Canton English. — Difficidtij of mastering Chinese. 365 



them, as also all other words whatever. Thus they say timi^ 

 housiy pieci, coachi, cooJci^ &c. &c. There are certain Chinese, 

 especially in Canton, who pick up a living by initiating 

 young country follis, who are about entering service in 

 English mercantile houses, in this singular language. 

 Cm'ious and unpleasant as this Chinese English dialect 

 sounds in the ears of strangers, it is found greatly to facili- 

 tate intercourse with the Chinese, in consequence of the im- 

 mense difficulties attending the study of Chinese, so that most 

 Europeans find it far more comfortable to master this jargon, 

 which is not without some influence on the spread of English 

 in the chief commercial cities, than to occupy themselves with 

 mastering Chinese. The language spoken by the sons of the 

 " middle kingdom" consists of 450 monosyllabic sounds, 

 which by various delicate differences in accentuation may in- 

 crease to about 1600. The slight, and to unaccustomed ears 

 almost inappreciable, shades of aspiration and accentuation, 

 are the main difficulty in the way of foreigners desirous of 

 learning the Chinese language. 



To learn the written characters is equally arduous, and 

 requires not less time and perseverance; for this does not 

 consist of a number of letters, the varying arrangement of 

 which constitutes words, but of 40,000 more or less compli- 

 cated signs, each of which expresses a whole word. They are 

 rude forms, representing most imperfectly ideas and material 

 objects ;* however, the knowledge of 4000 to 6000 such signs, 



* The analysis of these hieroglyphics, by which abstract ideas are sought to be 



