The special affinities of the Riccaree are not very decided. It is anything rather than an isolated language; and will, probably, be definitely placed when we obtain vocabularies of the Indian languages of Texas.

The Creek and Choctaw Languages.—That the question as to the affinity between the Creek and the Choctaw languages is a question of classification rather than of fact, may be seen from the Archæologia Americana, vol. ii. p. 405; where it is shown that out of six hundred words, ninety-seven are common to the two languages.

The Caddo.—That this language has affinities with the Mohawk, Seneca, and the Iroquois tongues in general, and that it has words common to the Muskoge, the Catawba, the Pawnee, and the Cherokee languages may be seen from the tables of the Archæologia Americana. The illustrations however of these languages are to be drawn from a knowledge of the dialects of Texas and the Oregon districts, tracts of country whereon our information is preeminently insufficient.

The Natchez.—This language has the following miscellaneous affinities, insufficient to give it a place in any definite group, but sufficient to show that it is anything rather than an isolated language.

The Uche, Adaize, &c.—See Archæologia Americana, vol. ii. p. 306. For these languages, tables similar to those of the Natchez have been drawn up, which indicate similar affinities. The same can be done for the Chetimacha and Attacapa.

New Californian Languages.—The dialects of this district form no exception to the statements as to the unity of the American languages. In the Journal of the Geographical Society (part 2. vol. ii.) we find seven vocabularies for these parts. Between the language of the diocese of San Juan Capistrano and that of San Gabriel, the affinity is palpable, and traces of a regular letter change are exhibited, viz. from l to r:

Between the remaining vocabularies, the resemblance by no means lies on the surface; still it is unquestionable. To these data for New California may be added the Severnow and Bodega vocabularies in Baer's Beiträge &c. These two last, to carry our comparison no further, have, amongst others, the following terms in common with the Esquimaux tongues:

The concluding notices are upon languages which have already been placed, but concerning which fresh evidence is neither superfluous nor misplaced.

Sacks and Foxes.—Cumulative to evidence already current as to the tribes of the Sacks and Foxes belonging to the Algonkin stock, it may be stated that a few words collected by the author from the Sack chief lately in London were Algonkin.

The Ojibbeways.—A fuller vocabulary, taken from the mouth of the interpreters of the Ojibbeway Indians lately exhibited, identifies their language with that represented by the vocabularies of Long, Carver, and Mackenzie.

The Ioway.—Of the Ioway Indians, Mr. Gallatin, in 1836, writes as follows:—"They are said, though the fact is not fully ascertained, to speak the same dialect," i. e. with the Ottoes. Again, he writes, "We have not that [the vocabulary] of the Ioways, but nineteen words supplied by Governor Cass seem to leave no doubt of its identity with the Ottoes."—Archæolog. Amer. ii. 127, 128. Cass's vocabulary is printed in p. 377.

In 1843, however, a book was published in the Ioway language, bearing the following title page, "An Elementary Book of the Ioway Language, with an English Translation, by Wm. Hamilton and S. M. Irvine, under the direction of the B. F. Miss; of the Presbyterian Church: J. B Roy, Interpreter; Ioway and Sac Mission Press, Indian Territory, 1843." In this book the orthographical principles are by no means unexceptionable; they have the merit however of expressing simple single sounds by simple single letters; thus v = the a in fall; x = the u in tub; c = the ch in chest; f = th; g = ng; j = sh. Q however is preserved as a double sound = qu. From this alphabet it is inferred that the Ioway language possesses the rare sound of the English th. With the work in question I was favoured by Mr. Catlin.

Now it is only necessary to pick out from this little work the words selected by Balbi in his Atlas Ethnographique, and to compare them with the corresponding terms as given by the same author for the Sioux, the Winebago, the Otto, the Konza, the Omahaw, the Minetare, and the Osage languages, to be convinced the Ioway language belongs to the same class, coinciding more especially with the Otto.

With the book in question Cass's vocabulary coincides.

ON A SHORT VOCABULARY OF THE LOUCHEUX LANGUAGE.

BY J. A. ISBISTER.

READ
BEFORE THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
JANUARY 25TH 1850.

This notice, being communicated by myself, and making part of the subject illustrated by both the papers that precede and the papers that follow, is here inserted.

The Digothe, or Loucheux, is the language of the North American Indians of the lower part of the river Mackenzie, a locality round which languages belonging to three different classes are spoken—the Eskimo, the Athabaskan, and the Koluch (Kolosh) of Russian America.

To which of these classes the Loucheux belongs, has hitherto been unascertained. It is learned with equal ease by both the Eskimo and Athabascan interpreters; at the same time an interpreter is necessary.

The following short vocabulary, however, shows that its more probable affinities are in another direction, i. e. with the languages of Russian America, especially with the Kenay of Cook's Inlet; with which, whilst the pronouns agree, the remaining words differ no more than is usual with lists equally imperfect, even in languages where the connexion is undoubted.