318 
THE CnAlSTA LANGUAGE. 
sion of Encaramada, and at the distance of more than a 
hundred leagues from the Chaymas, live the Tainanacs 
(Tamanacu), whose language is divided into several dialects. 
This nation, formerly very powerful, is separated from the 
mountains of Caripc by the Orinoco, by the vast steppes of 
Caracas and of Cumana ; and by a barrier far more difficult 
to surmount, the nations of Caribbean origin. But not- 
withstanding distance, and the numerous obstacles in the 
way of intercourse, the language of the Chayma Indians is a 
branch of the Tamanac tongue. _ The oldest missionaries of 
Caripe arc ignorant of this curious fact, because the Ca- 
puchins of Aragon seldom visit the southern banks ot the 
Orinoco, and scarcely know of the existence of the Tama- 
nacs. I recognized the analogy between the idiom of this 
nation, and that of the Chayma Indians long after my 
return to Europe, in comparing the materials which I had 
collected with the sketch of a grammar published in Italy 
by an old missionary of the Orinoco. Without knowing the 
Chaymas, the Abbe Gili conjectured that the language ot 
the inhabitants of Paria must have some relation to the 
Tamanac.* 
I will prove (bis connection by two means which serve to 
show the analogy of idioms; viz., the grammatical con- 
struction, and the identity of words and roots. The follow- 
ing are the personal pronouns of the Chaymas, which are 
* Yater has also advanced some well-founded conjectures on the con- 
nexion between the Tamanac and Caribbean tongues and those spoken on 
the north-east coast of South America. I may acquaint the reader, that 
1 have written the words of the American languages according to the 
Spanish orthography, so that the u should be pronounced oo, the e/i 
like ch in English, ike. Having during a great number of years spoken 
no other language than the Castilian, I marked down the sounds accord- 
ing to tho orthography of that language, and now 1 am afraid of changing 
the value of these signs, by substituting others no less imperfect. It 
is a barbaious practice, to express, like the greater part of the nations of 
Europe, the most simple and distinct sounds by many vowels, or many 
united consonants, while they might be indicated by letters equally simple. 
What a chaos is exhibited by the vocabularies written according to 
English, German, French, or Spanish notations ! A new essay, which the 
illustrious author of the travels in Egypt, M. Volnev, is about to publish 
on the analysis of sounds found in different nations, and on the notation 
of those sounds according In a uniform system, will lead to great progres« 
In the study of languages. 
