351 



Now in thesOj and in numerous otber American tongues^ 

 the prefix is the possessive pronoun ; in other words^ there 

 is a great number of American languages where the 

 capacity for abstracting the thing possessed from the 

 possessor is <o sbght as to make it almost impossible to dis- 

 connect the noun from its pronoun. I believe, then, the 

 affixes in question have a possessive power ; and am not 

 aware that possessive adjuncts thus incorporated have been 

 recognised in any of the languages for these parts ; indeed, 

 they are generally considered as American characteristics. 



How far does their presence extend ? In the New Ca- 

 ledonian vocabulary of La Billardiere we find it. The 

 names of the parts of the body all take an affix, which no 

 other class of words does. This is gha, guai, or ghai, or 

 other similar combination of g with a vowel. In Van 



These are tliree different dialeets. 



