grammatical rules, which always make the subse- 

 quent depend upon its antecedent, that the the- 

 ory of the language is easy, and may be readily 

 learned in a few days. 



This close analogy and regularity, may at a slight 

 view induce an opinion little favourable to the capa- 

 city of those who formed or polished this dialect, as 

 the original languages, it is well known, were regu- 

 lar in their rude and primitive state. But a very 

 different conclusion will be drawn by those who exa- 

 mine its structure, and attend to the extent and com- 

 plexity of ideas necessary to have formed it, and to 

 have modified the words in so many différent waysj 

 without embarrassing the particular rules. 



The same language also abounds with harmoni- 

 ous and sonorous syllables, which give it much 

 sweetness and variety ; this is, however, injured by 

 the frequent recurrence of the u, a defect from which 

 the Latin is by no means exempt. In this respect 

 the latter has, however, been fortunately corrected 

 in its derivatives, particularly the Italian, which has 

 studied to avoid, especially in the finals, the unplea- 

 sant sound resulting from the use of that vowel. 



The Chilian differs from every other American 

 language, not less in its words than in its construc- 

 tion, with the exception of from eighteen to twen- 

 ty of Peruvian origin, which, considering the con- 

 tiguity of the two countries, is not to be wonder- 

 ed at. 



But what may appear much more singular is, that 

 it contains words apparently of Greek and Latin 



