= = - Exempt from gouther Fish, only anvium beginst : daoul Amith Northwester Unist In addition to classical and foreign languages Fisher was also interested in native American Indian languages and even hoped to use his philosophical alphabet as a basis for writing systems for 'savage nations'. There are four entries in his 'Sketches' and two in his 'Expenses' that shed some light on his dealings with the Penobscot Indians near Blue Hill. These are, in chronological order: Sketches 7 September 1794 Visited an Indian camp. Sketches 27-31 March 1797 Took from Penobscot Indians a few words of their language. Expenses 4 February 1811 To Kolosier & Heteer, 2 Indians for 2 baskets. Expenses 22 May 1811 To Micel, an Indian, for 2 baskets. Sketches 25 March 1813 Transcribed sketches of Penobscot Indians. Sketches 15 January 1824 In the evening had a lecture for children among them two young Indians, Jos. and Peel Kolosheer [probably the same as Kolosier above.] The most interesting entry of these is that for the date 25 March 1813. It correlates exactly with the date on a Penobscot Indian word list written in a phonetic transcription in Fisher's church records of the Congregational church in Blue Hill. It begins 'Here follows a brief specimen of the language of the Penobscot Indians, taken occasionally from the mouths of those I have conversed with; and also a scheme of the pronunciation'. The word list includes 73 items, nine of which he represents as phrases, that is, by more than one graphic word. The transcription system that he employs (cf. table 4) in this manuscript uses diacritics over the vowels rather than the