Part 2 — OBSERVATIONS ON THE LOO-CHOO LANGUAGE.

Of the grammar of this language I pretend to little knowledge, but the following observations upon some points may perhaps be worth attending to. The most striking circumstance, is the frequent use of the words noo and ka; the former of which seems to signify of, or the 's of the English language, as will appear in choo noo ka, a man's skin, or the skin of a man; ooshee noo stinnoo, the bullock's horn, or the horn of the bullock; and in moo noo kee saw'teeyoong, to dig potatoes out of the ground, or, literally, potatoes of the earth to dig out.

Ka, it will be observed, is used to denote skin, and also seems to signify a receiver or enclosure, as is expressed in the words meezee ka, a well of water, meezee being water, and ka, the place containing the water; and in ya ka saut eechoong, to go out of a place, ka in this instance expressing the enclosure, ya you, and sawt eechoong to go out from, as eechoong signifies to go.

The adjective is for the most part placed before the substantive, as teeshooee ickkeega, an old man; wusa ya, a mean house; and wockka innago, a young woman.

There is little variety in the termination of the verb, the tenses being expressed by other means. I have throughout the vocabulary considered the termination oong to denote the infinitive, and have translated it as such, even when the sense points to another mood, merely to preserve consistency; there are, however, a few exceptions to this, and some of the verbs will be found to terminate in ang, ing, awng, ong, and ung. Those ending in oong seem generally to make the participle terminate in ee, as wockkayoong, to separate, makes the participle wockkatee, separated. The negative termination of the verb is generally nang or rang, as noomang, not to drink, is the negative of noomoong, to drink; meerang, the negative of meeoong, to see; and nooboorang, the negative of noobooyoong, to climb or ascend. Na is also used as a negative, coonsoona, not to rub out, being the negative of coonshoong, to rub out.

Nang, narang, and nashee are negatives used with a substantive, and are always placed after it, as koomoo nang, no clouds; meezee narang, no water; and feejee nashee, no beard.

Some peculiarities will be found by referring to the following words: deaf; the sole of the foot; head-ache; palm of the hand; the toe; and the wrist.