The Arctic Prairies

Excerpt: ...fathers and got the desired chance of learning about the Chipewyan script. First, it is not a true alphabet, but a syllabic; not letters, but syllables, are indicated by each character; 73 characters are all that are needed to express the whole language. It is so simple and stenographic that the fathers often use it as a rapid way of writing French. It has, however, the disadvantage of ambiguity at times. Any Indian boy can learn it in a week or two; practically all the Indians use it. What a commentary on our own cumbrous and illogical spelling, which takes even a bright child two or three years to learn! Now, I already knew something of the Cree syllabic invented by the Rev. James Evans, Methodist missionary on Lake Winnipeg in the '40s, but Cree is a much less complex language; only 36 characters are needed, and these are so simple that an intelligent Cree can learn to write his own language in one day. In support, of this astounding statement I give, first, the 36 characters which cover every fundamental sound in their language and then a sample of application. While crude and inconcise, it was so logical and simple that in a few years the missionary had taught practically the whole Cree nation to read and write. And Lord Dufferin, when the matter came before him during his north-west tour, said enthusiastically: "There have been men buried in Westminster Abbey with national honours whose claims to fame were far less than those of this devoted missionary, the man who taught a whole nation to read and write." These things I knew, and now followed up my Jesuit source of information. "Who invented this?" "I don't know for sure. It is in general use." "Was it a native idea?" "Oh, no; some white man made it." "Where? Here or in the south?" "It came originally from the Crees, as near as we can tell." "Was it a Cree or a missionary that first thought of it?" "I believe it was a missionary." "Frankly, now, wasn't it invented in 1840 by Rev. James...