306 cook's voyage to april, 



name or title of Acweek, and to whom the others are, 

 in some measure, subordinate. But, I should guess, 

 the authority of each of these great men extends no 

 farther than the family to which he belongs, and who 

 own him as their head. These Acweeks were not al- 

 ways elderly men ; from which I concluded, that this 

 title came to them by inheritance. 



I saw nothing that could give the least insight into 

 their notions of religion, besides the figures before 

 mentioned, called by them Klumma. Most probably 

 these were idols ; but as they frequently mentioned 

 the word acweek, when they spoke of them, we may, 

 perhaps, be authorised to suppose that they are the 

 images of some of their ancestors, whom they vene- 

 rate as divinities. But all this is mere conjecture ; 

 for we saw no act of religious homage paid to them ; 

 nor could we gain any information, as we had learned 

 little more of the language, than to ask the names of 

 things, without being able to hold any conversation 

 with the natives, that might instruct us as to their in- 

 stitutions or traditions. 



In drawing up the preceding account of the people 

 of this Sound, I have occasionally blended Mr. An- 

 derson's observations with my own ; but I owe every 

 thing to him that relates to their language \ and the 

 following remarks are in his own words : 



" Their language is, by no means, harsh or disagree- 

 able, farther than proceeds from their using the k and 

 h with more force, or pronouncing them with less 

 softness than we do ; and, upon the whole, it abounds 

 rather with what we may call labial and dental, than 

 with guttural sounds. The simple sounds which we 

 have not heard them use, and which, consequently, 

 may be reckoned rare, or wanting in their language, 

 are those represented by the letters b, d,J\ g, r, and v. 

 But, on the other hand, they have one, which is very 

 frequent, and not used by us. It is formed, in a par- 

 ticular manner, by clashing the tongue partly against 

 the roof of the mouth, with considerable force ; and 



4 



