188 ASIATIC TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Japanese are, and the Loo-Clioo aree. The Iroquois numerals are 

 more TJgrian and Tartar than Peninsular, so far, at least, as my 

 vocabularies enable me to judge. The presence of many TJgrian and 

 Tartar words ivi common Iroquois speech is a phenomenon for which 

 T cannot at present account. The same phenomenon appears in the 

 Quichua of Peru. 



The Iroquois grammar might be Mongol or Tungus as well as 

 Japanese or Peninsular. It js neither TJgrian nor Tartar. It marks 

 a distinction between nouns as virile and non-viiile, similar to that 

 of the Koriak. It possesses a plural in final ke, like the Magyar in 

 k and the Mantchu in sa. It has also a dual like some of the TJgrian 

 languages. It forms the genitive in the same way as the Ural 

 Altaic and Peninsular languages in general, by preposing the geni- 

 tive, followed by the third personal pronoun, to the nominative. The 

 pronoun in the accusative, or regimen of the verb, precedes it as in 

 Japanese, Mongol, tc, but this does not seem to be always the case 

 with the accusatives of nouns. Another peculiarity of Iroquois 

 grammar is that the small number of proper adjectives in the 

 language follow the noun they qualify, while, in the TJi'al- Altaic 

 languages, and sometimes in the Peninsular, they precede. Still the 

 possessive adjectives are preposed as well as the word akioekon, all, 

 and similar terms. The personal pronouns precede the verbal root, 

 and the tempoi-al signs follow it, as in Mongol, Tungus and Japanese. 

 The Iroquois also agrees with the Ural-Altaic and Peninsular 

 languages in employing post-positions only. Like the Mantchu, 

 Northern Chinese and Choctaw, the Iroquois possesses the exclusive 

 and inclusive plural of the first personal pronoun. It also has 

 separate terms for elder and younger brother and sister, in common 

 with all the Turanian languages. The Iroquois grammar is thus in 

 its main features Choctaw and Peninsular. 



The ball-play or lacrosse of the Iroquois, like that of the Choctaws, 

 must be traceable to an Asiatic region, and may relate to the * 

 well-known game of the Basques in Western Europe. A large 

 family of nations and languages has yet to be recognized, that, with 

 the Ural-Altaic class, shall include the Basque in Europe, the 

 Berber, Haussa and Kashna in Africa, the Tinneh, Ii-oquois, 

 Choctaw, and, perhaps, the DacotaK and Aztec of North America, 



* The Basque game, as I learn from my colleague, Professor Coussirat, who has frequently 

 witnessed it, is all but identical with thiit of the Iroquois. 



