guished and imitated by Chinese organs, as differences of elementary sounds with us. Indeed they more easily discern a change of intonation than a discrepancy in orthography; while even infants among them learn to imitate the tones as soon as they begin to utter words. All the words in their pronouncing dictionaries are arranged according to these tones, and they are as necessary a part of the language as the sounds themselves. Besides which, the tones never vary, either through the lapse of time or the distance of place; for however much the ancients may differ from the moderns, and the inhabitants of Peking from those of Canton, in the sounds they apply to the various characters, yet the tones are invariably the same, not only throughout every province of China, but even amongst the neighbouring nations of Cochin China, Corea, and Japan. This is evident, from the poetry of the Chinese, which is based upon the intonation, and which was the same a thousand years ago that it is now, and continues to be modulated in the same manner wherever the Chinese character is used.
The tones are substantially four, which the Chinese call the even, the high, the departing, and the entering tones; and which are thus described:—
"The even tone has an equal path, neither high nor low;
"The high tone is a loud sound, both shrill and strong;
"The departing tone is distinct, but seems to retreat to a distance;
"The entering tone is short, contracted, and hastily gathered up."
These four principal tones are increased by adding a lower "even" tone, making five in all. These may be distinguished in European books, by the employment of accents, such as the acute and grave, the long and
