ASIATIC TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA. 185 



be several degrees of resemhlance. In some languages the words are 

 so feeble, consisting largely of vowels, that the comparison of any 

 two such languages in different parts of the world gives but unsatis- 

 factory results, unless some law governing the variation of vowel- 

 sounds. could be discovered. In Iroquois, Choctaw, and in the Penin- 

 sular tongues words are generally strong, with a good deal of the 

 bold Koriak-Cherokee character and Tchuktchi-Choctaw independ- 

 ence, so that the f ramer of a comparative vocabulary, into which 

 one of these languages enters, will find little difficulty in deciding 

 questions of likeness. There are, however, two things which render 

 comparison less simple in the case of the Iroquois languages than in 

 that of the Choctaw. The first of these has already been alluded to — 

 it is the absence of labials, and, in this connection the uncertain 

 power of w in English and French renderings of Iroquois words. If 

 it were always the equivalent of a labial, as it sometimes undoubtedly 

 is, much of the difficulty would be removed. At times it seems to 

 represent the liquid m, which is also a labial. The second hindrance 

 is found in the additions to the original root which appear in the 

 Iroquois as we compare it with the Choctaw and Peninsular 

 languages, and which is evident even in comparing the older with the 

 newer Wyandot forms. The Iroquois word has grown uncomfortably 

 by means of prefix, affix and reduplication of syllables, sometimes 

 apparently for purposes of euphony, at others, it would seem in a 

 retrogade direction to evolve by synthesis a concrete out of a com- 

 paratively abstract term. "Were I better acquainted with the less 

 known members of the Peninsular family of languages with which 

 the Iroquois stands in the closest relation, I might have to modify this 

 opinion. 



I am not at present aware of any Asiatic names with which to 

 associate those of the Wyandot family. The word Wyandot, like 

 Oneida, Onondaga, Nottoway, may relate to the Esquimaux term 

 innuit and tlite Samoied ennete, meaning man. In Arrapaho, one of 

 the Algonquin dialects, man is enanitah. The Wyandot forms for 

 man are oonquich, ungouh, aingahon, ungue, nenekin, (r)onkwe, 

 (l)onque, hajinah, hauj-eenoh, onnonhoue, aneehhah, nehah, eniha, 

 aineehau, (r)aniha — etschinak, ita-atsin, eutequos, agint, (r)atsin, 

 (r)atzin, &c. Still, Esquimaux and Samoied forms appear — the 

 Esquimaux enuk and Samoied nienec. But the Aino aino and 

 the Japanese hito, otoko, may be found in the second and third groups. 



