KAFFIR LANGUAGE. 
235 
In the formation of the Kaffir dialect, much 
of its admired softness and melody is produced 
by the multiplicity of vowels that are used. 
A universal rule, to which there are but 
eighteen known exceptions throughout the whole 
language, obliges every syllable to end with a 
vowel : this of course secures, to all its words, a 
* 0 1 7 t . 
peculiar harmony of sound. The only usage in 
it which tends to mar this softness, is the use 
of the "clicks." These, which are peculiar 
sounds given to the pronunciation of the three 
letters c, q, and x, seem to have been derived 
from the Hottentot dialects, throughout which 
they abound, more than as having any actual 
root or origin in the Kaffir language itself. 
Even the harshness of these disagreeable 
sounds is somewhat modified by the melody of 
the Kaffirs' voices, and their mode of enuncia- 
tion ; whilst, in the Hottentot tongue, they are 
most repulsive. 
The letter c forms the dental click, and is 
emitted by placing the point of the tongue 
against the front teeth, and then withdrawing 
it smartly. 
Q is designated the palatal click, and is 
sounded by pressing the tongue against the 
roof of the mouth, and then quickly drawing it 
downwards. 
The last or lateral click x, is articulated by 
