ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 3

the Salish, the Chinook, and the Iakon languages, with all on the north-
west coast of which we have any knowledge. The southern division
comprehends the Sahaptin, the Shoshoni, the Kalapuya, Shaste, Lutuami,
and all the Californian idioms so far as we are acquainted with them.
Those of the northern class are remarkable for their extraordinary
harshness, which in some is so great as almost to surpass belief. The
Chinooks, Chikailish, and Killamuks appear actually to labour in speak-
ing ; an illusion which proceeds no doubt from the effect produced on the
ear of the listener by the harsh elements with which their languages
abound, as well as the generally rough and dissonant style of pronuncia-
tion. The x is in these tongues a somewhat deeper guttural than the
Spanish juta. The q is an extraordinary sound, resembling the hawking
noise produced by an effort to expel phlegm from the throat. ‘yl is
a combination uttered by forcing out the breath at the side of the mouth
between the tongue and the palate. These languages are all indistinct as
well as harsh. The same element in the Chinook and other tongues is
heard at one time as a v, at another as a b, and again as an m, the latter
being probably the most accurate representation. Similarly the n and d
are in several dialects undistinguishable, and we were constantly in doubt
whether certain short vowels should be written or omitted.

‘The southern languages are, on the other hand, no less distinguished
for softness and harmony. The gutturals are found in two or three,
into which they seem to have been introduced by communication with
the northern tribes. The rest want this class of letters, and have in their
place the labial f, the liquid r, and the nasal 7% (ng), all of which are
unknown to the former, Difficult combinations of consonants rarely
occur, and the many vowels make the pronunciation clear and sonorous.
There is, however, a good deal of variety in this respect, some of the
languages, as the Lutuami, Shaste, and Palaihnik, being smooth and
agreeable to the ear, while the Shoshoui and Kalapuya, though soft, are
nasal and indistinct.’

At the time when this description was written, I had formed no
opinion as to the origin of these contrasted phonologies. I am now
inclined to believe that the difference is due mainly to climatic influences.
The harsh utterance extends from Alaska southward to the Columbia
River, where it suddenly ceases, and gives place to softer sounds. This
is exactly the point at which the coast ceases to be lined by that network
of islands, straits, and friths, whose waters, abounding in fish, afford the
main source of subsistence to the tribes of the northern region. The
climate, except for a brief summer, is that of an almost perpetual April
or October. This part of the coast is one of the rainiest regions of the
earth, and the fishermen in their canoes are almost constantly exposed to
the chilling moisture. Their pronunciation is that of a people whose
vocal organs have for many generatiors been affected by continual coughs
and catarrhs, thickening the mucous membrane and obstructing the air-
passages. A strong confirmation of this view is found in Tierra del

' Ethnography and Philology, p. 533. The orthography here employed is some-
what different from that of Dr. Boas, who, by my advice, has avoided the use of
Greek or other foreign characters, employing only English letters with various dia-
critical marks. This alphabet somewhat disguises to the eye the extreme difficulties
of the pronunciation. The ¢x/, for example, is written by him simply 7d, but the Z is
defined as an ‘explosive J.’ It is the combination so frequen in the Mexican (or
Nahuatl) tongue.

la