fathom and ten fathoms are the only terms I have heard among them. By these they convey the size of anything, as a house, a boat, depth of the sea, etc., but when they speak of distances from one place to another they have no way of making themselves understood but by the number of days it takes them in their canoes to go the distance.
Their language appeared to me to be very soft and tuneful; it abounds in vowels, and was easily pronounced by us, while ours was to them absolutely impracticable. I instance particularly my own name, which I took much pains to teach them and they to learn; after three days' fruitless trial I was forced to select from their many attempts Tapane, the only one I had been able to get from them that had the least similitude to it. Spanish or Italian words they pronounced with ease, provided they ended with a vowel, for few or none of theirs end with a consonant.
I cannot say that I am sufficiently acquainted with it to pronounce whether it is copious or not; in one respect, however, it is beyond measure inferior to all European languages, and that is in its almost total want of inflection both of nouns and verbs, few or none of the former having more than one case or the latter one tense. Notwithstanding this want, however, we found it very easy to make ourselves understood in matters of common necessaries, however paradoxical it may appear to an European.
They have certain suffixes and make very frequent use of them. This puzzled us at first very much, though they are but few in number. An instance or two may be necessary to make myself understood, as they do not exist in any modern European language. One asks another "Harre nea?" "Where are you going?" The other answers "Ivahinera," "To my wives," on which the first questioning him still further "Ivahinera?" "To your wives?" is answered "Ivahinereiaa," "Yes, I am going to my wives." Here the suffixes era and eiaa save several words to both parties.
From the vocabularies given in Le Maire's voyage (see Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes, tom. i. p. 410[1])
- ↑ By C. de Brosse, 1756.
