SS6: Observations on Language, 



The languages of Barharyh^x^ in them nothing origi 

 nal.. Those, spoken in the African c©untries^ south of 

 Barbary, are so little known, that nothing can be assert- 

 ed concerning them. From analogy, I suspect, it will 

 Be founds that the)^ are not very numerous. 



In North-America^ that of the Iroquois^ that of the 

 Mohekaneews^ that of the Choctaws, and the three or 

 i<i\xr languages of Mexico^ seem to be pretty well dis- 

 tinguished. In South-Amei'ica, the Peruvian^ the Ai'au- 

 eanian, some languages in Brazil, that of the Charaibes^ 

 and perhaps one or more in Terra Firma^ and one or 

 imDre in Fcitagoma, are probably not far from the whole 

 number. So far as this representation may be admitted 

 as just, it will be seen, that the number of languages is 

 not very great. There are, undoubtedly, more than 

 these: some, spoken i\\ Neiv- Holland ; some, in ./fma- 

 zoniuy &c. Yet, after all allowances, the number, it is 

 believed, will be comparatively smc^lh 



Travellers, and other persons, have, it seems to me, 

 been accustomed to multiply the languages of mankind 

 upon slender evidence. It is not long since, that many 

 languages were supposed to be spoken in Ne-iv England. 

 It is now ascertained, that there was but one : that of 

 tlie Mohekaneews. This, as it appears, was the lan- 

 guage of all the tribes, the Iroquois excepted, between 

 the Atlantic and the Missisippi^ the Potomac and the St. 

 JLawrence. It is also proved to be spoken by various 

 tribes beyond the Missisippi ; and by one within 400 

 Miiles of the Pacific Ocean. 



I shall now leave it to the judgment of the reader to 

 cletermine whether the causes,^ which have been here 

 assigned, will not, to a considerable extent, account for 

 the variety of languages, both in terms, and construc- 

 tion, so far as their state has been hitherto known. 



