II 



I . 



I 



20 



I 



of a much more diminutive stature than the 

 inhabitants of Cari, but speaking one of the 

 numerous dialects of the Caribbean tongue. The 

 inhabitants of the islands are called Calinago in 

 the language of the men ; and in that of the 

 women, Callipinan. This difference in the lan- 

 guage of the two sexes is more striking among 

 the people of the Caribbean race, than among 

 other American nations (the Omaguas, the Gua- 

 ranis and the Chiquitoes), where it applies only 

 to a small number of ideas, for instance, the 

 words mother and child. It may be conceived 

 that women, from their separate way of life, 

 frame particular terms, which men will not 

 adopt. Cicero* observes, that ancient forms 

 are best preserved by women, because their situ- 

 ation in society exposes them less to those vicissi- 

 tudes of life (changes of place and occupation), 

 which tend to alter the primitive purity of the 

 language among men. But the contrast in the 

 Caribbee nations between the dialect of the two 

 sexes is so great, that to explain it in a satisfac- 

 tory manner we must have recourse to another 

 cause ; and this may perhaps be found -f- in the 

 barbarous custom, practised by those nations, of 



* Cicero, de Orat., lib. Ill, cap. xii, § 45, ed. Verburg. te Fa- 

 ciiius enim mulieres incorruptam antiquitatem conservant, 

 quod multorum serraonis expertes ea tenent semper, quae pri- 

 ma didicerunt." 



t See above, vol. v, p. 293 and 420. 



