Note 236 — APPENDIX. (continued 4)

"It is remarkable that a red Indian should have been able to accomplish that which no civilized societies have accomplished during thousands of years. He had already attained to manhood when he invented an alphabet of his own language, having no knowledge of any other. The idea of writing Cherokee struck him on hearing several whites boasting of their superiority over the Indians, and adding that they could do many things which the red man never dared attempt, particularly in committing to paper a conversation, so as to make it understood by all, even in the most distant parts. He determined to try if it was not possible. At first he saw no other chance of executing his project than to make a sign or figure for every sound, which he partly learned by heart himself, partly gave to his own family to learn and remember; but, after working at it a whole twelvemonth, he found that the number of signs already amounted to several thousands, and that it was impossible to retain them in the memory. He now began to divide the words into parts, and then discovered that the same syllables might be applied to a variety of words. Exulting in this discovery, he continued his exertions with unremitting zeal, and directed his attention particularly to the sounds, and thus discovered at last all the syllables in the language. After working upon this plan for a month, he had diminished the number of sounds to eighty-four, of which the language at present consists. He first wrote them on sand, afterward cut out the signs in wood, and finished by printing them such as they now are in the Cherokee Phœnix."—Arfwedson's United States and Canada.