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Leader (1850-1860), 19th February 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 12, 236 THE LEADER. [Ko. 465, February 19, 1...

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      We Mayhoro Notice, With Tho Sinccrcst »B...

      and colonial pre ss * whic'K was of the greatest convenience and service to authors , publishers , and all connected with that great department of literature . Mr . Mitchell was a native of Norwich * but acquired his admirable business talents and knowled ge in Manchester , and came to London about the year 1836 , and formed at once his useful and successful establishment in Bed Lion-court . He was a man universally respected , and pf a kind and liberal disposition , and has left a widow . and two sons to deplore his premature death . He was fifty-two years of age , and died from the effects of asthma , in a fit Of which he broke a blood-vessel .

      236 The Leader. [Ko. 465, February 19, 1...

      236 THE LEADER . [ Ko . 465 , February 19 , 1859 .

      African Philology. The Library Of His Ex...

      AFRICAN PHILOLOGY . The Library of His Excellency Sir George Grey , K . C . B . — Philology : Africct . ^ Vol . I ., Part 1 ( Within the Limits of British influence ) . —VoLl ., Part 2 . ( North of the Tropic of Capricorn ) , Australia and Polynesia .--Vol . II ., Part 1 , Australia . — "Vol . II ., Part 2 ., Papuan Languages , 8 fc . —Vol . II ., Part 3 . ( not yet printed ) . —Vol . II ., Part 4 . j New Zealand and the Islands . —Compiled by Sir George Grey , and W . II . I . Bleek . Cape Town ( Trubner Sf Co . London ~ ) , 1858 . It . was about the year 85 of the Christian era that Julius Agricola for the first time surveyed the

      entire line of the British coast , and persuaded the rude inhabitants to adopt the dress and language of their conquerors , and it is from that period that we date , properly speaking , the introduction of Roman civilisation into this country . To accomplish this , it may easil y be imagined , he must previously have made himself acquainted with the liabits , language , and religion of those upon whom he was desirous of conferring so great a , boon ; for we find immediately after this survey , that temples and porticos , baths and other public edifices , sprang up on all sides . Somewhat analogous to the labours of the Roman governor in Britain have

      been the labours of Sir George Grey in Africa . Before we can bring the semi-barbarous tribes of that great continent to appreciate the advantages of order and civilisation , to adopt our dress and manners , and the religion of the Gospel , we must make ourselves acquainted with their languages and their habits of life and thought , or the labour of the missionary will be in vain ; and instead of finding himself surrounded with proselytes , lie would probably meet with , the fate ¦ which Sidney Smith pictured as that likely to befall Bishop Selwyn , when lie was about to 'deport for New

      Zealand , and grace the banquet of some warlike chief ; in the shape of the greatest delicacy at table . The Roman , to whom we owe so much , had to go to the languages , to learn , the manners and customs of the semir-barbarous Britons himself , to come in personal contact with those whose lasting benefit he had in view . Thanks to the printing-press , the British governor in Africa can cause the languages of the savage tribes , over which he would spread the blessings of civilisation , to come to lain ; can learn their national peculiarities in the quiet of his study , and" bring the various tribes themselves into communication with

      himself by the simple operations of a typesetter , located in the-capital of the province which he rules in the Queen's name . It is by no means easy to form a classification of the languages of Pagan Africa . A large portion of them possess an affinity to the Kafir languages . Yet thw proves nothing . It is but pne characteristic ; and what would bo said of a naturalist who would class animals or plants only according to a single characteristic , regardless of all others ? Mr . Bleek divides tho languages and dialects of South

      Africa—of which he enumerates no loss than 427—into two great divisions : the Suffix-Pronominal Languages , and the Prefix-Pronominal Languages . In the former he includes the Hottentot and Bush * man , consisting of 40 dialects , and in , the latter the Kafir , ¦ with 233 dialects the Sctshuana , with 140 dialects ; the Tegoza , with 2 dialects ; the Xngami dialect ; and tho Otyhercros , with 5 dialects . The Hottentot and Bushman ho terms 44 the Sex "do noting family , " and tho whole of the others , the 4 i Bantu family . "

      " AU these languages of Africa which as yot permit of a classification evidently belong to tho higher formation of languages : that is , thoy are possessed of truo pronouns , borrowed originally from the derivative particles . of the nouns . As in Kafir , in the , sentence Abantu bqmi ubairmyama balumjilc ( Men mine black they are good ) . Heroin in Arnni , ina » amnyaroa , and in 6 « hingilo , Is , in Gaoh instance , a true pronoun , dorived from tho derivative partlclo of the noun a & antu ( men , or people ) . " Strictly speaking , a pronoun is a word which

      African Philology

      solely represents the noun , or nouns , in the place of which it fstands , without adding or possessing any meaning of its own . Therefore , what is commonly called a pronoun of the first or second person is not a real pronoun ; for there is always implied in it the idea of a person or persons either speaking or spoken to . In strictness , it ought to be called a personal noun , or personal particle , instead of a pronoun . " The languages of what we term this higher head of 1 rofto

      formation are comprised under the - ittinal languages . Their main distinctive feature is a concord of the forms of the pronouns , and of every part of speech hi the formation of which pronouns are employed ( for example , adjectives and verbs , ) with the nouns to which they respectively refer , and the thereby caused distribution of the nouns into classes or genders . This concord is evidently produced throug h the original identity of each pronoun with the respective derivative particle of the nouns which can be represented by it .

      but superior race * capable of holding their own , and encroaching upon the area of Ovakeriro and other Hottentot tribes by which they are surrounded . The southern extremity of Africa is preeminently Hottentot , and , more or less , Kafir . ialso . The latter present themselves to / us under two types , brown and black ^ the brown on the tablelands , and the black along the water-courses . They are fierce and relentless , cruel and sanguinary . Dr . Livingstone visited the son . of a chieftain , named Moy ara . A number of stakes were planted in the ground , and fifty-four human skulls were suspended'from ' their points . These were Matabele

      who unable to approach Sebitunne on the island of Loyela , had returned sick and famishing . Moyara ' s father , tookVadvantage of their reduced condition , an d after putting them to death mounted their heads in the fashion of his tribe . " When looking at the skulls , " adds the doctor , "I remarked to Moyara that many of them were mere boys . He assented readily and pointed them out as such . I asked why his father had killed boys . 'To show his fierceness , ' was the ' answer . ' Is it fierceness to kill boys ? ' ' Yes , they had no

      business here . ' I was informed that few strangers ever returned from a visit to this quarter . " The language of the Kafirs , like that of all members of the Bantu family , consists mostly of polysyllables , the words ending chiefly with a vowel or a nasal sound . Diphthongs , properly speaking , rarely occur . The great characteristics , therefore , of the Hottentot and Bushmen languages , which consist mainly of monosyllables abounding in diphthongs , are reversed in all the Bantu family , which gives , as it were , a natural and easy division of the whole of the languages of Southern Africa . We have not space to follow Sir George Grey , and Mr . Bleek through the other volumes before us , and of which we have given the general , contents above ; but we would remark , " that in the second part of the second volume , which treats of Australia and Polynesia , Sir George Grey states his conviction that , however different in vocabulary the Papuan languages are from the other Polynesian dialects , the grammatical structure- of the Polynesian and Papuan languages is evidently founded on the same basis . He . adds : — It is not improbable- that the Papuan languages form the connecting link between the Polynesian liimily uf languages and the African division of Prufix-Pronominal languages . " These Papuan languages are spoken by the inhabitants of the Loyalty Islands and the New Hebrides . Of the former ,

      Lifu , with a population of some 15 , 000 *< > uls , and Nengone , or More , "vvith some 7 , 000 , are I Ik- j -rii u-ipal , anil the inhabitants speak a different dialect , but not a different language . The other islands ty hich form this group ore Uea , Doka , and Podoni , tho last uninhabited , but covered with -cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees , which appear to bo the common property of th « other four islands . The inhabitant * of tho New Hebrides number about 40 , 000 , in tho eight islands altogether , and they lu-lonsr to the Papuan or Negrito race , have curly or woolly hair , and are of the middle size . They cultivate the soil , and live chiefly on fruits and vegetables , fish , fowls , pigs , and insects ; but they arc cannibals , and constantly engaged in war . Tho institution ot the Tapuis in force -in all the islands . There is an

      order of priesthood , and they have idols , winch they regard as snored . They nro naturally nui ^ cul , and sing wall , and in parts ; « nd , as -musical in . strumonts , they make use of a long pipe or flute , and « drum . We have taken the above from one of ftu Uoorgo Grey ' a notes ; and similar notes , lull of'inlurmation , abound throughout tho catalogue . . Now ( hiit the Feejoean Archipelago has been oydi-d t <> < . » rout Britain , tho portion of Sir Giwge ( jroy ' .-t hibonrs , which relates to these Polynesian Ldtinds , donvos much additional interest from that circumstance ' These islands are admirably adapted for the growth of uolton , ombracu an extent <> l « o , oou wiuaro miles , oiul are inhabited by 200 , 000 hoiiI * . As cotton rt-quh-os but little skill fuv Itn cumvutioii , its introduction would bo no loan bcne / U'iiil tn t io

      natives than to ounsolvcH , by opening a "llll'kl'l lul our manufactured goods , and providing mi oqumilont in tlio raw material by way of pnyim-ni . » u congratulate tho Governor of tho Capo on thu wvduction of n most important aid to lliu nli » ly t the twin auiencuB pf p hilology and Hhnolotfy , a look forward to the cpinplutkm of tlio «« l * lW " itself as a groat and permanent * icp towards _ rnc civilisation of tlto barbarous rncon , wlumo iornumon ,

      " The derivative particle of a noun , with which the form of its pronoun is originally identical , may either precede or follow the other part of the noun . The prpno . uns agree , therefore , either with the beginnings ( prefixes ) or with the endings ( suffixes ) of their respective nouns . Accordingly , the Pronominal languages are divided into two classes , and may be distinguished as Prefix-Pronominal and Suffix-Pronominal languages . " Witlun these two divisions Mr . Bleek includes all the languages of Southern Africa , as we have seen ; and we . think if we add that the Hottentot family may also be distinguished as monosyllabic tongues , and the Bantu or Kafir as polysyllabic , we have enumerated the distinguishing characteristics of each .

      In 1857 Mr . Bleek published a " Vocabulary of the Hottentots and 'Bushmen , " prepared for the use of Sir George Grey—an elaborate quarto volume of some 260 pages . A very valuable-portion of the work is the introduction itself , by the compiler pf Sir George Grey ' s Catalogue , which consists of twelve pages ; and the vocabularies of the dialects of the tribes of the vi c inity of Colesberg and Burgiisdorp , incorporated in the general alphabet ^ ai-e also furnished from his own personal contact with natives . The other sources were the scattered vocabularies of the dialects of the Gape and JEasterh' Hottentots , of the lyorana and the

      -Bushmen , accompanied by the corresponding words of the Nania dialect , in the . latter of which the library of Sir George Grey possesses seventeen printed books and seven manuscripts . This xL > ry interesting publication furnishes iis with 400 English words and upwards , with corresponding Hottentot terms , and is accompanied by a copious alphabetical index . Sir George Grey also caused a grammar and vocabulary of the Namii dialect to be printed , in which there is a Hottentot-English vocabulary of upwards of 2 , 042 words ; it likewise contains a collection of 124 plu-ases in the Namaqua Hottentot dialect , with English translation , besides the

      grammar , & c , mentioned on the title page . The compiler is Henry Tindall , a Wosleyan missionary , and the work is indispensable to alj who would study . this most primitive language . As in all ot the most ancient languages , the words of tho Hottentot tongue arc chiefly monosyllables , ending , with two exceptions , always in a vowel , or a nasal sound . Diphthongs abound , and several rough gutturals , and compound clicks and gutturals are also met with . In tho Bushman clialeot the phonetic peculiarities of the Hottentot language ai'e carried to oxoess , and almost every word is pronounced with a nasal twang , . which leaves that of the Yankee flu *' behind . Wo believe , with Mr . Bleek , that a more intimate acquaintance with this language would lead to some very curious

      and interesting results to both philological and ethnological science . The Saabs , or Bushmon , arc Hottentots of the most unfavoured parts of tho Capo . They aro miserable troglodytes , living in caves , destitute ot Hooks and herds , and subsisting upon what the chase produces . The Bushman is the most undersized specimen of humanity , a mere starveling' in bulk , with a weak and fragile frame . His small bright eye , projecting cheekbones , and uopporcolourcd skin , givo him an unearthly appearance , Svltich is much enhanced by tho hair of hi * head , which grows in tuils . showing interspaoon of scalp between the twisted knots , which imperfectly clothe his singularly-shaped skull— -with a long d ' iametor foro and aft , and considerable development in the ocoipital portion . Tho Namaquas aro a kindred

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 19, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19021859/page/12/