Mr. Carver's Vocabulary will, in many instances, be found to differ from the Chippeway;[1] but when it is considered that though he calls it the Chippeway Vocabulary, in p. 414 of his work, he says "The Chippeway, or Algonkin," which [x] evidently proves that he believes them the same language:—but with regard to the usefulness of the tongue, there is a perfect corroboration of sentiment; for he remarks that the Chippeway tongue appears to be the most prevailing of all the Indian languages.
It may not be amiss to observe, that the Chippeway tongue, as spoken by the servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, is somewhat different, though not essentially so, and is called by them the Home-Guard Language.
With regard to the Iroquois, or Mohawk tongue, which is peculiar to the Five and Six Nation Indians, it is not necessary in the fur trade beyond Michillimakinac; and if it were, there are not wanting printed authorities sufficient to instruct:—this consideration has induced me to give only the numerals, and a few words in the language.
I have not any thing further to add, but a sincere wish that my labours may prove useful to the world; and that whatever defects may be found in the following work, the Public will look on them with candour; and will recollect that they are perusing, not the pages of a professed Tourist, but such observations as a commercial man flatters himself may be found acceptable to the merchant and the philosopher.
- ↑ Jonathan Carver, one of the earliest American explorers of the Northwest, was born in 1732, and served in the French and Indian War, barely escaping from the massacre of Fort William Henry. In 1766, he went to Mackinac, and thence through Wisconsin and Minnesota, and later explored Lake Superior. His Travels were first published in London in 1778, and two years later he died there in destitute circumstances. For further details see Wisconsin Historical Collections, vi, pp. 220-237. Carver gives an account of Indian manners and customs; chapter 17, devoted to language, includes a Chippewa vocabulary.—Ed.
