History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations

Letter V From Mr. Duponceau to Dr. Wistar

Philadelphia, 14th May, 1816.

Dear Sir. ash;When you write to your friend Mr. Heckewelder, I beg you will request him to answer the following questions:

1. What name did the French give to the Delaware nation?

2. I find in Zeisberger’s Vocabulary, page 11, that Gischuch means the sun. In the Grammar, I see that the Delawares divide their year by moons, and call them anixi gischuch, &c. So that gischuch signifies moon as well as sun, how is it?

3. I find in the Grammar that the pronoun nekama or neka means he, but it does not appear to have any feminine. What is the proper word for she in the Delaware, and how is it declined?

I am, &c.