Note 256 — I. VOCABULARIES OF SOME OF THE TRIBES OF NORTHWESTERN AMERICA, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE

I am indebted to the untiring patience of Mr. Kipp, who is thoroughly familiar with this language, for this extensive vocabulary which I wrote down with the help of several Mandans. My attempt at a grammar, as I have already said, was interrupted by illness. Mr. Gallatin (ibid., p. 125) includes the Mandans with the Minnitarris; but he had no vocabulary of their language and could, therefore, in no wise form a correct judgment. The signatures to the treaty which he mentions (pp. 125 and 379) were translated into the Minnitarri language because of the lack of a Mandan interpreter. This is shown clearly from the words matsa (man) and lahpeetzee, or lachpitzi (bear), both of which are pure Minnitarri words. I hope by means of the following examples of the Mandan language to refute many of the errors regarding this people which were formerly spread abroad.—Maximilian.

Comment by Ed. For a brief biography of James Kipp, see our volume xxii, p. 345, note 319.