LANGUAGE—MEASURE OF TIME. OU 
the governing word being postpositive. The verb often presents different 
root-forms in the different tenses. 
As the Hupa may be called the Romans of California, so is their lan- 
guage the Latin of Indian tongues—the idiom of camps—rude, strong, and 
laconic. Let a grave and decorous Indian declaim it in a set oration, and 
every word comes out like the thud of a battering-ram. Take the words 
for “devil” and “death”—words of terrible import—thi-toan’-chwa and chi- 
chwit, and note the robust strength with which they can be uttered. What 
a grand roll of drums in that long word kon-chwil'-chwil! 
Doubtless the reader has observed that the life-periods above men- 
tioned are not very accurately defined. They take no account of the lapse 
of time, and consider it a ridiculous superfluity to keep the reckoning of 
their ages. “Snows”, ‘“‘moons”, and “sleeps” answer to years, months, and 
days. ‘They guess at their ages by consulting their teeth, like a jockey at 
Tattersall’s. A story is told of a superannuated squaw who had buried 
two or three husbands—ommnes composuit—and yet was garrulously talking 
of remarrying. Some of her friends laughed at her immoderately for enter- 
taining such a silly conceit, whereupon the old crone replied stoutly, show- 
ing her ivories, and tapping them with her finger, ‘See, I have good teeth 
yet!” A grim suggestion, truly, when taken in connection with possible 
connubial infelicities in the future! 
