It is a genuine native production, which was repeated orally to some one indifferently conversant with the Delaware language, who wrote it down to the best of his ability. In its present form it can, as a whole, lay no claim either to antiquity, or to purity of linguistic form. Yet, as an authentic modern version, slightly colored by European teachings, of the ancient tribal traditions, it is well worth preservation, and will repay more study in the future than is given it in this volume. The narrator was probably one of the native chiefs or priests, who had spent his life in the Ohio and Indiana towns of the Lenape, and who, though with some knowledge of Christian instruction, preferred the pagan rites, legends and myths of his ancestors. Probably certain lines and passages were repeated in the archaic form in which they had been handed down for generations. _Phonetic System._ The phonetic system adopted by the writer, whoever he was, is not that of the Moravian brethren. They employed the German alphabet, which does not obtain in the present text. On this point Rafinesque says: "The orthography of the Linapi names is reduced to the Spanish or French pronunciation, except _sh_, as in English; _u_, as in French; _w_, as in _how_."[258] A comparison of the words with their equivalents in Zeisberger's spelling shows that this is generally true. It is obvious that the gutturals are few and soft, and that the process of synthesis is carried further than in the Minsi dialect. For this reason, from the introduction of peculiar words, and from the loss of certain grammatical terminations, the Minsi Delawares of to-day, to whom I have submitted it, are of the opinion that it belongs to one of the southern dialects of their nation; perhaps to the Unalachtgo, as suggested by Chief Gabriel Tobias, in his letter printed on a preceding page (p. 88). _Metrical Form._ Even to an ear not acquainted with the language, the chants of the WALAM OLUM are obviously in metrical arrangement. The rhythm is syllabic and accentual, with frequent effort to select homophones (to which the correct form of the words is occasionally sacrificed), and sometimes alliteration. Iteration is also called in aid, and the metrical scheme is varied in the different chants. All these rhythmical devices appear in the native American songs of many tribes, though I cannot point to any other strictly aboriginal production in Algonkin, where a tendency toward rhyme is as prominent as in the WALAM OLUM. It is well to remember, however, that our material for comparison is exceedingly scanty, and also that for nearly three fourths of a century before this song was obtained, the music-loving Moravian missionaries had made the Delawares familiar with numerous hymns in their own tongue, correctly framed and rhymed. _Pictographic System_