NORTHWESTERN AMERICA. 641 



water, ii/oxtim or MIIXIIM, to sleep. A similar difficulty sometimes occurs with the e 



and i; n*, kiimun- or kiiimn-i, all, licfa <>r Inln, none. S is occasionally pronounced 



like xh, anil vice MTS:I ; a Idler or syllable is sometimes dropped, as nninniilf.li or mini/alt, 



. what? All thrsc variations, however, are unimportant, and in 



general it may be said that tin 1 spoken with great uniformity throughout the 



whole extent ol' country when- it prevails. 



The Lirammatical rules are very simple. Inflections then! are none. The only 

 instanee iii which a wonl seemeil to he varied in form, was that of the interrogative pro- 

 noun /.<////, what, of which ikoln was neca-ionally used in an obli>|iio case, as, tuiiktt, 

 ku-it/H't. kiiiniiliikx ikntii ntik<t. II-UH-H /mika, I have forgotten (no longer know) what 



iid lo me. Mm ikulii. is also used in ihe sense of" for what?" or " why?" 

 There is no article in the Ian '['lie demonstrative pronoun okok, this, occa- 



pplies the plai'e of the Kniilisli ///>. 

 The genitive nf minus is determined merely by the construction; as, kaia nim maika 



' what is the name of thy father ! 



The plural is in general not distinguished in speaking; sometimes, haiu, many, is 

 employed h\ was i if emphasis. 



!\e precedes the noun, as in Tshinuk and English; as, lasuai hdkatshum, 

 silk handkerchief; n/nxn/xi n/iku/n, l>ad people. 



i 'oiMpansoii is e\|)res>ed liy a periphrasis. "lam stronger than thou," would be, 

 //'(/.- niiiiku akiikiiin kukirn iiuikii, lit., thou not strong as I. The superlative degree is 

 indicated hy ailverhs; as./ti/iiix via inn n okok k</in in. very old that canoe; saia anakati 

 MTV ancient (lit. far ago). A great deal is expressed by the mere stress of the voice; 

 hums" (dwelling long on the last syllable) means very, exceedingly great ; an"dkati, 

 with the first syllable drawn out, signifies, very long ago ; so haidk" , haiii", tanas", &c. 

 The numerals are from the Tshinuk. They are 



ikt or Hit one suniimdkst, sinimakst, sanamakst seven 



Hitiksf or mill. two stahtkin or stiiliil.ni eight 



khtn or klim three kwailst or kwaiitst nine 



or l<tkt four tutlelam ten 



, kn-ittiit/1, or kicanam five takamonak or takamanak hundred 



or tdham six 



Some of the variations in pronunciation which appear in the foregoing have been 

 already explained; the others proceed from the greater or less approximation attempted 

 by the speaker to the original terms in Tshinuk; but all the forms would be equally 

 well understood. 



The combinations of the numerals are the most simple possible. Eleven is iallelam 

 pi ikt, ten and one; twelve is tatlelam pi makst, &c. Twenty is makst tatklam ; 

 thirty, klon tatlelam. Thousand is tatlelam takamonak, or ten hundred. Eighteen hun- 

 dred and forty-two would be tatlelam pi stohtkin takamonak, laket tatlelam, pi makst. 



The personal pronouns are 



naika, I musaika, we 



maika, thou nusaika, ye 



iahka, he klaska, they 

 161 





