ACCEPT WALAM OLUM

C. A. Weslager, the author of the book, The Delaware Indians, a History, 1972 wrote on page 85 and following:

"... After having spent many years reconstructing the history of the Delawares after AD 1600, I am much impressed with the content of the twenty additional verses which Rafinesque said were translated by John Burns and which he appended to the Walam Olum text. Brinton did not publish these verses, assuming that they had no historic value, but he was unaware that they included the names of a number of Delaware Sachems, all of whom can now be positively identified, and that they describe incidents for which there is now supporting historical documentation. In my judgement, the information in these twenty verses could only have been obtained from native sources.

"... the twenty additional verses are patently authentic.

"Another criticism that has been offered is that the Delaware words in the native verses may be found in spelling books, dictionaries, and other works of the Moravians available to Rafinesque and that he composed the verses himself by simply coping the words, with their English translations, and stringing them together. This is so obvious that it immediately occurred to Dr. Brinton, who found examples in Rafinesque's text to convince himself, at least, that this was not the case."

"In an appendix to a monograph published in 1945, after recounting his interviews with the old chief [Montour] he [Dr. Speck] wrote:

'I have no hesitation in affirming the authenticity of the Walam Olum .

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