language, under the auspices
of the present Pope, Gregory XVI. The translator is a French missionary,
who has long resided among those Indians in Canada. He has written a
grammar and dictionary of that idiom, which he writes me he is shortly
going to put to press. It will be curious to compare that grammar and
that dictionary with your own, and to see how far the two languages, the
Algonquin and the Chippewa, agree with or differ from each other. When I
was in Canada I heard much of this Mr. Thavenet, the name of that
missionary. He enjoys a great reputation in this country, and it seems
he has obtained the favor of the Pope.

"We have in this city a Mexican gentleman, Don Manuel Najera, a man of
letters, well skilled in the Mexican and other Indian languages of that
country. He says they are all, as I call them, polysynthetic, and
resemble in that respect those of the Indians of the United States. One
only he excepts, the Othomi, and that, he says, is monosyllabic, like
the Chinese. He has translated into it, from the Greek, the eleventh Ode
of Anacreon, which I am going to present to the Philosophical Society.
He has added grammatical notes, which are extremely curious. He has also
written in Latin, several interesting dissertations on other Mexican
idioms, also for the society, which I expect will be published in their
transactions, either in the original or in a translation. He is greatly
pleased with your specimen of a Chippewa grammar. He understands English
very well, also French, Italian, and, of course, his native Spanish.

"The philosophy of our Indian languages has become very fashionable
among the learned in Europe. The Institute of France has offered a
premium of a gold medal, of the value of 1200 francs, for the best essay
on the grammatical construction of the family of North American
languages, of which the Chippewa, the Delaware and Mohegan are
considered the principal branches, of course including the Iroquois,
Wyandot, Naudowessie, &c. The premium is to be awarded on the 1st of May
next. I would have informed you of it at the time, if it had not been
made a _sine qua non_ that the memoirs should be written in Latin or
French. I have, therefore, ventured on sending one, in which I have
availed myself of your excellent grammar, giving credit for it, as in
duty bound. I have literally translated what you say at the beginning of
your first and of your second lecture, which will be found the best part
of