216 



[Oommannaq and Upernawik), though there it occurred only in 

 the middle of words not in the final position. About dl (/}•), 

 Stein says that in rapid pronunciation this often becomes a 

 d or /, a feature which reminds us of the Baffin language, East 

 Greenlandic and the hntät-ut of the Upernawik dialect. — About 

 p in words like ipsuiso, he remarks that it is pronounced with 

 aspiration ("mit einem Hauch") like Greek 9?; it is probably 

 more nearly a fricative than a stopped consonant. — [j] seems 

 to occur; instead of p, q seems to be used e. g. in the nu- 

 meral for two: [muqori]^ as in the Baffin language, cf. Labrador 

 magguk [map'uk]. Taken all in all, there is reason to suppose 

 that the language of the Smith Sound Eskimo is just as near 

 to the language of the Central Eskimo in Baffin Land as to 

 the dialects of Upernawik and Ammassalik (or perhaps even 

 a little nearer). 



The next station toward the west, from which we have 

 copious information about the language, is the district around 

 the mouth of the Mackenzie River (about 135° W. Long.) in 

 the North West Territory of Canada. In this place, the Eskimo 

 population seems to be relatively large. The French missionary 

 Petitot has written a monograph about them, and in the 

 introduction to his large Vocabulaire Français-Esquimau, he 

 has described their language and grammar*). 



Petitot's pk and pkp 1 think must stand for \q\\ his p 

 (without the addition of k) corresponds to Greenlandic and 



*) Especially in the years 1865 — 1870, Petitot made many excursions among 

 them from the places where he was staving among the Tinné Indians 

 farther south. Although he had not studied any Eskimo books before- 

 hand, yet he succeeded in becoming so familiar with the language that 

 he could understand a great part of it and write competently about it. 

 Still, to be sure, there is no lack of naivete and misunderstanding in 

 his work; but it is original, and, what is more, the word-forms which 

 he has reproduced generally make the impression of having been well 

 heard. 



