106 APPENDIX. [sect. 



THE SICHUANA LANGUAGE. 



" And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech." — 



Gen. xi. I. 

 "Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they 

 may not understand one another's speech." — Gen. v. 7. 



The question of Language is one of the most important 

 in connexion with Dr Livingstone's African discoveries 

 past or future. It will here be shewn that such is especially 

 the case with the Sichuana, spoken by the Bechuana 

 tribes. 



Being the means of communication between man and 

 man, Language is concerned with all the great topics 

 embraced in the central African question. 



For the following condensed account of this language 

 I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Sedgwick, who 

 allows me to make a few notes from a copy of an unpub- 

 lished work of Dr Livingstone's sent to him as a parting 

 memorial of friendship by our traveller two days before the 

 expedition set sail. This book "An Analysis of the Language 

 of (he Bechuanas by David Livingstone" was written by 

 him in "1852, at Kuruman. 25 copies only were printed in 

 February last, for the use of the Members of the Zambesi 

 expedition, with a view of imparting to them a general idea 

 of the structure of South African languages. Hence this in- 

 formation to the general reader is entirely new. Our limits 

 will not admit of more than a brief view of this subject. 



We may here remark that the word Sichuana is an 

 adjective applied to anything belonging to the nation. The 

 national name Bechuana is simply the plural of Mochuana, 

 a single individual. 



In reference to the general question of affinities in 

 language, it is very striking to observe the likeness in 

 several respects between this and the ancient Egyptian. 

 Chevalier Bunsen, in his "Egypt's Place in Universal 



