582 
OBSERVATIONS ON 
African languages, it may be said that some faint traces of it are to 
be seen over the whole of Southern Africa, but that, to the north 
of the equinoctial line, alluding to the western coast, not the least 
appearance of it is to be discovered in the vocabularies of any of 
those languages which have come within my reach. In that of the 
CafFres immediately adjoining the Cape Colony, many Sichuana 
words occur ; but the dialects of the Hottentot language continue to 
this day, as distinct from those of the Bichuanas, as the two races 
themselves. 
The general tone of the Sichuana language * is exceedingly soft 
to the ear, and, few syllables ending with a consonant, the remark- 
able abundance of vowels and liquid letters gives it a smoothness of 
sound in which it is not surpassed by any language of Europe ; while 
the great number of double vowels f produce an easy flow which, 
in deliberate conversation, is most expressive and pleasing. 
A proof that there exists in it a just and harmonious combination 
of vowels and consonants, is, the surprising rapidity of utterance 
which it admits of, whenever any animating subject excites the 
speaker to rise above the usual tone, and hurry beyond the usual 
rate ; both which are moderate in all ordinary conversation. This 
extraordinary volubility of enunciation, not to be imitated in the 
Hottentot tongue, offers another confirmation, if it were necessary, 
of the widely distinct origins of these two races of men. 
From the specimens of the Sichuana, which I have collected, 
it would appear, either that this people's love of euphony or smooth- 
ness of sound, induces them, as before noticed, very frequently to 
sacrifice grammatical precision; or that this language possesses a 
variety of inflections which follow perhaps no rule but that of present 
custom. Various unconnected particles, perhaps unexampled in 
other languages, intervene between words ; if these particles are not 
* For the pronunciation and orthography of this language, the note at page 296. 
must be consulted. 
t The.>e i have often written as single, with the mark of ' long quantity' over 
then) . 
