The languages of the Indians are among the wonders of philology. They have been studied, with ardor and success, by many scholars in our own country, and by a few scientific men abroad.[110] These languages, instead of being rude and scanty, as might be inferred from the character of the Indians, are found to be astonishingly regular and copious, rich in forms, and possessing a facility of combination, and a nice discrimination in their inflections, which are scarcely surpassed even by the ancient Greek.[111] Mr. Du Ponceau, of Philadelphia, who has studied the native dialects with great diligence and with philosophical acumen, says, “I confess that I am lost in astonishment at the copiousness and admirable structure of their languages; for which I can only account by looking up to the Great First Cause.”[112] He says, of the Delaware language, “it would rather appear to have been formed by philosophers in their closets, than by savages in the wilderness.” The languages and dialects spoken on the continent of America, have been estimated by the authors of the Mithridates, at the astonishing number of _twelve hundred and fourteen_.[113] A large proportion of these, however, are only variations of a few parent languages, just as the English language is varied in different counties in England by peculiarities, which are scarcely intelligible in other parts of the island. The French language is, in the same way, corrupted by the _patois_ of different sections of the country. Unwritten languages are, of course, still more liable to variations, which, in time, would make a distinct dialect. All the native languages of North America have been reduced to four classes: 1. The Karalit, or language of Greenland, and the Esquimaux. 2. The Delaware. 3. The Iroquois. 4. The Floridian, comprehending the body of languages spoken on the whole southern frontier of the United States.[114] The dialects spoken in New-England are believed to have been varieties of the Delaware language.[115] Roger Williams affirms of the Narraganset tongue, that “with this I have entered into the secrets of those countries wherever English dwell, about two hundred miles, between the French and Dutch plantations. There is a mixture of this language north and south from the place of my abode about six hundred miles; yet, within the two hundred miles aforesaid, their dialects do exceedingly differ, yet not so but (within that compass) a man may by this help converse with thousands of natives all over the country.”[116] The Massachusetts language, into which Eliot translated the Bible, was radically the same tongue as the Narraganset.