Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 2).djvu/67



Savages of this nation are of the Chippeway tribe, and speak a mixture of the Iroquois and Chippeway tongues: they were driven from the upper country at the time of the great Indian war, about the year 1720, and settled on the Lake of the two Mountains. There are about two hundred inhabitants, who are very industrious, and cultivate the land in the manner of the Cahnuagas; they also breed cattle, and live in a degree of civilization unknown to most of the Chippeway tribes. There is also a town near Lake Erie, in the limits of the United States, which is inhabited by about fifteen hundred of this nation, of whom the Reverend Mr. Charles Beattie gives a very favourable account.

Since the settlement of the Connecedagas they have intermarried with the Cahnuaga, St. Regis, and Mohawk Indians, which is the reason why their language is less pure, though some of them speak the original tongue, which in my frequent communications with the Chippeways beyond Michillimakinac, I found in every respect perfectly understood. It was among these Indians that I first acquired the rudiments of a language which, from long habit, is become more familiar to me than my own; and I hope I shall not be accused of vanity, in asserting that the vocabulary and familiar phrases, subjoined to this {26} work, are more copious than will be found in any former publication. In spelling them I have been particularly careful in using such letters and accents as best express the Indian words, according to our pronunciation. To lay down general rules for the orthog