1902-3.] The Nahane and their Language. 531 



the calendar. Subjoined is that in use among the western Nah'ane, and 

 the careful student of Americana will perhaps find it worth his while to 

 compare it with those of the Carriers and of the Tse'kehne published in 

 my "Notes on the Western Dene."^ Of course, all the months therein 

 recorded are lunar months, and coincide but imperfectly with our own 

 artificial divisions of the year. 



January, sa-fseslhie, moon of the middle (of the year). 

 February, toenon-thene, the snow is a little frozen over. 

 March, ihfsi-sa, moon of the wind. 

 April, tlhi-poenetse-e, the dog uses to bark. 



May, ikaze-sa, moon when all the animals leave their winter retreats. 

 June, oeyaz-e-sa, moon of the little ones (when animals have their 

 young. 



July, cetcitc-e-sa, moon when they moult. 

 August, tika-e-sa, moon when they fatten. 

 September, hosthelJi-e-sa, moon of the female marmot. 

 October, mcen-then-isetle, moon of the small ice. 

 November, mcen-then-tco, moon of the big ice. 

 December, kcerh-urwoesse, the rabbit gnaws. 



We have tarried so long over the sounds and substantives of the 

 Nah'ane language that our remarks on the other parts of speech must 

 necessarily be brief. 



In its numerals we find a confirmation of what I said some time ago 

 when I wrote, speaking of the roots of languages in general : " The 

 numerals and the pronouns . . . generally have a kind of family air in 

 cognate dialects. As to the pronouns, I think that hardly any 

 qualificative reservation is necessary, but it is not so with all the 

 numerals."' Of the ten Nah'ane numbers, only three (one, IJiige, Carrier, 

 ilho ; three, thadeteh, Carrier, tha ; and five, Iholla, Carrier, kwollar) have 

 any affinity with the Carrier, Babine, Chilcotin or even Tse'kehne 

 numerals. The other seven have not the faintest resemblance thereto. 



A peculiarity worth recording in this connection is the fact that the 

 numbers two, three and four are in Nah'ane perfectly regular verbs 

 which are conjugated with persons — plural, of course — and tenses. Let 

 us take, for instance, the number three, thadeteh. We have at our dis- 

 posal any of the words of the following conjugation : 



1 Transactions Canadian Institute, Vol. IV., p. io6. 



2 The Use and Abuse of Philology, Transactions Canadian Institute, Vol. VI., p. 92. 



