PHILOLOGY. 17 



Xamerals. Many tribes go no fartlier in counting than ten, and 

 among tliose of California, it is said, some have no names for numbers 

 ocyond five. Others, on the contrary, have ditierent sets of numerals, 

 or rather their numerals have different tei'minations, one class being 

 used in ordinary counting, the other applying to men, money, <fec. 



Pronouns. The personal pronouns are of two classes, one simple 

 or absolute, the other variously called fragmentary and copulative. 

 These last are used only in composition, as in the form of prefixes 

 and sufl3xes to the verbs. 



Verbs. It is a matter of dispute whether the Indian verb has any 

 true infinitive mood, as "to go," "to eat," »fec., and its simplest form 

 appears to be, in all cases, the third person singular pix-sent, " he goes," 

 "he eats." It will be better, therefore, to obtain either this form or 

 that of the first person, " I go," &c. The last will be found often to 

 be combined with the copulative pronoun. 



ORTHOGRAPHY. 



It is, of course, essential to the pioper understanding by others of 

 the words collected, especially in view of general comparisons, that a 

 precise and fixed system of spelling should be used, and this is more 

 so where the usual language of the collector is English than where 

 French or Spanish, as there is far less certainty in the pronunciation 

 of the first than of these last. In English, for instance, four difterent 

 sounds are given as belonging to the letter a, viz. : those in far, full, 

 fat, f ale. As regards the simple vowels, the difiiculty can be partly 

 lemedied by employing the Spanish or Italian sounds, as given be- 

 low, and a further advantage will be found in separating the words 

 into syllables and marking the principal one with an accent, thus . 

 Da ko'-ta. There are, however, in every language, sounds peculiar to 

 itself, and the difi'erent Indian tongues abound in them, many beincr 

 almost beyond our capacity to imitate and certainly to write, without 

 some addition to the ordinary alphabet. Various systems, contem- 

 plating a universal alphabet, or one applicable to all languages, have 

 been devised, each having its peculiar merits ; but the great difiiculty, 

 never fully overcome, has been to represent intelligibly such un- 

 familiar sounds without confusing the inquirer with new characters or 

 numerous marks, or, again, by employing several letters to represent 

 a single sound. The alphabet here recommended for adoption, with- 

 out pretending to remedy these defects, will at least prove an assist- 

 ance to the collector in the field. Should it be necessarv to rcpre- 



