This is

the future state to be a scene of retribution. the account which missionaries and other persons have given of the Polynesian superstitions.

The adoration of rude nations is generally directed towards visible objects. From this remark we must except most of the American nations, who are said to believe in the existence of a spiritual ruler of the universe. By one class of rude nations the heavenly bodies are worshipped, and the Polynesians connect this superstition with a mythology which is poetical and not devoid of ingenuity. Others, like the African nations, worship fetiches, or visible objects, in which they suppose some magical or supernatural power to be concealed, capable of exercising an influence on their destiny, and of ensuring success in any undertaking a superstition of which traces are to be discovered among the vulgar in many countries.

In every tribe of people among whom intelligent travellers may hereafter be thrown, it should be a subject of inquiry how far any of these observations may be confirmed and extended by the history of their superstitious belief and practices, and to what division of nations they are by such traits associated.

III. Language, Poetry, Literature.

As no other means have contributed so much to the increase of ethnology, and to the ascertaining of the connexions and relationship of different nations, as a comparison of languages, great care should be taken in every newly discovered country, and among tribes whose history is not perfectly known, to collect the most correct information as to the language of the people.

Among tribes of people who have any poetry or other literature, pains should be taken to obtain the best specimens of composition in their languages. Manuscripts in their languages should be procured if it can possibly be done; and it would be worth while to incur even a considerable expense rather than forego such an opportunity.

In countries where the inhabitants have no knowledge of letters, it may sometimes be found that they have preserved oral compositions, generally in some sort of verse, which they have recorded in their memory, and handed down from one generation to another. It would be very desirable in such a case to write down the most complete specimen of any such pieces, and to select any which relate to the ancient and primeval history of the people.

If no literature or compositions of any kind have been preserved, the best things that can be done will be the following:

I. To get some intelligent person to translate into the prevailing language some continuous composition, and to copy it from his mouth with the greatest care. Get in the first place the Lord's Prayer, since this same composition has been most frequently collected already, and exists in a much greater number of languages than any other. Next to the Lord's Prayer, which does not contain a sufficient quantity of words, the Gospel of St. Luke probably exists in a greater number of languages than any other composition. The sixth, and perhaps also the seventh chapter, may be selected from this Gospel. A good translation of these two chapters will enable a person skilled in philology to furnish a tolerably complete analysis of almost any language.

II. A vocabulary should also be taken down from the mouths of intelligent natives. Care should be taken to compare the words given by one person with the testimony of others, in order to correct any defect or peculiarity of pronunciation.

It is very important to select properly the classes of words. The following should be chosen :

1. The numerals up to a hundred, or more. Ascertain how far the people of each tribe can reckon.

2. Words denoting family relations, such as father, mother, brother, sister, &c.

3. Names of the different parts of the body,—head, arm, foot, &c.

4. Names of visible natural objects, elements, &c., -sun, moon, fire, water, &c.

5. Names of animals, especially domestic animals. 6. Verbs expressive of universal bodily acts, such as eat, drink, walk, sleep, see, hear, &c.

7. Personal pronouns,-I, thou, he, &c.

8. Prepositions-in, from, to, &c.-if they can be obtained.

III. It would be useful, in the third place, to observe some of the grammatical rules of the language, if opportunity exists of becoming acquainted with them; though if any composition of some length shall have been obtained, the grammatical analysis may be furnished afterwards. It will not, however, be amiss to make the following observations:

One great feature in the grammatical structure of different languages, which distinguishes several classes of languages from each other, is the peculiar position given to auxiliary words in sentences. By auxiliary words are meant such words as have no proper meaning

of their own, but tend to explain the relation of nouns and verbs. Such are prepositions in our languageupon, in, through, &c. It should be observed what position such words hold with relation to nouns. It is a character of one great class of languages—viz., the Tartar dialect, or the languages of High Asia-to place all such particles at the end of nouns thus prepositions become postpositions. In most African languages, as yet known, particles are placed at the beginnings of words; and that is the case not only with prepositions, but with particles of all kinds, such as syllables which change the singular into the plural number, as Anakosah becomes the plural of Kosah. Again, in the American language, particles are as it were swallowed up by the principal words, or are inserted in the middle of them.

It may be right to observe also whether languages admit the composition of words making compound epithets by amalgamating two or more simple words.

Observe also whether the words, such as names of objects, are monosyllables, or consist of several syllables.

APPENDIX.

BY THE EDITOR.

IN compiling vocabularies from the mouths of natives, whether of written or unwritten languages, but especially of the latter, and of languages which, though reduced to writing, are in characters (like the Chinese, &c.) illegible to Europeans, it is of the utmost importance to secure the possibility of a reasonably faithful reproduction of the sounds from the writing when read by a third party having no personal communication with either the speaker or writer. This can only, of course, be accomplished by the adoption of a system of writing very different indeed from our ordinary English practice of spelling (which is utterly inapplicable to the purpose); fixing upon a set of letters, each of which shall express a distinct, recognised, and as nearly as possible invariable sound, and regulating their combination by simple and fixed rules.

Pending the introduction of a Phonetic character free from objection, and bearing in mind that, after all, it is only a very imperfect representation of the native pronunciation which can be so conveyed (although amply sufficient, if due care be taken, to render the speech of a foreigner intelligible among them), the voyager or traveller will find in the Ethnical Alphabet' of Mr. Ellis* a stock of characters prepared to his hand capable of accomplishing to a considerable extent the object proposed;† or he may adopt the following as a conventional system, in which only Roman, Greek, and Italic characters are employed, and which therefore can be at once transferred from MS. into print at any ordinary printing office. In the examples annexed the letters printed in Italic are those whose sounds are intended to be exemplified.

• The Ethnical Alphabet, or Alphabet of Nations, tabularly arranged for the use of Travellers and Missionaries, with Examples in Ten Languages.'

In thus directing attention to the Ethnical Alphabet' of Mr. Ellis for this special purpose, the Editor must be understood emphatically to protest against being considered an advocate of the "spelling reform" of the English language for the use of Englishmen, as proposed and urged by either that gentleman, Mr. Pittman, or Mr. Faulder.