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244 



extensive, such as the Qquichua, and the Gua- 

 rani. They endeavoured to substitute these 

 languages in the stead of poorer idioms, more 

 barbarous, and more irregular in their syntax. 

 This substitution was very easy: the Indians 

 of the different tribes adopted it with docility, 

 and thenceforward those American languages 

 generalized became a ready mode of commu- 

 nication between the missionaries and the neo- 

 phytes. It would be wrong to suppose, that 

 the preference given to the language of the In- 

 cas over the Spanish had no other aim, than 

 that of isolating the Missions, and withdrawing 

 them from the influence of two rival powers, 

 the bishops and civil governors. The Jesuits 

 had yet other motives, independent of then- 

 policy, for wishing to generalize certain Indian 

 tongues. They found in these languages a com- 

 mon tie, easy to establish between the nume- 

 rous hordes that had remained separate, hostile 

 to each other, and kept asunder by the diver- 

 sity of idioms ; for in uncultivated countries, 

 after the lapse of several ages, dialects often 

 assume the form, or at least the appearance, 

 of mother tongues. 



When it is said that a Dane learns the Ger- 

 man, and a Spaniard the Italian or the Latin, 

 more easily than any other language ; it is 

 at first thought, that this facility results from 

 the identity of a great number of roots, which 



