hension and fear which I have so often seen among my Christian fellow-countrymen and women. The only miseries these people have to endure arise from their contact with civilization, which is slowly exterminating them. They are afflicted with the continual importation of new diseases, engendered amid civilized life, which spread among them with frightful virulence. Chief among these is our common catarrh, or cold, which spreads periodically from the coast among the tribes of the interior, assuming a virulent development unknown to us, and most fatal to young children, who generally die of some affection like pneumonia.. Of course I know that it is impossible for a civilized and Christian people to look upon any savages and heathens without aversion and contempt, and regarding them, as we do the animals, as the beasts that perish.' Nevertheless, one has only to learn their language and live among them as one of themselves, to find that they have all the faculties, affections, emotions, loves, hates, and fears, just the same as ourselves, to which their innate simplicity and unsophisti cation lend a peculiar charm. Even after 200 years of contact with the most debauched and vicious of Europeans who live among them, the Mosquito Indians still preserve much of their original frank, honest, courageous, and open-hearted nature. Their end, however, is at hand now. Delivered over by the English to their hereditary enemies, already they are worried to death by proselytizing monks and priests; and every pretext is sought to infringe upon their liberty, to bring them under taxation, and force them to live in industrial communities; and we know that such radical change of habits is fatal to all free and wild people, just as it would be fatal to a stag to yoke it to a cart. APPENDIX A. LANGUAGE. THE language of the Mosquito Indians is supposed to be a dialect of the original Caribs of the Antilles, and is different from those of the other tribes in the country, although many words are by long contact common to the Woolwas, or Smoos, and the Mosquitoes. It has the well-known peculiarities of construction and of grammar which distinguish the languages of the American Indians. The grammar is precise and somewhat complicated, but probably less involved than the grammar of French or German; and it seems strange to find among an uncultivated and uncivilized race rules of grammar as precise and well known as are used by the most cultivated nations of Europe. The Indian, who has no literature, no written or defined rules, uses the grammar of his language with uniformity and without confusion. How is this to be explained? Let me give an example. Every verb in the Mosquito language ends in 'ahya''ihsoobahya,' to be born; 'prooahya,' to die; 'balahya,' to come; 'wahya,' to go; 'dowkahya,' to make; 'bihkahya,' to break. Many verbs are irregular; most are regular. Thus a regular verb is 'wahya,' to go; wun,' gone. Indicative present. yung (I) wahya, I am going. man (thou) wahya, thou art going. Plural and singular are the same in the verb, the pronouns being 'yungnanny,' we; 'mananny,' you; wittinanny,' they. Imperative. wahs, go thou. wahpey, let us go. Interrogative. wahtna? did I go? wahmna? shall I go? An irregular verb is 'yahya,' to give; 'yun,' gave. Of course there are more tenses than the above, compounded with prefixes as in European languages. The language is remarkably complete and full in all terms which the Indians are likely to use; in some respects even more so than English. It is, however, poor in terms to express abstract thoughts. Such abstract terms as they use are adopted from simpler words in precisely the same way as in European languages, only they have not carried the process so far as we have. Thus there is no proper word for 'love,' but lahtwan' is made to do for it. Sowra lumptwun ih dowkisa' (I love you very much) literally means, 'Pain for you affects me badly'; or, 'Your pain affects me badly.' All nouns have inflections; thus wahtla,' house; wumtla,' your house; wytla,' my house; wahtla,' his house; and one must beware of the irregularities which occur here. Thus yool," dog; 'yoolum,' your dog; 'yooley,' my dog; 'yoola,' his dog; 'ruckboos,' a gun; 'ruckboos-kum,' your gun; 'ruckboos-key,' my gun; 'ruckboos-ka,' his gun. The most singular thing about this language is one common, it is said, to all the American languages. In a sentence some of the words are cut in pieces, and the pieces stuck into the sentence in different places. Thus 'kitty oompmapara eews ih tihbisma nicka,' means 'sit over a little; you are squeezing me.' Here 'kitteewahya,' the verb 'to move,' has imperative 'kitteews,' ('move you'), which is cut in two; a 'y' is added to the first half, and the other half, 'eews,' is stuck in elsewhere. With all this the Mosquito language is easily learned, and the pronunciation is simple. The Mosquito Indians handle their language with skill and facility; but, like all American Indians, they make extensive use of gestures by hands, eyes, and head. They are lively, talkative, and, like all healthy people in whom the nerves are not cultivated at the expense of the body, they are cheerful and good-tempered. APPENDIX B. I. (1) Keeka mihren tumnia-nanny teelara towkee Awala beela mookoos eewee-can Moona weena owas keea bihwee-can, Yoo coom youngra lookeemooney 'Mahma palley watma-key Alai mahma yawan kihkatna-key Yawan palley beelam bihkra walatna-weesmaba, Alai, alai, alai !' (2) Keeka mihren sarcum sowra Ih dowkeysa Lameea poora lihla prawi Ih dowkeysa Keeihmara Cabo bin man walisney Seeapeea lattara tilwee coona II. Alai Yaptey-yaptey oompeera Alai yaptey ansara warum? Sarkum atia loopiam-nanny innee bungweeba Nowala yowanwul ihseekata coona nānara bārra prahwisma. Alai yaptey teela weena coopiam bihwey owmakey Lumptwan apia katnaki? Lattera miham ih macoopey eeweeba Nahara mihrin any ih weeta srookey eeweebung-weeba Sahrkum atia seeka. Bun bacoona ih loolkisiwarum Alai mawan klee kihkamn' apia-ba Klee beelam bihkra walamn' apia-ba.† * English version on p. 89. † English version on p. 91. |