776 The American Naturalist. [September, 
sentences are to be found very often in but an embryonic state. 
They are concise and extremely simple in structure. The great 
periods which seem so formidable to the stranger, will be found, 
when analyzed, to consist mainly of simple sentences of co-ordi- 
nate rank linked together, by implied or expressed connectives." 
Besides the above general features, we are told by Prof Dun- 
can that the Cherokee is also characterized by a peculiar dis- 
regard for the distinct individuality of its words. In practice, 
they are often brought together and so consolidated as to give a 
whole sentence the brevity and consistency of a single word. 
Nor does the process of agglomeration always stop exactly at 
the point of mutual contact ; the words often meet and mingle, 
like two drops of fluid, so thoroughly disguising the identity of 
each as to baffle the discernment of all except an expert in the 
use of the tongue. He illustrates as follows : 
" Take the word-sentence nczvc (thou sayest). Released from 
the bonds of synthesis, it stands thus : nc he zve ; ?ie, an obsolete 
prefix ; he, thou ; we, say. Had any other consonant stood in 
the place of //, a fusion of the first two syllables could not 
have occurred. That letter being only an attenuated aspirate, 
the two adjacent vowels are regarded as standing in actual con- 
tact, a predicament for vowels which is strictly forbidden by the 
laws of the language. Hence the form of condensation : n {e h) 
Again, word-sentence: tazvalbgd ; (do thou write them). Ex- 
panded, te he azvalogd, — te, a prefix denoting the plurality of the 
object of the verb, and may be translated by the pronoun them. 
Here h being regarded as incompetent as a separatrix, three 
vowels come in contact. To relieve this misadventure, to main- 
tain the euphony of the sentence, and to conform to the law 
forbidding a hiatus, contraction is effected thus : / {e he) awdlbgd 
=taivaldga. It is noticeable that the pronoun in this case en- 
tirely disappears ; and the fact that he (thou) is the subject of the 
verb, is only made known by its absence. 
An exceptional method of contraction is illustrated by the 
word-sentence, hnat<u.;a, (do thou); expanded, hc mitdgd ; 
hiryuitoga 
