Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/61

 SECT. II.] ALGONKIN-EENAPE AND IROOJJOIS NATIONS. 25 the end of Champlain's Voyages, it is called Montagnar. The name, from the identity of language, was soon after extended to all the St. Lawrence Indians, as high up as Montreal. Those living on the Ottawa River were more specially distin- guished by the name of the Algonkins ; and the distinction between those two dialects, the Algonkin and the Montagnar, was kept up for some time, until the name of Algonkin pre- vailed. According to Charlevoix, the Nipissings were the true Al- gonkins. They are called in the First Relations, Nipissirin- iens, and lived on Lake Ni pissing, at the head of the Portage between the Ottawa River and the waters of Lake Huron. This is confirmed by Mackenzie, who states, that the inhabitants of that lake, about the year 1790, consisted of the remainder of a numerous tribe called Nipissings of the Algonkin nation. The difference, however, between the two dialects must have been very trifling. Father Le Jeune acknowledges, that it was with great difficulty that he learnt the Montagnar, and that he never became perfect in it. But in one of his letters, he says, " I was consoled in finding that the Nipissiriniens, the neighbours of the Hurons, understood my broken Montagnes (mon baragoin Montagues) . Whoever should know perfectly the language of the Quebec Indians would, I think, be under- stood by all the nations from Newfoundland to the Hurons."* And in another place he says that there is no greater difference between those two dialects than between those spoken in dif- ferent provinces of France. Notwithstanding the Father's mod- esty, it appears that he had discovered some of the principal characteristics of the language. He observes, f First, that different verbs are used according to the subject of the action ; for instance, that, instead of the verb nimitisson which signifies " I eat," another verb must be used if you spe- cify the thing which you eat. Secondly, that there is a difference in the verbs, according as the object is animated or inanimate ; though they consider several things as animated which have no soul, such as tobacco, apples, &c. Thus, says he, " I see a man," Niouapaman iriniou ; but if 1 say, " I see a stone," the verb is Niouabaten. More- over, if the object is in the plural number, the verb must also be put in the plural ; " I see men," Niouapamonet iriniouet.^ u I see them men." VOL. II. 4
 * Relations of New France, 1636. t Ibid. 1634.