ON TUE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 867 



Tt'vtiQB'n ttffK wit, he tletl tlaqusilw' , maj-be he is a Tsimshian, but 



I do not know. 

 tlvil ia qoalu) qat luk', I fear I am sick (I am not sure I am sick). 

 gtttl Iwtc yc awii sine, maybe he has done it. 

 jcv atqa qat si nek', that food makes me sick. 

 qat k-asiu-q ! kite' anaff-d't ku yeh' ! save me, rainbow I 

 wOtc qat toil sene'q ! It is he who Siived me ! 

 ara Ita wa dan, it is snowing. 

 ara ka iva daneii a'se, it has been snowing, 

 a7n Ifiig- wa dan, it is going to snow. 

 tletl qat ca cqaivu ! no hair is on my liead. 

 uq k''Os ttik VK neli', my foot is sore. 

 su q- s'efa'n. I think of him. 

 I su q s'et'K'ii, I tliink of you. 

 ivucte'n. at to ta qa, we eat together. 

 v'ttlk'E'tl, stop crying ! 



wiitc kilcK't has ta ken, they sit opposite each other. 

 JoKn es kilcK't qaa', John is opposite to me. 

 ivutce'n dnka de kaq to d't, we go together to the town. 

 wutce'n clnka de skuqka d't, they go together to the town. 

 CEda hoto ye anaq sV ne ! let him do it 1 

 liln qa re k-itg- qoa te ! I am going to put you into the water. 

 hln qa i te' qoa te, I put your face into the water (I baptise you). 



It -will be seen from these remarks and examples how much remains to be done 

 in this language. It is evident that the grammatical structure cannot bo understood 

 until the words have been more closely studied and we know the meaning of their 

 ■components and of the particles which are so important in the inflexion of the verb. 

 From what we know, it appears that the particles and pronouns are placed between 

 the components of words. I do not think there is a real infixion. The independence 

 ■which the components retain is one of the most remarkable features of this language. 



II. Haida. 



Obtained from WtJia, a native of Skidegate (Tlta gyitl), and Mrs. Franklin, a half- 

 blood Indian, living in Victoria. 



phone;tics. 



Vowels : a, (a), e, E, i, 0, u. 



Consonants: d, t; gy, ky; g, k, k' ; g-, k- ; r, q; h, ii, y; 

 m, n, n ; w ; s, (dz), ts ; c, dj, tc ; 1, dl, tl. 

 There is only one labial, in, which does not occur as an initial sound except in a 

 few words which are borrowed from the Tsimshian. The m is not the pure English 

 m, but closely related to n, from which it is distinguished with great difficulty, the 

 lips being not perfectly closed. The difference between surds and sonants is still 

 slighter than in Tlingit, it being in most cases impossible to determine whetlier a 

 sound is the one or the other. I believe a thorough study of the language would show 

 thatit would be proper to use only one letterfor the dentals and oneforthegutturals,the 

 slight variations of which cause in our ear the sensation of surds and sonants. The r 

 is very guttural, but has more of a trill than in Tlingit. Therefore it is easily dis- 

 tinguished from tlie iv. The hiatus is very frequent, and occurs after all consonants. 

 In the beginning of words I found the following combinations of consonants : I, dl, tl, 

 followed by a guttural, and t, n, followed by g (one instance) ; s followed by any con- 

 sonant, except s, dz, ts, c, dj, tc. Regarding the latter, it must be stated that >< fre- 

 quently does not belong to the stem ; t is followed by h. 1 found the following com- 

 "binations of consonants terminating words : 



ks 

 nq ns ndl ntl 



sk sk' Bt stl 



tsk ct 



tk 



tlk tlk- In 



All letters can be initial and terminal sounds. (Regarding m see above.) Com- 

 binations of consonants are very rare. 



3 K 2 



