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Show 42G Ex. Doc. No. 41. out his arrnlds of bras., anll braccl('ts of bras~:,, and Lhe broad maFise~ of b(•ads that garnished his l('ggins and hi. tomahawk, with its hclH· :tuclded wi1h brass tacks, ancl the long queue ekecl out with braidt'd hor. c hair. He askc1l my permission to introduce his wif<• and childrrn, an1l one Indian after another aclded l1imse1£ lo thE' spectators, , o that I soon had a room full. Thcst• Indians, like those of all the tribes J have met with, pride thcmsclvt•s upon the antiquity of their origin. Like the Arcadi ans of olcl, who hoastt•cl that they were "PpoO'E'-'lvo£," born before the moon was nrat<'d, nn<l, 1ikt• pcopl<• of modern days, who trace their origin l)ack until th("y bc<'Om<' mistified . These Indians talk of their having d<•sccnded from nations that lived long, long ago, and who c:anH• a long, long way to the north; <•nrleavoring to give force to thr id<·a, of the 1 rngth of the tim c, and of the distance, b) placing their hand.· elo 'e togetlH·r, and then moving them lowly asund(•r; so I ow I y that thry c;;c(•m as if they wou lrl never corn pI ete the gr~turr. In the a~lt·rnoon ~'lr. McGofJin arrivc(I; he had been :36 dnys on the road st n ce It· a vmg In d <·pen den ce, Missouri, and has a train of 25 Wflgon~. September 3.-Add<·d two morf' plants to my collection-the ""Yeronia fa~irulata," and the "rlietria. coropifo1ia." In the eve nmg, Mr. Marrellu.~ • .'t. Vrain arrived from Captain Walker'. camp above us. 11 c ~aiCI that the antelopp wen' abundant, and there were also some ~.le<.•r; bu.t the sand flies so annoyed the peoplr up th~rc·, that, n?hvtthstandmg the abundance of the game; they had enJoyed but ltttl<' plt· a~ure in huuting. September 4.-ThiR morning I obtain<·d a fine specimen of the Arkan aR ~ha~l. Th.ey are often caught of a large siz<'; this one measur(•tl 17 n~cheR m length. About noon, Mr. Nours(• brought me som' .-penm<•ns of" selenite·" the people of the fort burn it an<1 u. c 1. t to w ll'l .tnva~ 11 walls. ' 1 also obtained some ery~tals of' q.uartz. Our Indtan fncnds ar? ye.t loitf'ring about the fort, imposmg upon the traders the obltg<'tiOn of feeding them which the latter a:c under th n(•ccs ·ity of doing, or else Iod• tlH~ furs that the Indt<HlH may obtain in the falL In the. evening anoth<·r voluutecr (lied, and was buri<·<l. They were obltg<'d to CO\'<'r the g~av<·s with priekly pear, or rocks, to prcv~nt th~ .":olvrs from tearwg the bodi~s out of the ground. ~~ some place~ <dong th< Arkansas, the Indtans place th<.'ir corpses In trees, out of thP rcaeh of llu wolf, and the whites would do wcJI to a d o p t t b (' sa m " p I a n . The wrath<•r is now becoming ext rem ely colrl. La, t night we lhoawd aas 2v5<°•r.y severe frost, and this morning the tht•rrnometer was as Satur.day, ,_c.,1<'pt~mbu 5.-~'::i my room WHR full of Chcy<·nnrs, I took th< or~poit.uruty to obtain some knowlcdtr<' of the g<·nius and structure oi theH langu:tge. I found the F;ngli~J1 alphab<·t sufficient to rcpres<·nt all the sounds th<·y utter, and at once s<'l myself to ~orJc to construct a vocabu~ary of th .. ir language. I had the NSSistance of OIH' of th<• best tnterpreters in thP country Ex. Doc. No. 41 . 427 . . 1 d one of the most diffic-ult o~ any of Their language 1 . ctn~t.< cr~ribt•s but the <lifficulty is cln~fly clue those spoken by out . rH t.m, of' sw·tllowing the last syllable of to the habit t h c 1 n d tans lllt v c . . ~ u 1 d h'u d 1 y n o t i e c the 1 as t every word, .o that manrli~<t·r.ol~~~ ~ltCtn})tiJ~O' to Hpca1 the Chey- 1 bl t therefor<' onn 1 w < b 1 . syl a c, an< . not under tood by the In< tans. enne language, and ,He } ,·r substantives arc nearly as numcr?us They have no articles; t ~~ 1 ()nerally t.lcnotcd by pHfixmg as ours. Plurality. and unl~~r~fna~ions~ as, vo-vote, an egg; vonumbtrs, ant.l somctuncs hy h < nl'y one nurnher, or rather vo-tttt ·, ()ggs. Tl , . pronouns ave o l . f ll H lT Tl . merical terms are >caull u y they arc of both numbers. . .leu. nu .. ed by a different name, 1 f the <ltgJts •s ~xpi ess th arranged, cac lone o l b flixing certain t rmination to e and the ten~ n rP c ' JH ssN y a 1 lligit . I· The numh<' rs iHC thu~ <'Xpr<>sse< . Nast, one. Nah-tod-toc -ot e-nah, Nish, two. three. Ne-so, Nab, Ne- ·o-ote-na~t, Knave, four. do None, ftve. Nab-so-to, SIX. NN a-vo, Ne-~w- to, ·even. e-vo, 1 o-no, N h to i.g lt. a -no· ' a-so-to-no, t OltH'. Mo -ho ,t t t(•n. c-so-to-no, Maa h--too tc<· '-' o te-n a~t, c 1e ven. N~ a-no-to-no, Mah-to-1, otc-ni. s 1 t 1 c o-to-no, l, we v . one hundred. Mah-to-to-no, thirteen . clo twenty. twenty-one. <lo thirty forty. fifty . sixty. seventy eighty. ninety . They express tl10usands b y ,s o m'·(m y h&u ndreds; as 10, 20, or 30 hundreds for l ,000, 2,000, .or 3,000, <~~~tiv~~ ar CX]Hess<·d by ~rc- Their degrees of companson of a J. . liminution. the aclJCC- . · r. t f ·tugrnentat10n 01 t ' • • fixing words c:Ign•••<·•m o • Tl bs lnve all the pnnctpa1 tivc itself remain, unch <~nged. lel vcr '\S 111.<' subJ'<•ct or subjects times, but are on 1Y usee1 t one num >cr, ', rc. • tl 11 1 r t' ldlon of number suuH'Ien Y to which the verb b? longs ,rent c~ < ts ~} , the verb. They h~ v.c. all ~"Xact without varymg th< num ~r to the languages of Clvthz~d the other parts of ~p<'l'l' h bel ohnglllgl , ccies 0 f words that wtll nations· but their nouns arc .t el) ~n Y spTl~c Ch<·y<·nnP is far from '>car a c' ompan· ~on.· m a llll('flC'l Vl<.'W · S U\ . . ' f ssing abstract ideas. orne being ddh·ient in tts C'ap<dHllty. 0 cxp~\' without gesture, because persons. think that it ~o1.~ld ~><' uic~IDJBute I havt• b<·er~ assured t~at the Indtans us' gu;tl.ll c t onstant Yf b 1 · forth any Hlca to wh1ch the language is in ~tself c·apablc 0 O< ywg one may wi ·h to gtvc utterance. . 1 1 ·s in the daily study of From this day forth I spent sev_craf 1~~~ an clt'ID<'nlary gram-his language and hacl suc·ccede<l m on Jg ·s in Det ember an<l mar; but, on 'm y W.l lltcr ..J OUrne y ha' ckT nt o fact.t i.JtO w\lla s' with great <r ffi 1 - February, these paprrs were los~. tl t' I ha<l collected. I have, culty I managed to sav~ anyt ~u~gllo~ing vocabulary from letters however, been able to foun tht o |