Ojibwas from Petoskey, Mich., told the writer that they had never heard of gesture language.  An interesting letter from Mr. B.O.  Williams, sr., of Owasso, Mich., explains the gradual decadence of signs used by the Ojibwas in his recollection, embracing sixty years, as chiefly arising from general acquaintance with the English language.  Further discouragement came from an Indian agent giving the decided statement, after four years of intercourse with the Pai-Utes, that no such thing as a communication by signs was known or even remembered by them, which, however, was less difficult to bear because on the day of the receipt of that well-intentioned missive some officers of the Bureau of Ethnology were actually talking in signs with a delegation of that very tribe of Indians then in Washington, from one of whom, Natci, a narrative printed in this paper (page 500), was received.

The report from missionaries, army officers, and travelers in Alaska was unanimous against the existence of a sign language there until Mr. Ivan Petroff, whose explorations had been more extensive, gave the excellent exposition and dialogue now produced (see page 492).  Collections were also obtained from the Apaches and Zuni, Pimas, Papagos, and Maricopas, after agents and travelers had denied them to be possessed of any knowledge on the subject.

For the reasons mentioned under the last heading, little hope was entertained of procuring a collection from any of the Iroquoian stock, but the intelligent and respectable chief of the Wyandots, Hento (Gray Eyes), came to the rescue.  His tribe was moved from Ohio in July, 1843, to the territory now occupied by the State of Kansas, and then again moved to Indian Territory, in 1870.  He asserts that about one-third of the tribe, the older portion, know many signs, a partial list of which he gave with their descriptions.  He was sure that those signs were used before the removal from Ohio, and he saw them used also by Shawnees, Delawares, and Senecas there.

Unanimous denial of any existence of sign language came from the British provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and was followed by the collection obtained by the Hon. Horatio Hale.  His statement of the time and manner of its being procured by him is not only interesting but highly instructive: 

“The aged Mohawk chief, from whom the information on this subject has been obtained, is commonly known by his English name of John Smoke Johnson.  ‘Smoke’ is a rude version of his Indian name, Sakayenkwaraton, which may be rendered ‘Disappearing Mist.’  It is the term applied to the haze which rises in the morning of an autumn day, and gradually passes away.  Chief Johnson has been for many years ‘speaker’ of the great council of the Six Nations.  In former times he was noted as a warrior, and later has been esteemed one of the most eloquent orators of his race.  At the age of eighty-eight years he retains much of his original energy.  He is considered to have