104 REPORT—1890.

The surds and sonants are difficult to distinguish. Sand ts have frequently a slight
touch of the ¢ and tc, the teeth being kept apart and the articulation being post-
alveolar. I spell here kw in preference to ky, as this sound—the anterior linguo-
palatal sound—is almost always strongly exploded. It is the sound described by
Mr. Hall as ‘ the croaking of the raven.’

All sounds occur as initial sounds. There is a remarkable difference between the ~
two dialects regarding initial combinations of consonants. Among approximately

-1200 words of the Kwakiutl dialect I found the following beginning with more than

one consonant :
kqsis, trousers. qn, my, but also gun.
ku’qlak’, crow. tsk‘wls, obsidian (?).
In the Héiltsuk: dialect the following combinations of consonants were found to
begin words:

bg ks k‘ks kuk Hm qk mky Sq tk: tlk

kkH  kuHql qt SS tlky
kp kHp qth sHs tqk: tlk
tqs tla
kes kHsk’ tqtl tlHs
ket tHt  tlq
kts tsk: tlqlk
tsq
tss

It is of importance to note that these combinations occur rarely, and that they
evidently originated through elimination of vowels. The following examples, taken
from both the Héiltsuk: and Kwakiutl dialects, will prove this fact:

Héiltsuk:. Kwakiutl.
to speak (man), bgua'la (= man’s voice). bugua'la (ba' kus, men).
eye, ks. k:a'yak's.
widower, Rk kya' sit. hekya'sit.
bark, qk'umn. qa'keum.
grouse, mbky Els. mi! koals.
Chinook canoe, sgam. sz'gem.
to jump, teuit. tu’ quit.
bow, tlhué's. tla! huis.
old woman, tlhoa'né. tlakoa'né.

All the combinations are such as are likely to originate through elimination of
vowels. It is remarkable that the combination ks, st, sp, &c., do not occur.

Sonants do not occur as terminal sounds. W and x do not terminate words.
The following combinations are found to terminate words :

kk mp lks qt
kk kk ks kat
qk qs, pqs
kuk mt
lk Ik Iq mkH nH Is nt
sk nk’ nq nkH ms st, qst
tsk tsk qskH msH ns
ntk tk: tq ts, nts, lts
tlk:

GRAMMATICAL Nores.
THE NOUN AND THE ADJECTIVE.

The noun has no plural, but a distributive, which is mostly formed by reduplica-
tion, epenthesis, or dizresis :

man, brgud'num, K. A. a deer, h'd/méla, H.
two men malik brgua'num, K. a group of deer, k:ak:a'méla, H.
miilo'quis bequa'num, HH. a stone, ?’@’sem, K. H.

a group of men, bébegua'num, K, H. a heap of stones, #2’Pasum, K, H.