ESKIMO VOCABULARY. 387 



same way as the other moods and tenses, there being a past 

 and future infinitive. Generally the verb in the Labrador 

 Eskimo agrees in its inflections with the Greenland dialect ; 

 but there are some special differences, and particularly 

 with regard to the future, which has a threefold construc- 

 tion in the Greenland tongue, but is more simple in the 

 Labrador speech. With the ample means which the regular 

 verb possesses of expressing every mood and tense, the 

 Eskimo has little occasion for auxiliaries, and in fact the 

 structure of the language is very regular and exact. 



There are, however, one or two auxiliaries which have 

 an affinity to adverbs — such as pi-wok, which is used in a 

 variety of ways, sometimes in immediate relation to a 

 noun, sometimes only as an adjunct to a verb : it occa- 

 sionally seems to be equivalent to the English "get" or 

 " do." When placed after participles, which is its most 

 common position, it signifies the action of a thing. Ipsok, 

 another auxiliary, seems to be equivalent to the Latin est-; 

 it often increases the meaning of the verb with which it is 

 connected. " To be," or " to have," is denoted by the 

 syllables gi or vi in composition, as nunagiva, "it is his 

 land." 



The adverbs are numerous, and have relation to time, 

 place, equality, size, number, order, union, separation, 

 &c. ; and also to questioning, denying, affirming, nega- 

 tiving, including, excluding, desiring, admonishing, and 

 distinguishing. 



An example of the inflections of a single verb would oc- 

 cupy many pages, and cannot be given here ; but the pre- 

 ceding short notices will suffice to show that vocabularies of 

 the same language, formed by different people, may have 

 little similarity, and that much care is requisite before we 

 can venture to affirm the distinct origin of two tribes upon 

 such evidence. In a language which is transmitted orally 



