374 



LANGUAGES LAN1GERA. 



sometimes, even in speaking English, that when we 

 use a won! which, being differently wrilten, has dif- 

 iui';iiiins, \\c spell that word, to show in what 

 sense we understand it. The Chinese probably do 

 the same, by means of their characters, but not to 

 the extent that the love of the marvellous, or incor- 

 rect information, has induced some writers to main- 

 t;.iii. In the same manner, those who have lived 

 I. nu among the Indians, all concur in assuring us 

 Unit those nations converse with one another, on all 

 subjects, in their own idioms, with the greatest ease. 

 Our missionaries preach to them, and find no difficulty 

 in making them understand the abstract doctrines of 

 our religion; and what must dispel every doubt upon 

 this point is, that the whole of the Old and New Tes- 

 taments has been translated, by the venerable Eliot, 

 into the language of the Massachusetts Indians. 



Let us cease, therefore, to speak of the comparative 

 perfection of languages with respect to each other. 

 They are various instruments formed by nature, 

 which genius may cultivate and render more pleas- 

 ing to our senses, but not more adequate to their end, 

 and the organization of which no talent can change, 

 and no genius can imitate. If it be true, as we 

 firmly believe, that languages were various in their 

 original formation, after the traces of the primitive 

 language had, by the divine will, been entirely 

 obliterated from the minds of men, it becomes need- 

 less to inquire whether the first language was mono- 

 syllabic or polysyllabic, and whether the first words 

 were formed by onomatopeia from an imitation of 

 natural sounds. No doubt there are, in every lan- 

 guage, words which have been formed by that kind 

 of process, even in modern times, as, for instance, 

 the word bomb. But it does not follow that this has 

 been a general rule. In most of the Indian languages, 

 the word which signifies thunder has no resemblance 

 to the noise made by that explosion : for instance, in 

 the Chickasaw, it is elloha ; Creek, tenitke ; Huron, 

 inon ; Cadoes, deshinin ; Nootka, tufa ; and there 

 are many other languages in which, in that word, no 

 symptoms of onomatopeia appear. It is curious, 

 however, to find that, in the language of the Ar- 

 kansas, the word for thunder is tonno, and in that of 

 the Yaos, called by De Laet Jaivi (a people of 

 Guiana, now extinct), it is tonimeru. Chance will 

 produce such similarities, which, when thus isolated, 

 prove nothing for or against the affinity of languages, 

 or their derivation from each other. 



LANGUAGES. See Philology. 



LANGUEDOC ; before the revolution, a large 

 province of France, divided into Upper and Lower ; 

 hounded east by the Rhone, which separates it from 

 Dauphiny, the county of Venaissin, and Provence ; 

 youth by Roussillon and the Mediterranean ; west by 

 (Jascony, and north by Forez, Quercy and Rouergue. 

 Its extent was about 270 miles in length, and 120 in 

 breadth. The land is, in general, very fertile in 

 grain, fruits, and wine. Toulouse was the capital 

 of Upper, and Montpellier the capital of Lower 

 Languedoc. It is now divided into the eight fol- 

 lowing departments: 



Department. Chief Towns. 



Oard, Nlme. 



Herault, Montpellier. 



Ardft.rhe, Privas. 



> / '!-, Monde. 



Tarn, Alby. 



Upper Garonne Toulouse. 



Aiide, Carcassonne. 



Upper Loire, Le Puy. 



(See Departments.) 



le celebrated ranal of Languedoc commences at 

 Cette, mid. joins the Garonne near Toulouse, forming 

 a communication between the Mediterranean and 

 the Atlantic. It was constructed in the reign of 



Louis XIV., and is about 140 miles in length. Sec 

 Canals. 



LANIARD, or LANNIERS ; a short piece of 

 rope or line, fastened to several machines in a ship, 

 and serving to secure them in a particular place, or 

 to manage them more conveniently : such are the 

 laniards of the gun-ports, the laniards of the buoy, 

 the laniard of the cat-hook, &c. The principal 

 laniards used in a ship are those employed to 

 extend the shrouds and stays of the mast by their 

 communication with the dead-eyes and hearts, so 

 ^rl to form a sort of mechanical power resembling 

 that of a tackle. 



LANIGERA ; the specific appellation of the chin- 

 chilla of South America. The animal which fur- 

 nishes the beautiful fur known by the name of 

 chinchilla, has, until very recently, been almost 

 entirely unknown to naturalists, except through 

 the imperfect account given by the abbe Molina, 

 in his natural history of Chile. Living specimens 

 have occasionally been brought to Europe. Unfor- 

 tunately, however, these specimens all died about 

 the period of their arrival, and no opportunity was 

 allowed of examining them alive. The British zoolo- 

 gical society have recently been more fortunate in 

 receiving a living specimen in good health, from 

 which they have published a beautiful representa- 

 tion of the animal, accompanied by an accurate 

 description of its characters. This we copy from 

 the first number of the Delineation of the Gardens 

 and Menagerie of the Zoological Society, along 

 with Molina's account of the habits of the animal. 

 The length of the body in this specimen is about 

 nine inches, and that of the tail nearly five. Its 

 proportions are close-set, and its limbs compara- 

 tively short, the posterior being considerably longer 

 than the anterior. The fur is long, close, woolly, 

 somewhat crisped and entangled ; grayish or ash- 

 coloured above, and paler beneath. The form of 

 the head resembles that of the rabbit. The eyes 

 are full, large, and black, and the ears broad, naked, 

 rounded at the tips, and nearly as long as the head. 

 The mustaches are plentiful and very long, the long- 

 est being twice the length of the head, some of them 

 black, and others white. Four short toes, with a 

 distinct rudiment of a thumb, terminate the anterior 

 feet : and the posterior are furnished with the same 

 number ; three of them long, the middle more pro- 

 duced than the two lateral ones, and the fourth, 

 external to the others, very short, and placed far 

 behind. On all these toes the claws are short, and 

 nearly hidden by tufts of bristly hairs. The tail is 

 about half the length of the body, of equal thickness 

 throughout, and covered with long bushy hairs. It 

 is usually kept turned up towards the back, but not 

 reverted, as in the squirrels. The chinchilla, says 

 Molina, is another species of field-rat, in great 

 estimation for the extreme fineness of its wool, if a 

 rich fur, as delicate as the silken webs of the garden 

 spiders, may be so termed. It is of an ash-gray, 

 and sufficiently long for spinning. The little animal 

 which produces it is six inches long from the nose to 

 the root of the tail, with small, pointed ears, a short 

 muzzle, teeth like the house rat, and a tail of 

 moderate length, clothed with a delicate fur. It 

 lives in burrows under ground, in the open country 

 of the northern provinces of Chile, and is fond of 

 being in company with others of its species. It 

 feeds upon the roots of various bulbous plants, 

 which grow abundantly in those parts, and produces, 

 twice a year, five or six young ones. It is so docile 

 and mild in temper, that, if taken into the hands, it 

 neither bites nor tries to escape. If placed in the 

 bosom, it remains there as quiet as if it were in fts 

 own nest. This extraordinary placidity may possibly 



