72 A Note on some Hill Tribes [No. 169. 



Rau and t'rau ; imperative termination : as tshd " to go," tshd t'rau, 

 "go." A/a is a negative affix, and always occurs after the root; 

 as tshe m'rau, " dont go." In this it differs from most dialects, the parti- 

 cle of negation, generally and correctly, preceding the statement of 

 the act which it is meant to cancel. In asking however a negative 

 question, the order is somewhat varied. The interrogative pronominal 

 occurs first, the negative next, then the personal pronoun, and finally 

 the verb ; thus arong, " why — " ma, " not — " na, " you—" and houng, 

 " come," make aroung ma nahoung, " Why don't you come ?" In this case 

 it is peculiar that the interrogative model-affix is not used, the interroga- 

 tive pronominal being sufficient to mark the clause to be a question. 



A k is an auxiliary affix of negation used only with the substantive 

 verb dm, " to be," in which case the true negative ma is united with it, 

 into one word m'ak ; m'tshdl " husband," am " is," m'ak " not." 



len is likewise an auxiliary affix of negation, similar to the Burmese 

 bhoo ; as tshe m'ien " (I) won't go." 



NUMBERS. 



The numeral system of the Kyaus is not intricate like that of the 

 Khumis. It is decimal. 



1, khdt. — 2, niek. — 3, t'hoom. — 4, mil. — 5, nga. — 6, drook. — 7, 

 s'ree. — 8, riiet.—9, kd. — 10, tchuom. — 11, s'mre khdt. — 12, s'mrd niek. 

 — 13, s'mrd t'hoom. — 20, tchuom niek. — 21, tchuom niek U khdt. — 

 22, tchuom niek le niek. — 30, tchuom tchoom. — 33, t'chuom t'hoom le 

 fhoom. — 40, fchuom m'li. — 50, tchuom nga. — 60, tchuom drook. — 70, 

 tchuom s'ree. — 80, tchuom ruet. — 90, tchuom kd. — 100, r'za. — 101. — 

 r'zale khdt. — 200, r'za niek. — 222, r'za niek U tchuom niek le niek. — 

 1000, sankha. — 2000, sankha niek. — 1846, sankha le r'za ruet le tchuom 

 m'li le drook. 



It is to be noticed that one very peculiar and characteristic idiom of 

 the Indo-Chinese languages, such as the Burmese, Siamese, Malay, is 

 entirely wanting, as far as I could make out, in these two dialects above 

 described. I allude to numeral generic affixes. The numeral, as in 

 English, is placed in immediate relation with the noun, whereas in the 

 others it is placed in relation to a generic affix ; as where the Burmese 

 say " dog," two animals ; the Kyaus and Khumis say merely " dogs two." 

 But still as these hill dialects are so evidently cognate to the Burmese, 

 it is singular if they do in reality lack so characteristic a trait ; and 



