nor useless in this place, to notice, in the note below some of
the essential particulars; and which are more especially necessary
* The vowels may be considered as having the soiind which most of, the European
nations, excepting tiie English, give to them. This may serve as a general precept; but
their more exact pronunciation is reserved for a future opportunity.
The a, without here making nice distinctions, may be sounded as the a, in father or
farther: but a with the circumflex accent above it, is intended to represent that broad
vocal sound which is heard in the words ally aval, nor, nought, caught.
The e in most cases resembles the short <? in tell ; but when" separate or bearing the
accent it is like the a in able: and ee or é like the long a in save. It is sometimes used
with the grave accent (e) instead of e, [See the note at page 254.] to avoid the inconvenience
of foreign characters in the text.
The i is the same as the £ in delay ¡ und the ii or i as ee in deep.
The o is sounded as in motive. It has very rarely the.English sound which is heard
in cottage, solid; but in this case it is marked with the grave accent (ó). The oo or 6,
is to be pronounced the same as the long o in bone; but not as the oo in boot. In the
same manner all the other double vowels are to be pronounced as the single vowel much
lengthened in sound : they always bear the accent, and generally one of them is omitted
when the ‘ acute accent’ is placed over the other; as L.taakun or Litákun. The ow is
most frequently used in the text instead of the Greek character a, and sounds as in the
words owl, now. The u in Sichuána, is sounded as the oo in tool, or the u in rule; it is the same as the
German or the Italian u. It may generally be substituted for the w. I have used the u
with the grave accent (') to signify that vocal sound which is heard in the words sun, one,
undone, begun, and which is, I believe, almost peculiar to the English tongue, jj
The is always a vowel, and is sounded as in my or as the long i in mine.
Two vowels coming together are to be taken as diphthongs; unless separated by a
'diaereTsihs e( ’c’)h. must be pronounced as in.. .c hin ¡ and as "t he Spanish ch: it 'i s the sa•m• e as the
Italian c before e or i. The j ls the same as the y iri yes; and in general an i might be substituted for it.
'When m, or n, begins a word, and is followed by a consonant, it forms a syllable by
itself, and is to be pronounced in a close and peculiar manner, as though it were preceded
by a very faint vowel rather more resembling an u than an e or an i.
The ng, when coming togéther, are not to be separated in pronunciation; they form
a true and peculiar consonant, which I have in writing- expressed, by a character composed
partly of the n and partly of theg ; but this could not be imitated in printing, without
casting a type for the purpose.
The pH is merely a p followed by a strong aspiration, but is never as any* or as we
commonly pronounce the. Greek In the same manner, the. th is not the Saxon Í5, nor
our Greek 6, but simply an aspirated t.
The ts is to be considered as forming an indivisible consonant; and also the tz, which
is merely a modification of the same, and by some natives is used in its place.
For further explanations, the observations at the words ‘ three/, * four,’ ‘ sun,’
‘ moon decreasing/ and ‘ ford/ at page 253. may be consulted; as also may, the remarks
on the Sichuána language, to be found in the last chapter of this volume.
to be attended to, by those who would read correctly the Sichuana
names and words which occur in the course of this narrative.
The English reader, unacquainted with foreign pronunciation,
may complain that by not adopting the orthography of his own language,
thè difficulty of reading the names in this journal, is much
increased ; but he might with equal propriety object to the use of
French or German orthography in a book of travels through France
or Germany. As an apology for the method here followed, it may
briefly be stated,!“ that the vocal sounds of the two languages are
essentially different ; that English orthography, being, in its present
state, referrible to no general principle, is so inconsistent as to modern
pronunciation, that in some words it designates the same sound by
several different letters, and in others, employs the same letters for
several very different sounds : and, that the adoption of a system
expressly adapted to the genius of the Sichuana and following simple
and rigid rules, is in reality attended with much loss inconvenience,
and with much more certainty, than the use of a system, if it can
be called one, so multifarious in letters and uncertain in sound, as
that of our own language. - I have, nevertheless, for more general
convenience, added in parentheses, wherever it was necessary, the
same word spelt according to English orthography.
29th. The various duties of preserving what had been collected,
of arranging the notes and recording the observations of the day,
had employed me in the waggon the whole of the night, and this,
added to a considerable fatigue occasioned by a long day’s-journey,
kept me so much later than usual, before I awoke the next morning,
that my people began to fear that I was either dead or very unwell.
At length Speelman’s uneasiness increasing, he resolved to ascertain
whether I was alive or not, and knocked against the side of the
waggon, when he told me that, instead of morning, it was afternoon,
and that the sun had already sunk more than two hours. I was not
less surprised than my men ; and could only attribute this extraordinary
long and sound sleep, to an effort of nature, to repair that
exhausted state into which a too great attention to the numerous
affairs of the journey had insensibly brought me. The oxen were
VOL. II. Q Q