68 TRAVELLERS' LINGUISTIC MISTAKES. Chap. III. 



idiom, very few Europeans acquire an accurate knowledge 

 of African tongues unless they begin to learn when young. 

 A complaint as to the poverty of the language is often only 

 a sure proof of the scanty attainments of the complainant, 

 and gross mistakes are often made by the most experienced. 

 We once caught a sound like "Syria" as the name of a 

 country on the other side of a river. It was " Psidia," 

 and meant only the " other side." A grave professor put 

 down in a scientific work " Kaia " as the native name of 

 a certain lizard. Kaia simply means "I don't know!" the 

 answer which he received. This name was also applied in 

 equal innocence to a range of mountains. Every one can 

 recal mistakes, the remembrance of which, in after years, 

 brings a blush to his brow. In general the opinion of an 

 intelligent missionary who has diligently studied the language 

 is superior to that of any traveller. Quite as sensible if not 

 more pertinent answers will usually be given by Africans 

 to those who know their language, as are obtained from our 

 own uneducated poor ; and could we but forget that a couple 

 of centuries back, the ancestors of common people in Eng- 

 land — probably our own great-great-grandfathers — were as 

 unenlightened as the Africans are now, we might maunder 

 away about intellect, and fancy that the tacit inference 

 would be drawn that our own is Arch-Angelic. The low 

 motives which often actuate the barbarians do, unfortu- 

 nately, bear abundant crops of mean actions among servants 

 and even in higher ranks of more civilized people ; but we 

 hope that these may decrease in the general improvement 

 of our race by the diffusion of true religion. 



Dr. Kirk very properly divides the year into three seasons, 

 a cold, a hot, and a rainy season. The cold period lasts 

 through May, June, and July ; the hot prevails in August, 



