La Fort said that he had copied his book from a manuscript in his father's handwriting. This manuscript, unfortunately, was lost, and he could not say whether his rather had first written it down from memory, or had merely transcribed it from an earlier composition. However this may have been, the substance of the composition undoubtedly dates from a period preceding the disruption of the confederacy. The language, indeed, so far as can be judged from the very irregular orthography, is modern. If, as there is reason to suppose, the composition is ancient, it has evidently undergone a "revision" at the hands of the later copyists. In former times, as we know from the Jesuit vocabularies, the sound of _r_ existed in the Onondaga dialect. Since their day this sound has disappeared from it entirely. In La Fort's manuscript the letter frequently occurred, but always, as his pronunciation showed, either as a diacritical sign following the vowel _a_, to give to that vowel the sound of _a_ in "far," or else as representing itself this vowel sound. Thus the syllable which should properly be written _sa_ was written by La Fort either _sar_ or _sr_. But, though the language is modern, the speeches themselves, as I am assured by Chief John Buck, are precisely those which are still in use among his people in Canada, and which are believed to have been preserved in memory from the days of their forefathers. [Footnote: The disappearance of a vocal element from a language is a phenomenon with which etymologists are familiar. The loss of the Greek digamma is a well-known instance. The harsh guttural, resembling the German ch. which formerly existed in the English language, has vanished from it, leaving its traces in the uncouth orthography of such words as _plough_, _high_, _though_, and the like. Within the past three centuries the sound of _I_ has been lost from many words, such as _walk_, _talk_, _balm_ and _calm_. The sound of _r_ is disappearing from a large portion of the language. In ordinary speech, _arm_ rhymes with _calm_, _morning_ with _fanning_, _higher_ with _Sophia_. Modern French, as is well known, has attained its present euphony through the disappearance of consonantal elements from many words in which they formerly existed.] The translation of La Fort's book was procured from him and another educated member of his tribe; but there was not time to obtain all the elucidations needed to ensure precise verbal accuracy throughout. CHAPTER IV. THE CONDOLING COUNCIL.--CLANS AND CLASSES.