255 



I shall prove this connection by both the 

 methods, that serve to make known the ana- 

 logy of idioms ; I mean, by the grammatical 

 construction, and the identity of words and 

 roots. The following are the personal pro- 

 nouns of the Chaymas, which are at the same 

 time possessive pronouns ; w-re, I, me ; eu-re, 

 thou, thee; teu-re, he, him. The Tamanack, 

 w-re, I ; amare or anja, thou ; iteu-ja, he. The 

 radical of the first and of the third person * is 



those that are spoken on the north-east coast of South Ame- 

 rica. Mithridates, T. tir, Part. II, p. 654 and 676. I should 

 warn the reader, that I have constantly written the words of 

 the American languages according to the Spanish orthogra- 

 phy, so that the u should be pronounced oo s the che like sche 

 in German, &c. Having during a great number of years 

 spoken no other language than the Castilian, I marked down 

 the sounds according to the same system of writing, and now 

 I am afraid of changing the value of these signs, by substitu- 

 ting others no less imperfect. It is a barbarous practice, to 

 express, like the greater part of the nations of Europe, the 

 most simple and distinct sounds by many vowels, or many 

 united consonants ( ou, oo, augh, aw, ch, sch f tsck, gh, ph, ts, 

 dz), while they might be indicated by letters equally simple, 

 What a chaos is exhibited by the vocabularies written ac- 

 cording to English, German, French, or Spanish notations ! 

 A new essay, which the illustrious author of the travels 

 in Egypt, Mr. de Volney, is going to publish on the analysis 

 of sounds found in different nations, and on the notation of 

 those sounds according to a uniform system, will lead to 

 great progress in the study of languages. 



* We must not wonder at those roots, which reduce 



