1892.] Oi [Brinton. 



The termination // appears to be that of the reflexive verb : 



(lama, to cover. 



ja damati, to cover oneself. 



The neuter is changed to the active signification by the suffix me : 



manu, to die. 



manuame, to kill. 



ja maniiamejiji, he who has killed another. 



Many verbs are compounded by simple juxtaposition, as : 



bahe, to know ; quisa, to tell ; whence : 

 babequisa, to teach, i. e., to tell what one knows. 



The word M^e, to know, is itself a derivative from 3a, to see, 

 which also appears in such compounds as i/i'a/m (from ^ia, to eat), 

 to eat, seeing, /. e., to test or try a food (^probar la comida); and 

 batsuatique {tsuati =^2^ov€), to look upward. 



Literature and Texts. 



The literature of the Tacanan dialects — if I may apply this term 

 to such meagre material — is widely scattered and difficult of access. 

 Ludewig, in his Literature of American Aboriginal Languages 

 (p. 206), speaks of it as a dialect of the Yurucare, with which it 

 has not the slightest affinity. The same author gives the Sapi- 

 bocona as a dialect of the Kechua (p. 168), and the Maropa as 

 related to the Yuracare. 



Of the Tacana proper I have made use of three published 

 vocabularies: i. That given by H. A. Weddell, Voyage dans le 

 Nord de la Bolivie (Paris, 1859). He gives forty words and six 

 numerals, obtained from a party of Tacanas from Ixiamas and 

 Tumupasa, whom he met at Guanay. 2. A vocabulary of one 

 hundred and fifty-seven words and six numerals, by Ur. E. R. 

 Heath, contributed by him to the Kansas City Review, April, 

 1883. 3. A vocabulary of forty-eight words and ten numerals, 

 accompanied by grammatical observations by the Rev. Nicholas 

 Armentia, published in his Exploracion del Rio Madre de Dies 

 (La Paz, 1889). 



The only printed text I have found is a small octavo of forty-one 

 pages, with the following title : 



" Catecismo [ de la | Doctrina Christiana | en Idioma Tacana | 



