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the Rocky mountains, to winch I will for a moment
advert. And I do%öfun der an impression
of their being; both novel or indigenous, that is,
novel to the Asiatic groups, arid indigenous hêrte'.
1. The first characteristic rule in the. syntax is,
that t every animate ,verb requires an animate
substantive,, and every inanimate verb; an inanh
mate substantive* This rule, whicn'ds unknown
to the Hebrew, or to any ancient or foreign language
we are acquainted with,,.is of such universal
and: stringent application, in thé Algonquin
family of dialects, that i,ts effect has been almost
completely to annihilate the grammatical distinctions
of sex, in Words of that stock. There
are no masculine or feminine genders,and hut few
neuter words in that important clas,s of languages.
Adjectives, . as well as Verbs, and noun§, are
subject to this rule, and indeed the whotjlalist
otj the numerous class of particles which perform
in these dialects, .the offices qf prepositions and
conjunctions, and even exclamations, obey.this
concord. ï So broad .is the rule,.and so important
is its operation'deemed, that in some, cases, entirely
different ground elements are employed
to express the qualities of objects.
■ ' Another leading arid characteristic principle
óf the native languages of this continent, so
fat as they havedieeri examined, consists in their
power of amalgamation: Words are condensed
and reformed by the introduction of ideographic
roots, to which pronominal, tensal, and other
appendages, are prefixed, or subjoined,, to describe,
new objects or relations. It has long
been -known that the'ste compound terms are replete
with meaning. And when this meaning
has* beeh extracted, as in the case of their euphonious
namesfbrour hills and streams, it has
seemed scarcely possible to our ,rigid Saxon syntax,
that . .such full descriptive and expressive
ideäb Should be-thrown together in a single
phrase. The, principle js analogous to that
which exists in their ancient system of picture-
writing. By this';system, „symbols are chosen
to represent, ideas, „or Ghains of ideas, hoth simple
and complex. The figure of a bird, to illus-
-träte the bystem of -picture-writing, is drawn
btfth for the ntme and species of a bird, and the
Uet' of its flighty or death, is a pure matter of
inference,' as denoted by the contiguity of a
man, a sky, a tree, ,or an arrow. Yet the head
or the claw of a bird may afsq represent both
the:; name and class, of the bird. So the syllabic
increment of a compound, represents the
generic trait of the whoje word, and the syllable
preceding or following.it, governs and determines
its particular meaning, in Ibis new relation.
In the Indian compounds;, or concrete derivatives,
the ideographiesy liable* or particle to be
introduced, is taken from the root of the disjunctive
noun, or verb. >It is invested with the
whole and entire meaning of the word, as expressed
when used disjunctively, and not a part
of it only., It must- be recollected, that by far
the largest number of the primitives, when