246 
NOTES. 
the same manner tlatolana, to ask, and tetlatolaniliztli, 
a demand ; tlayhiouiltia, to torment, and tetlayTiiouilti- 
liztli, torment. To form the plural, the Aztecks in se- 
veral words double the first syllable ; as miitlij a cat, 
mimiztin, cats ; tochtli, a rabbit, totochtin, rabbits. Tin 
is the termination which indicates the plural. Some- 
times the duplication is made in the midst of a word ; 
for instance, ichpochtli, a girl, ichpopochtm, girls ; tel- 
pochtli, a boy, telpopochtin, boys. The most remark- 
able example I have met with of a real composition of 
words is found in the word amatlacuilolitquitcatlaxtla- 
huilli, which signifies the reward given to the mes- 
senger, who carries a paper, on which is indicated, in 
symbolic characters, or in painting, some tidings to be 
transmitted. This word, which forms by itself an 
Alexandrine line, contains amatl, paper of the Ameri- 
can agave; cniloa, to paint, trace significative charac- 
racters ; and tlaxtlahuilliy the payment or salary of a 
workman. In the Azteck language the letters, B, D, 
F, G, and R are wanting (Carlos de Tapia Zenteno,, 
Cura deTampamolon, Arte novissima de Lingua Mex- 
icana, 1753, p, 7). So in the Biscayan language we 
do not find the letter F, and there is no word which be- 
gins by an R. However distinct certain languages ap- 
pear at first sight, however extraordinary their caprices 
or idioms, all have an analogy with each other ; and 
these multifarious relations will be perceived, in pro- 
portion as the philosophic history of nations, anA the 
study of languages, which are at once the production of 
the intelligence, and the expression of the individual 
character of man, shall be brought to perfection. 
Page 63. First age of the Earth. The Franciscan 
monk, Andres de Olmos, well versed in the different 
languages of Mexico, of which he composed gram- 
