r>o 



liundreri, or county may decline ; the legend of saints, wizards, 

 or robbers may be totally forgotten. The rock may be covered 

 by a castle ; the castle surrounded by a town ; the spring en- 

 circled with houses ; or the name of an individual place may be 

 extended to the whole district. In addition to this, the names are 

 given loosely, not with scientific accuracy, so that it is some- 

 times impossible to translate them otherwise than in general 

 terras. Thus the choice of the words houses, home, village or 

 hamlet, town or city, depends greatly upon the taste or accu- 

 racy of the speaker ; or upon the particular period at which 

 they are applied. When we recollect that a perfectly satis- 

 factory definition of the term ''city" has never yet been given 

 in English, it must be evident that any attempt at a minute 

 instead of a general translation of the terms of other languages 

 would be absurd. It must be borne in mind, too, that the 

 names do not express the present characteristics but former 

 ones ; that the terms do not represent our ideas of the places, 

 but those of the original inhabitants. 



The practices of our voyagers and travellers are sometimes 

 very objectionable. They pass over portions of land or water 

 previously well known and accurately named, and apply to the 

 j)laces English names, which are as little known to the natives 

 as theirs are to us. This is a fruitful source of confusion in 

 geography ; different places being regarded as the same, and 

 one locality being taken for several. The native names are 

 appropriated in all countries precisely on the same principle 

 as our own ; but in general the meaning is utterly unknown 

 to us.* It is true that they are sometimes but ill-adapted to 

 English organs of speech ; but it is hardly possible for them 

 to be worse, than many names in our own islands. Dean 

 Swift, speaking of some " town lands " in Ireland, declared 

 that he wotdd not ujidertake to pronounce the names to be the 



* Popocatepetl, smoke mountain; TUucala, the land or bread; Andes, tlie metal 

 hills; Jerran, the frightful (mounlain); Barda Narang, the littlo water; Oneida, 

 upright stone, (their deity). 



