AFRICA. ,49 
the ear of an European, and very difficult to 
be acquired. Such indeed they appeared to 
me at firft, but one foon becomes accuftomed 
to them ; and I can affert that this language, 
upon the whole, Is not deftltute of harmony, 
and that In the mouth of a Hottentot woman 
it has its charms, as the German has its 
beauties in that of an amiable Saxon lady. 
I am of opinion that, if people fhould at- 
tempt to ftudy this language from the voca* 
bularles hitherto publKhed, and to fpeak It 
without being otherwife inftruded in its prin- 
ciples, they would lofe thcmfelves in words 
void of fenfe, and the refult would be nothing 
cclfe but confufion — a difgufting chaos, in 
which the haraffed Imagination would find 
only ridiculous abfurdity* 
There are a few words indeed which may 
be employed without this clapping of the 
tongue, but fuch exceptions are very rare. 
To prove how neceflTary thefe different 
founds produced by the tongue are to fhew 
the fignificatlon of the words, and how they 
determine the fynonimes and different mean- 
ings, I fl^iall give an example, as it will ren-> 
der this fubjeft much eafier to be compre- 
hended. In the Hottentot language adp fig- 
L 3 ulfies 
