says,

"The style of address in Mexican varies according to the rank of the persons, with whom, or about whom, conversation is

held, adding to the nouns, verbs, prepositions and adverbs certain particles expressive of respect.' "In addition to these simple pronouns," says Dr. Leyden, in a passage quoted by Dr. Lang, "there are various others which indicate rank and situation, as in Malayu, Chinese, and the monosyllabic languages in general, which have all of them paid peculiar attention to the language of ceremony, in addressing superiors, inferiors and equals.” It is perhaps somewhat more than an accidental coincidence that the Mexican particle tzin which was usually added to the names of their kings, is identical with the Chinese tsin, and the Indo-Chinese asyang, an affix signifying Lord.†

The great obstacle interposed against a full understanding of the real affinities, which exist between the American and other languages, has been the method of investigation. The learning of Europe and America has been exhausted to little purpose in tracing verbal analogies; and if research were directed towards the comparison of structure and grammatical forms, the result would doubtless be more satisfactory. The American languages are distinguished by their long polysyllabic terms, and by their complicated system of inflection. But these terms do not appear to have been originally single words, but rather to be compounded. It has been found, says Mr. Schoolcraft, speaking of the words of the Algonquins, that those of the highest antiquity are simple and brief. "Most of

* History of Mexico, vol. i.
† Hum. Res., vol. ii. p. 223.

Nations, p. 144.

p.

393.

Dr. Lang's View of the Polynesian

the primitive nouns are monosyllabic, and denote but a single object or idea. A less number are dissyllabic; few exceed this; and it may be questioned from the present state of the examination, whether there is a single primitive trisyllable. The primitives become polysyllabic by adding an inflection indicating the presence or absence of vitality, (which is the succedaneum for gender,) and a further inflection to denote number. They also admit of adjective terminations. Pronouns are denoted by particles prefixed or suffixed. The genius of the language is accumulative, and tends rather to add syllables or letters making further distinctions in objects already before the mind, than to introduce new words. A simple word is thus oftentimes converted into a descriptive phrase, at once formidable to the eye and the ear; and it is only by dissecting such compounds that the radix can be attained." From these facts it may be presumed there was a period when the languages were less cumbersome and complex than at present, and perhaps of a monosyllabic character. The same remark applies to the Polynesian languages, which, upon being analyzed, appear to possess a monosyllabic radical basis.

And hence it may be interesting to examine briefly some affinities in the mechanism of the American and Polynesian languages. In the American there is a universal tendency to express in the same word, both the action and the object. In the Polynesian, "verbs not only express the action, but the manner of it distinctly, hence to send a message would be orero, to send a messenger kono."* In the American, the use of the verb to be as an auxiliary was unknown, and its place was sup

* Tour through Hawaii, by Rev. Wm. Ellis, p. 474.

plied by an intransitive verb, or by an inflection or particle. In the Polynesian, says Mr. Ellis, "the greatest imperfections we have discovered occur in the degrees of the adjectives, and the deficiency of the auxiliary verb to be, which is implied, but not expressed. The natives cannot say I am, or it is, yet they can say a thing remains (as, the canoe remains there); and their verbs are used in their participial form by simply adding the termination ana, equivalent to ing in English." In the language of Chile,* in the Cherokee and other northern languages, besides a singular and plural there is a dual number of the pronouns; in the Polynesian, there is not only a singular, plural, and dual, but a double dual and plural. In both groups of languages the degrees of comparison are expressed by distinct words. The inflections of person and number, connected with the verb, are the inflections of the pronoun and not of the verb,† nouns and adjectives are readily converted into verbs, and verbs into nouns and adjectives, by the addition or suppression of particles; and indeed the general principles of their structure and formation seem to identify these languages by many close and striking analogies.

Mr. Marsden was originally of opinion, that the languages prevailing on the western coast of South America, had not " even the most remote affinity to the Polynesian ;" and he extended this remark also to those of the aboriginal nations in North America. At a subsequent period, however, he appears to

* Arte de la Lengua General del Reyno de Chile, etc., por el P. Andres Febres, 1764, p. 11.

† Gallatin, in Arch. Am., vol. ii. p. 196. Ellis, ibid.

Miscell. Works, p. 61. Hist. Madagascar, by Rev. Wm. Ellis, vol. i. p. 493. Tour through Hawaii, p. 471.

have been shaken in his confidence on this point, by Mr. Ellis, who had observed that some of the words in South America were of a Polynesian character. Dr. Lang has added to the number of their verbal affinities, and by indicating at the same time some points of resemblance between the Chinese and Polynesian languages in their construction, has tended to supply the necessary link of connection with Asia.

THE Civil year of the Mexicans consisted of eighteen months of twenty days, and by the addition of five intercalary days, which were called void or waste days-Nemontemi-contained three hundred and sixty-five days. Four weeks of five days each made a month*- eighteen months a year-thirteen solar years a small cycle-four of these cycles formed a "great year"—and two of these "an old age" of one hundred and four years.

The civil day, like that of the Egyptians and most of the Asiatic nations, commenced at sunrise, and like the Hindoo day was divided into eight intervals or periods, four of which were indicated by the rising and setting of the sun, and his positions in the Nadir and Zenith. The cycles of fifty-two years were numbered by numerical signs. To distinguish particular years in this cycle, they adopted the following method, used also in Thibet, Indostan, China,‡ Japan, and Mongolia. They selected four of the signs of the days, which were Tochtli-rabbit or

*The first day of each week was market-day.

Toxiuhmolpia-the tying of the years.

This periodical series is of great antiquity in China, being mentioned in the Chou-King, an historical work bearing the date of B. C. 2300. It was formed by a combination of the signs of the ten elements with the twelve signs of the zodiac.