in.] SIGHUANA' LANG UAGE. 1 2 1 



river, also a path; tsaro, a d ate- tree ; tsaea, take; tsasa, 

 smear. 



tl, the / in this combination is aspirated, and the I pro- 

 nounced at the same time. Insert t instead of k in klick, 

 and the tl sound is easily pronounced. Ex. tla, come and 

 shall ; ki tla tla, I shall come. 



To apply these rules to some of the proper names 

 occurring in the book of Travels. 



'Ngami = ingahmee. 

 Chiboque — Cheebokwa. 



Shinte == Sheenta. 

 Sekeletu = Sekelatu. 

 Sebituane = Sebetuahna. 

 Sichuana, Bechuana, and Sechele, would, according to 

 the above rules, be Setchuahna, Betchuahnah, and Setchala ; 

 but in pronouncing them himself our traveller rather gave 

 ch a k sound. These may be exceptions. 



All words in this language end in a vowel, except a 

 few in n. The emphasis is always put on the penulti- 

 mate, except in words ending in ri; in these the ultimate 

 receives the emphasis. In sentences the last word generally 

 has the emphasis 1 . 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SICHUANA LANGUAGE. 



It would be difficult to overrate this. Sebituane's con- 

 quests have made it both the common vernacular and 

 court language among the tribes of a large part of central 

 South Africa. 



In addition to this it is understood more or less by 

 the members of the whole of the great Bechuana family 

 of tribes. Dr Livingstone shews this at page 1 of the 

 Analysis as follows; 



" There exists the closest relationship between this 

 1 Analysis, p. 9. 



