19 



nature of its syntax, and in the number of 

 additive particles (affixa et suffixa). This 

 uniform tendency of the idioms betrays, if 

 not a community of origin, at least a great 

 analogy in the intellectual dispositions of 

 the American tribes, from Greenland to the 

 Magellanic regions. 



Investigations made with the most scru- 

 pulous exactness, in following a method 

 which had not hitherto been used in the 

 study of etymologies, have proved, that 

 there are a few words that are common in 

 the vocabularies of the two continents. In 

 eighty-three American languages, examined 

 by Messrs. Barton and Vater, one hundred 

 and seventy words have been found, the 

 roots of which appear to be the same ; and 

 it is easy to perceive, that this analogy is 

 not accidental, since it does not rest merely 

 on imitative harmony, or on that conform- 

 ity in the organs, which* produces almost a 

 perfect identity in the first sounds articu- 

 lated by children. Of these one hundred 

 and seventy words, which have this con- 



c 2 



