To Baron Humboldt
Feb. 24. 1824.Sir,
I take the liberty to send you the present letter by one of my young countrymen,
Mr. Theodore R. Jenks, a son of the
Rev.d William
Jenks, of Boston; his father
is one of our most profound philologists, particularly in the Oriental
Languages, and is the same gentleman to whom I am indebted for one of the
specimens of the Mohegan Language published in my edition of
Edwards’s Observations
. May I be
permitted to have the honour of presenting to you Mr. Jenks’s son to you, so far as I may be allowed
to have any claim on your attention in this respect.
I wait with much impatience for your Memoir on the Difference
between the Grammatical Forms of the cultivated & the barbarous
Languages. I am eagerly anticipating its arrival in the course of
the present spring.
I avail myself of this opportunity to send you a few sheets of a Grammar of the Cherokee (or, Tsullakée) Language, which is now
printing under my direction by the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The work has cost me much
labour (amidst the constant engagements of business) but it will be quite
imperfect. Yet, imperfect as it may be found, it will, prese if I am not mistaken, present several new & striking facts
in Indian Philology. I shall send you the remaining sheets of the work as fast
as they are printed.Der Druck dieser
Grammatik des Cherokee von Pickering blieb ein Fragment und wurde nach 48
Seiten eingestellt; siehe Sylvain Auroux (Hrsg.) (2011): Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin u. a.: De Gruyter,
S. 1911. [FZ]
You will permit me to mention, that on the 14th of February 1823, I did myself the
pleasure to address a long [letter](446) to you
accompanied with a small packet of books & maps papers relative
to the Indian languages: I hope they were duly received.
Some months after I had sent mine, I was favoured with your [letter](509) of the
9.th of april
, in which you
acknowledge the receipt of D.r Morse’s Report on Indian
Affairs. I am happy to learn, that this last work has been found
useful in your researches.
I am &.c
Salem, Massachusetts
Feb. 24, 1824.