263 



pointed out, we do not think, that the Chayma 

 language can be regarded as a dialect of the 

 Tamanack, as the Maitano, Cuchivero, and 

 Crataima are. There exist many essential dif- 

 ferences, and the two languages appear to me 

 at most connected, like the German, the Swe- 

 dish, and the English. They belong to the 

 same subdivision of the great family of the 

 Tamanack, Caribbean, and Arouack tongues. 

 As there exists no absolute measure of parent- 

 age between idioms, the degrees of parentage 

 can be indicated only by examples taken from 

 known tongues. We consider those as being 

 of the same family, which are connected with 

 each other, as the Greek, the German, the Per- 

 sian, and the Sanscrit. 



Some have thought they have discovered, 

 on comparing languages, that they are all di- 

 vided into two classes*, of which some, more 

 perfect in their organization, more easy and 

 rapid in their movements, indicate an interior 

 developement by inflexion ; while others, more 

 rude and less susceptible of improvement, pre- 

 sent only a crude assemblage of small forms or 

 agglutinated particles, each preserving the phy- 

 siognomy which is peculiar to itself, when it 

 is separately employed. This very ingenious 



* See the learned work of Mr. Frederick Schlegel, Sprache 

 und Weisheit der Indier, p. 44 — 60. 



