The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-26

American continent 1t was found that in widely scattered tribes there was a similarity of language that led to the belief that at some remote period they might have belonged to the same family, and become separated by migration. These various colonies or tribes were called stocks and when classified be- came groups. For long time it was un- decided in what group to include the Cherokee language, and at the request of the director of the bureau of eth nology," his report says, special at tention was given to the subject by number of the members of the bereau, and a comparative vocabulary was pre- pared. The examination of this led the director to adopt the conclusion that the language (of the Cherokee) does belong to the Iroquoian stock, and its literature has accordingly been incorporated herein"
 In this same copy >of the autobiography of the Iroquoian Language. Bureau of yEthnology, Smithsonian Institution, Wash- ington, Government Printing Office. 1858. 7 occurs the following: ''The languages most largely represented in these pages are the Mohawk and Cherokee. more ma terial having been published in these two than in all the others combined, and while the whole Bible has not been printed in Iroquois, the greater portion of it has been printed in both the Cherokee and the Mohawk. Of grammars, we have printed in Cherokee that of Gabelentz and the unfinished one of Pickering. Of Cher okee texts in Roman characters. but two will be found mentioned herein, both of them spelling books; the one by Buttrick and Brown, printed in 1S19, the other by Wofford, printed in 1924, both issued be- fore the invention of the Cherokee syl- labary."
 It should be explained here that it re- quired some time after the completion or his invention before the type could be cast for the printing of the new alphabet.
 The same Bibliography says: "To the Iroquoian perhaps belongs the honor Of being the first of our American families of languages to be placed upon record. AL any rate, 1t is the first of which we nave any positive knowledge, the vocabularies appearing In the account of Carriers sec ond voyage to America, published at Paris in 1545, antedating all other publi- cations touching this subject except the pseudo-Mexican doctrinae Christianae of 152S and 1539. It is probable, indeed, that printed record of some of Carriers i1n- guistics was made earlier than 1545. The second voyage, in the account Of which the vocabularies mentioned above ap-
 
 voyage in 1bs4. No copy of the first edition of the account of the first voy- age is known to exist; and although we can not fix the date of It's publication, 1t is fair to assume that 1t appeared previous to the account of the second voyage It is also fair to assume that 1t contained a vocabulary of the people of New France, as the first translation of 1t, appearing in Ramusio's Navigations and Voyages in 1556, does not contain such a vocabulary
 Among the stocks (tribes) belonging to the Iroquoian group were the Mohaws. Huron, Seneca, Tuskarora, Onondaga, lro- 1,lois and Cherokee. Some of these are the most noted Indian tribes mentioned Yin American history, as well as In TO-
 nance and poetry
 Tn the same Bibliography appears the following "Colophon: Cherokee Baptist Mission Press H. Upshaw, Printer. One sheet folio, in six columns followed by sounds represented by vowel and con sonant sounds"
 "The Cherokee alphabet, or more properly speaking. the Cherokee sylla- bary, was invented about the year lS2l by Se-quo-yah. a half-breed Cherokee. better known by his English name of Georre Guess. The earliest account 'f it Appears as an extract from the r port of the Prudential committee, in le Missionary Herald, February, IS l6. pages 47 to 4s, as follows: form of alphabetical writing, invented by Cherokee named George Guess, or Se- quo-ah, who does not 1peak English and was never taught to read English looks. is attracting great notice among the people generally.
 Ewing become acquainted with th c principle of the alphabet, viz: that marks can be made the symbol of sound, this entirely uninstructed man conceived the notion that he could ex- press all the syllables in the Cherokee language by separate marks or char.