
him a photograph, which will pre-
serve for him the words and sentenc-
eS which he will study. He will ask
the talkative Indians TO speak very
distinctly into the machine. and will
afterward grind out each word slow
ly and carefully, noting each syllable,
accent and infection. Reliable inter
prefers will supply the literal trans
latiOns to every sentence. Since no
American tribe except the Mayas has
ever had awritten language, the phil
OlOgist must rely entirely upon his
ears for the correct arrangement of
sound.
For recording each sound in its or
iginal tone of utterance he will use a
special alphabet of forty-eight char
acters. besides many additional signs
for modified tones. For rapidity and
accuracy of work he has had made a
type writer. which writes Indian as
clearly as the ordinary type writer
writes English. In the places of the
keys operating the English types are
arranged others operating the English
sound letters. With this he will
write interviews with Indians, which
conversation when read will mean the
same to his eras as the original
when spoken. Mr.. Hewitt says that
in certain leXical processes the Ian
guage he will commence the prepare
vincial Latin in a general way.
When beginning with a strange Ian
guage he will commence theprepara-
ton of the dictionary and grammar
by inscribing as many simple sen
fences as possible. having each word
repeated again and again. Lists of
as many words as he can think of
will be collected with the English
equivalents following. They will af-
forwards be arranged alphabetically
and printed. A Tuscaroran dictiOn-
airy which the philolOgist lately pre-
pared contained about $4,000 words.
The different case endingS and other
modified forms for the grammars will
be collected by requiring the person
interviewed to us the same word in
many different cases, moods, lenses,
etc.
OF all the scattered Six Nations
about GO per cent. are still paganS.
who believe the ancient myths of
their ancestors as devoutly as the
most orthodox Christian believes the
story of the bible. The bible of the
Six Nations will combine the beliefs
of all the tribes These creeds virtu-
ally correspond, the six tribes having
descended from the same stock.
From a previous visit among several
of the tribes he brought back the pa
gan text of what may be called their
| Old Testament. This will be printed
| as the first part of their bible. The
New Testament will comprise the new
| pagan creed. an old mixture of my
thology and Christianity. The change
in the creed was brought about early
| in this century by a Seneca boy. the
| nephew of Chief Handsome Lake
The youth was educated in Spain,anC
returning to his uncle's wigwam for
brief vacation. proceeded to cOnVer
the old chief to the more credltabl'
story of the Christian bible. Before
having made his points sufficiently
clear the young man died. Handsome
Lake made use of the smatterlng o.
Christianity which he had acquired
and preached it among the people o
the Six Nations. The result was al
odd religion. taken bodily from TIT
Christian New Testament and color
ed Enthusiastically with the myths of TIT
original pagan creed.-Washlngtoi
Star.