But further, I think there is the greatest reason to believe, from the account which she gives of the language of her country, that she is originally of Huron race, or at least, of a nation speaking the Huron language, the use of which, we know, is very wide spread over all the continent of North America. This appears from the account of that language given us by two authors, who have both furnished us with a sort of grammar and dictionary of the language. The one is Gabriel Sagat, a recollect of the order of St. François, who was the first ecclesiastic that went among the Hurons about the year 1630. His book is exceeding rare, and not to be found anywhere, so far as I know, except in the French King's library. The other is an author better known, namely, the Baron La Hontan, who travelled a great deal in North America, and appears to have studied very diligently, both the language, and the manners of the inhabitants. These two authors both agree, that the Hurons have no use of labial consonants, such as B, P, M, &c. and La Hotan says, that they never shut their lips in speaking; and he says that he has employed four days in endeavouring to teach a Huron the pronunciation of our labial letters, but to no purpose.—[1]Gabriel Sagat says, that they could not pronounce the G, which is a lingual consonant,
and
- ↑ La Houtan's memoirs, vol. 2d, p. 219.
