S¿88 



articles or particles \v.hich mark the number and case* 

 They resemble the Greek nouns in having three 

 numbers, the singular, the dual and the plural, as 

 will appear in the following example : 



Singular. 



Kom. Cara^ the city. Accus. Cara. 



Gen, Cara-ni. Voc. a Cara. 



Dat. Cara-meu. Abl. Cara-mo, 



Dual, 



Nom. Cara-egu, the two cities. Accus. Cara-cgu. 



Gen. Cara-egu~nL Voc. a Cara-egu. 



Dat. Cara'Cgu-?neu Abl. Cara-egu-mo. 



Plural, 



Nom. pu-Cara, the cities. Accus. fiu-Cara, 



Gen. fiu-Cara-ni. Voc. a fiU'Cara. 



Dat, iiu-Cara-meu. Abl. Jiu-Cara-mOi 



Instead of pu^ the discriminative mark of the plu- 

 ral, the particles ica or egen may be used affixed to 

 the noun, or que placed between the adjective and 

 substantive when they come together. Thus Cara 

 will make in the plural either Caraica, or Caraegen^ 

 or Cumeque Cara^ the good cities. 



From hence it will be seen that, contrary to the 

 practice in the modern languages of Europe, the ar- 

 ticle in the Chilian is affixed to the noun. This 

 mode of declension sometimes occurs in the Greek 

 and Latin languages, in which we meet with a few 

 nouns declined in this manner, though more various- 

 ly, as musa in Latin, and soma in Greek. The Chi- 

 lian abounds with adjectives both primitive and de- 



